SCHOOL LOOP PRIVACY NOTICE

(last updated July 2014)

 

Welcome! School Loop, Inc. (“School Loop” or “us” or “we”) welcomes you to our website at www.schoolloop.com (the “School Loop Site”).

We provide several services. Our website system is used to create publicly accessible web pages. School Loop Plus is a school-to-home communication and collaboration service that helps teachers, students, school staff, and parents share information about student home assignments, grades, and other school-related information. OnTrackEDU is a social dashboard system that helps education professionals support students and lead effective schools. We refer to our online applications and our website together as the “Service,” and all the different types of people who have accounts on the service as “Users.”

This Privacy Notice details important information regarding the use and disclosure of information submitted by Users to the Service, as well as information collected by the Service. This Privacy Notice is incorporated into and is subject to the School Loop Terms of Service. Your use of the School Loop Site and the Service and any information you provide on the School Loop Site or to the Service remains subject to the terms of this Privacy Notice and our Terms of Service.

If we decide to change our privacy practices, we will post those changes on this page and in the “News” section of the Service. Please check this page for changes from time to time to make sure you are aware of our latest privacy practices.

 

Your Privacy

School Loop recognizes that School Loop Users value their privacy. School Loop understands that when a User chooses to submit information to the Service, that User trusts us to act in a responsible manner. We provide this Privacy Notice to help you better understand how we protect the information submitted to the Service and who has access to the information posted by you or about you on the Service.

 

 

Who Has Access to the Service?

School Loop Plus is the only service that includes parents and students as Users. One-to-one communication between adults and children is limited to school staff, and all communication is accessible by administrators. In addition, any adult who wishes to view a student’s homework information must register with a valid ID number and have his or her membership reviewed by the affected student, who may challenge the registration.

School Loop Standard is designed for staff members and other adults that the School District gives web publishing rights. OnTrackEDU is designed for education professionals who have rights to student information as defined by FERPA (the Family Education Right Protection Act).

 

Who Sets the Information Access Rules for the Service?

Each school or school district sets the rules for accessing the information on the Service by configuring the privacy settings for the Service. Note, Districts have privacy policies in place that govern access to information. In general, the principles outlined below apply.

 

What Kind of Personal Information is Stored in the Service? Who has access to this information?

The following personal information is stored in the Service with respect to Teachers:

  • From the school district: first and last name, ID number, schedule (such as course titles, course id’s, section id’s, term, and roster)
  • From the school administrator: email addresses
  • From the individual teacher: edits to the first and last name submitted by the school district, login, password, and changes (if any) to the email address provided by the school administrator

School Loop staff has full access to all of the above information in order to provide the Service, including providing technical support. Anyone with administrative rights to the Service has access to all of the above information except passwords, which are not viewable, but can be reset, by the administrator. Individual teachers have access to their own information. Students have access to the course name and the teacher name for their schedules.

The following personal information is stored in the Service with respect to Students:

  • From the school district: first, middle, and last name, id number, student id number(s), student schedules (course title, course id, section id, term, start dates), and performance data for OnTrackEDU (GPA, credits earned, behavior information such as referral and suspension counts, assessment scores such as CST or CAHSEE). Personal information may also include first, middle, and last name, permanent id number, state ID, local id number, birth date, enrollment date, email address, address, gender, grade level, ethnicity, disability, disadvantaged, ELL status, language, GATE, migrant education, cohort year, homeroom.
  • From the individual student: login, password, email address (if applicable)

School Loop staff has full access to all of the above information in order to provide the Service, including providing technical support. Anyone with administrative rights to the Service has access to all of the above information except passwords, which are not viewable, but can be reset, by the administrator or by a member of the school staff. Teachers have access to student id’s, student schedules (including the names of each class, the period, and the teacher), logins and email addresses, and can reset passwords (but not view them).

The following personal information is stored in the Service with respect to School Staff:

  • From the school administrator: first and last names, email addresses
  • From the individual staff member: edits to the first and last name submitted by the school administrator, login, password, changes (if any) to the email address provided by the school administrator, the staff member’s role when joining a student’s loop

School Loop staff has full access to all of the above information in order to provide the Service, including providing technical support. Teachers and anyone with administrative rights to the Service has access to all of the above information except passwords, which are not viewable, but can be reset, by the administrator. Individual staff have access to their own information.

The following personal information is stored in the Service with respect to Parents:

  • From the individual parent: login, password, first and last name, telephone, email address, language

School Loop staff has full access to all of the above information in order to provide the Service, including providing technical support. Anyone with administrative rights to the Service has access to all of the above information except passwords, which are not viewable, but can be reset, by the administrator. Teachers can access name, telephone, and email address. Individual parents have access to their own information.

 

What Kind of Content is Stored in the Service? Who Has Access to this Content?

  • From the school administrator: LoopMail, news, discussions, and group messages
  • From teachers: assignments, grades, LoopMail, news, discussions, interventions, and group messages
  • From staff: LoopMail, news, discussions, interventions, and group messages
  • From student: homework turned in, LoopMail, discussions, and group messages

School Loop staff has full access to all of the above information in order to provide the Service, including providing technical support. Anyone with administrative rights to the Service also has access to all of the above information. The intended audience for news, discussions, and group messages has access to the applicable content. Teachers and staff can view content posted for courses (like homework, notes, and locker contents) on course sites. Teachers and staff can also view posted grades and student intervention files and discussions via a student’s record, provided that there is a setting at the school level that can turn off the grades access. Students and parents can access posted content for their current or past courses if they are the targeted audience. Access to a student’s grades by the student or the student’s parents depends on the policy set by the school or school district. The Service allows a school’s system administrator to program the access settings in the Service accordingly. Rights to this content can be restricted by district administration.

 

What Information does the Service or the School Loop Site Collect? How do we Use It?

When feasible, School Loop automatically collects your IP address. We also automatically collect and store statistics and other information about you and your online activities in an aggregated, non-personally identifiable basis. This information helps school administrators assess and manage the School Loop system.

Google Analytics is used internally by School Loop for development and improvement purposes. Google Analytics collects aggregated usage statistics on School Loop. We use this information to evaluate the effectiveness of our interface, and to evaluate the level of use of various features. Google Analytics is not intended to track data about individuals. Note, this data will never be sold to a third party.

 

When Will School Loop Disclose the Information it Collects to Outside Parties?

School Loop may store and disclose personal information as allowed or required by applicable law, including making disclosures that are necessary or advisable to: (a) protect the rights, safety or property of users of the Service or the School Loop Site, the public, or School Loop or our web site suppliers; (b) conform to legal or regulatory requirements; (c) with the district’s permission, to deliver additional subcontracted services run by third parties. These integrations are governed by the district’s privacy policy.

Google Analytics is used internally by School Loop for development and improvement purposes. Note, this data will never be sold to a third party. Google Analytics collects aggregated usage statistics on School Loop. We use this information to evaluate the effectiveness of our interface, and to evaluate the level of use of various features. Google Analytics is not intended to track data about individuals. We do not otherwise disclose personal information collected by the Service to third parties.

 

How does School Loop Protect Personal Information?

We take reasonable steps to protect the data we collect from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. We do this by implementing industry-standard security procedures for storing and accessing information. However, you should be aware that we cannot ensure that all of your private communications and other personally identifiable information will never be disclosed in ways not otherwise described in this Privacy Notice. By way of example (without limiting the foregoing), we may be forced to disclose information to the government or third parties under certain circumstances; third parties may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications; or users may abuse or misuse your information that they collect from our site.

 

What about “cookies”?

“Cookies” are small pieces of information that are transferred to your browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive. Our cookies enable us to provide you with more personal service. Cookies also allow us to track usage patterns, trends and other aggregate visitor information. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually change your browser to prevent that if you would rather not store the information for future use. Please be aware, however, that if you choose not to store a cookie, you will need to login repeatedly, because cookies are what we use to manage your sessions. We may also collect certain technical and routing information about your computer to facilitate your use of the site and its services (such as browser type, operating system and the Internet Protocol (“IP”) address of your computer). We do not match such information with any of your personal information without expressly informing you in each particular instance. We do not capture IP or other personally identifiable information.

 

Third-party Sites

We may offer links to third party sites from our site. Please note that we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of any non-School Loop sites to which we may link. You should review the privacy policy of such sites before using the sites or providing any personal information.

 

Third-Party Integration

By enabling any third party services (e.g. choosing to connect to and access Google Drive, a third party service, through your School Loop locker), you agree that School Loop is not responsible for the accuracy, legality, availability or reliability of any such third party services, the acts or omissions of any providers of such third party services or any information made available in connection with such third party services. Please remember that the manner in which such third party services use, store and disclose your information is governed solely by the policies of such third parties, and School Loop will have no liability or responsibility for the privacy practices or other actions of any provider of such third party service. As such, you agree not to seek to hold School Loop liable or responsible for any damage or loss caused by or in connection with the use of such third party services. School Loop enables these features merely as a convenience and the integration or inclusion of such features does not imply an endorsement or recommendation.

 

Business Transitions

In the event School Loop goes through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, your personally identifiable information will likely be among the assets transferred. You will be notified via a notice on our Web site for 30 days from any such change in ownership or control.

 

Your Consent and Changes to this Privacy Policy

By using the Service, you consent to the collection and use of this information by School Loop. If we decide to change our privacy practices, we will post those changes on this page and in the “News” section of the Service. Please check this page for changes from time to time to make sure you are aware of our latest privacy practices.

 

Update your Information or Preferences

You can access and update your contact information and preferences by going to the Account Management page on your home page and following the instructions on that page. However, to the extent that such information is also stored in other databases, we cannot always ensure that such corrections or deletions will immediately reach the other databases.

As School Loop is a product for schools and school districts, access to student login and password information is made available to school staff. This policy is in line with the rights and responsibilities afforded to schools under State and Federal statute. All material published on School Loop by students is considered public. For parents and other adults, access to specific passwords is denied.

 

Questions and Feedback

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or to provide us with feedback to help us improve our policies, please contact us by email at [email protected].