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The sheer volume of official vital documents that a typical school system is required to maintain can be immense. From the time a student starts kindergarten, a set of vital records is generated, creating a body of information which expands throughout the student’s academic life. Vital school records contain highly sensitive, private information, and there are a plethora of laws and policies to govern the handling, management and protection of such information. In order to identify and highlight some of these issues, FireKing Office Products sat down with Karen Volner of Corporate Express, St. Paul, Minnesota to discuss the need for schools and educational organizations to address Vital Records Protection.

FireKing Office Products (FK): How long have you been offering Vital Records Protection solutions to Minnesota schools?
Karen Volner (KV), Corporate Express: We have been a supplier to schools since the inception of St. Paul Book and Stationery in 1841; as a formal entity of Corporate Express since 1983.

FK: For a typical MN school or school district, what sort of information comprises a vital record that requires special protection?
KV: Student Records, Employee Records, Health Records, Special Ed and personal counseling data --  specifically in the nurses office and counselors offices. Given new security issues and the fact that many school now have law enforcement staff on site - the issue of gun safes is also a consideration.

FK: Are there any regulations or laws that require MN schools to maintain and protect their records?
KV: None that I am specifically aware of - but given that student records include health records HIPPA does have stipulations that drive compliance for school.  Not only health records - but psychological records and testing data from school Counselors, Special Ed, etc.

FK: Have there been any recent changes in regulations or laws (or major events) that have brought the topic of vital records protection for MN schools to the forefront?
KV:  School are under the impression that vaults offer enough protection in many cases -- however, these vault rooms remain open throughout many hours of the day and are not secure enough.  There is also some question regarding fire protection.  There are a lot of OLD fire files in schools that I think are beyond their ability to protect from fire -- old wet pour models.  Another big concern for schools is the conversion of student records and data to magnetic media.  Off site storage is used by some schools but again, no research is available to determine if these sites have fire protection, etc.

FK: What are some of the major challenges faced by MN school administrators and educators, as they go about taking measures to protect their vital records?
KV:  Knowledge, budgets and lack of legislations driving privacy protection of students and family.