14 Del. Admin. Code § 716 – Maintenance of School District and Charter School Personnel Records

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Office of the Secretary

700 Finance and Personnel

716 Maintenance of School District and Charter School Personnel Records

1.0 Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this regulation, shall have the following meaning:

"Delaware Public Archives" or "DPA" means the division within the Department of State that is charged with administering, implementing, and enforcing all provisions of the Delaware Public Records Law.

"Employee" means any person whose terms of employment are adequate to qualify the employee for the earning of credit toward pension.

"Termination" means, not only retirement, but any reason the employee leaves the district or charter school.

2.0 Records Retention

2.1 Records for all school district and charter school employees shall be kept up to date including:
1. 2.1.1 Salary data records for each year of employment in the school district or charter school. Total salary paid identified as fiscal or calendar; and
2. 2.1.2 Records that show sick leave days earned and used and the number of days available at any time; and
3. 2.1.3 The record of vacation time for those employees whose terms of employment provide for earned vacation.
2.2 All forms and documents that become part of the Delaware Teacher Growth and Support System or DTGSS, Delaware Performance Appraisal System II or DPAS II, or an alternative system approved by the Department of Education shall be retained in the employee's digital or hardcopy personnel file until there are at least 5 complete summative evaluations. The oldest complete set of evaluation forms and documents may be purged from the personnel file once the sixth set is complete.

3.0 Records Retention

3.1 Each school district and charter school shall keep the records referred to in Section 2.0 for all employees’ inactive personnel files for at least 50 years following termination of employment.
3.2 For the security of records and the protection of the employee for whom the information is recorded, it is recommended that original records are to be maintained at the school district or charter school for 3 years after termination of an employee and a successful audit of the records. Records shall be purged in accordance with theDelaware Public Archives School Districts General Records Retention Scheduleand prepared for storage according to theDelaware Public Archives Records Management Handbook Preparation of Records for Short-Term Storage. Records shall remain in their original digital or hardcopy format and shall then be transferred to DPA and retained in storage for the balance of the 50 required years. District and charter school records officers and authorized agents may request files from storage in accordance with DPA’s procedures for requesting files. At the end of the retention period, the documents will be destroyed in accordance with DPA's destruction procedures.
3.3 The style and form of the records shall be at the discretion of the school districts or charter schools, except that records transferred to the DPA for storage shall be in a format acceptable to DPA. Individual school districts and charter schools may elect to have their records recorded onto a different type of media at district expense, in accordance with DPA guidelines. The information referred to in subsection 3.3 shall be maintained and available for any employee or former employee seeking information concerning the employee's own employment records for a period of 50 years after termination of employment. It is recommended that for the convenience of employees and former employees that school districts and charter schools develop an alphabetically arranged file showing the name of each employee and the disposition of the employee's records.

20 DE Reg. 801 (04/01/17)

25 DE Reg. 170 (08/01/21)

29 DE Reg. 399 (11/01/25)

9 DE Reg. 395 (09/01/05)

12 DE Reg. 443 (10/01/08)

20 DE Reg. 801 (04/01/17)

25 DE Reg. 170 (08/01/21)

29 DE Reg. 399 (11/01/25)

4 DE Reg. 989 (12/01/00)

9 DE Reg. 395 (09/01/05)

12 DE Reg. 443 (10/01/08)

20 DE Reg. 801 (04/01/17)