Can charter school board members meet for coffee or lunch? Yes — as long as school business is not discussed. Personal conversation is fine. Discussing budgets, personnel, or policies privately can violate open meeting laws. Can board members discuss school business during informal meetings? No. Any conversation about school operations or policies should occur only in properly noticed public meetings. Can a board member send an email to another board member about school business? It depends. Emails about logistics may be okay, but substantive discussions about policies or decisions could violate open meeting laws. What about group emails to the full board? Group emails discussing school business function like a virtual meeting and can violate open meeting laws. Reply-all chains may accumulate into prohibited deliberations. Can board members follow up on a topic already discussed in a public meeting via email? Follow-ups may be risky if they involve new deliberation. Sharing factual updates is generally acceptable. Can board members use private email accounts? Not recommended. School-provided accounts ensure communications are archived and accessible for public records requests. Who is responsible for archiving board emails? Typically the board or school administration, often through the custodian of records (board secretary or school leader). Boards cannot set arbitrary deletion policies; state laws dictate retention periods. Do emails have to be archived based on state sunshine laws? Yes. Retention periods vary by state, typically 1–7 years depending on content. Policies deleting emails after 30 days are generally noncompliant.
