Public official’s email communications
Q: Background: the superintendent of schools has sent a number of e-mails to the school board in the past few weeks saying that these e-mails are confidential. My educated guess is that they deal with one case of a gun being found in a student’s backpack and another case of near-campus melee that resulted in the arrest of 4 juveniles.Are these e-mails public records? Must they be released if they contain no information that must legally be held confidential?
A: The emails you described in your submission are public records within the meaning of the California Public Records Act because, if your educated guess is correct, they contain information relating to the conduct of the public’s business (i.e., the oversight of the superintendent and school district over children at public schools). Cal. Gov’t Code section 6252(e). If the emails are not subject to any of the exemptions under the Public Records Act, they must be disclosed. Cal. Gov’t Code section 6253(a). Even if portions of the emails are properly withheld pursuant to an exemption, the remainder of the emails must be disclosed because any reasonably segregable portion of a record must be made available for inspection after deletion of the portions that are exempted by law. Cal. Gov’t Code section 6253(a).
Specifically, under the Public Records Act, certain information regarding crimes and the persons involved in those crimes must be disclosed under certain circumstances. Cal. Gov’t Code section 6254(f) of the Act mandates the disclosure of information regarding arrests and complaints or requests for assistance, but does not exclude information regarding juveniles from the disclosure requirements. However, if the emails relate to juveniles accused of perpetrating crimes (as the case appears to be here), access to them may be governed by the law regarding access to juvenile court records as opposed to the Public Records Act. Wescott v. County of Yuba, 104 Cal. App. 3d 103, 106 (1980) (Section 827 of the Welfare and Institutions Code expressly covers the confidentiality of juvenile court records and their release to third parties, and is controlling over the Public Records Act to the extent of any conflict); Cimarusti v. Superior Court, 79 Cal. App. 4th 799, 803-04 (2000).