Schill v. Wisconsin Rapids School District, 2010 WI 86, 327 Wis. 2d 572, 786 N.W.2d 177

Wisconsin drafted its public records law before email technology existed. This case involved an open records request for personal emails that teachers sent and received on government email and computer systems. Abrahamson held that Wisconsin’s Public Records Law is a powerful tool for keeping track of government, and email generally qualifies as a “record” under that law. However, personal emails that evince no violation of law or policy should not be released to the public simply because they were sent and received on government email and computer systems.