I believe the nation has the right to know what was going on. If this is not made public then anyone who is paid with our tax dollars will be able to get away with this type of behavior.There is enough problems in our schools. We don't need the people who are supposed to be educating our children contribting to it.

Sex in emails. Personally, I'd say the public has a right to know, which doesn't necessarily mean a news organization should make the judgment to publish them.

While not particularly moral, and an apparent violation of school policy, I think it's nobody else's business except for those directly involved and their families. As far as I can tell, no children were hurt by their actions.

In my opinion : if they must be published, print them out into a book accessible at the court house. Can you imagine how much $$$ we have wasted reading , commenting , discussing , passing on , these e mails ? And..... so much taxpayers money again. I am sure she is not the only one doing stuff wrong on the school systems computers - why not publish everything ?

Emails such as these are of prurient interest, and not conducive to proper public exposure. Remember children can read the Paper and they will form opinions about teachers and figure of authority. And those opinions won't be good and won't encourage discipline in the class room or anywhere else. .

As an employee of a school district, I and my colleagues have been instructed multiple times about what can and cannot be said in our emails. We are public employees and must consider ethical guidelines when communicating with parents, students, and other educators. The guiding principle that we are asked to follow at my school is "Would you be willing to have what you are writing in your email published on the front page of the Des Moines Register?" I guess Ms. Sebring missed that professional development session.

It doesn't matter whether we are entitled to them or not because if the Register gets a juicy story like that just dumped in its lap, the paper is going to run with it. The publisher is in the business of selling papers, and sex probably sells papers better than anything else. That's fine with me because I want the Register to remain a financially healthy enterprise so I can contine to enjoy the paper every day.

School adminstrators have a responsibilty= but they still have a personal life. What is different from them than some of our presidents, congressman, etc.

Absolutely!! As a City Councilman I know Im held to represent people in a professional manor. Anyone whose salary is paid by tax payer dollars should be held to a hgher standard. If you want to send a personal email to someone then do it from your own email account, not the tax payers. Emails are paid for by "tax dollars" to provide a fast link of communication in dealing with day to day operations or running a department. You are held accountable to do your job.

I wonder if the bigger error was the DM school board for covering up Ms. Sebring's violation of district policy.

It's not just a violation of the school tech policy, it's a violation of the public trust. When you agree to take a public sector job (including schools) and you utilize the public's tools for personal use, even if it's for a private conversation you have violated that public trust.

The school board also violated the public's trust, and should have not allowed Sebring to resign, but should have fired her.

Court should make records public. Display vehicles (Register, Wikileaks, some hacker's blog) should use good judgement, probably in the same amount Sebring used when writing them. I'm much more interested in the e-mail chain for Dr. Snake Wendt up in Ankeny.

Shane: I agree to an extent. But by releasing them, does the punishment fit the crime? She's already lost a job and suffered humiliation -- and is no longer a public official. At what point does it become piling on?

If for no other reason this will be a cautionary tale of why one should never ever use their work e-mail address as their own private e-mail address!

Public records mean that the correspondence is open to the public. If this policy is changed just because the nature of the communication is embarrassing, then it sets a precedence that other public records can be barred from the public for most any other reason. And how about the Des Moines School Board protecting her? It makes me wonder what else they hide from the constituents they serve.

The dm rag should be ashamed for asking after the first round. They showed proof of why she really left and that the board was perpitrating a cover up on the Omaha school board. Since that board are Big Red deciples I am personally ok with them trying to pass on the dm problem. Mel... Just kidding please don't censor me. :-) Sebring lost her new job and is no longer a public figure. Game over .... Move on. There is no more public need to publish this smut except to turn into a tabloid. The NEWS has been reported. Unless Sebring is brought up on fraud or other legal issues, why do we need to have those emails released? There is no public benefit.

I don't see why anyone except nosy gossipers should care. She violated a policy, one of many she was supposed to see are implemented properly. She paid for it. It's done. Move on people.