Your privacy and the safety of children are our top priorities. Learn how we protect and handle your information.
(Including COPPA and PPRA Compliance)
Classroom Dynamics, Inc. (the company) values the 1. rights to privacy of children and all its users as called for as part of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") and 2. the rights of pupils and parents and the obligations of school districts as part of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (“PPRA”), also known as the Hatch Amendment (20 U.S.C. § 1232h).
This Privacy Policy is designed to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA"). It contains essential information about how we collect, use, and disclose the personal information we collect from children under 13 years old who interact with our classroom application on our Services, https://classneighbors.com and https://classpeers.com
This Privacy Policy is also designed to ensure that the company and all school districts meet their obligations under the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment ("PPRA") and other applicable state and local requirements that address the same, as well as any additional rights mandated by states above the Federal enacted PPRA.
Background: The ClassNeighborsTM program was inspired by an idea from a now-retired schoolteacher and shared with millions through the public domain starting in 2014. The mother of a student in the retired teacher's class shared the idea in national media outlets in a heartfelt, storytelling manner. ClassNeighborsTM adopted the benefits of this idea, digitized procedures using customized online templates, and developed original computer code to process data entered by students. The system's output provides automated historical trend data to help teachers identify children in their classrooms who may need extra support.
This Privacy Policy describes how Classroom Dynamics, Inc. provides the Services of the ClassNeighborsTM Program and the ClassPeersTM Program (collectively, the "Programs") to help teachers periodically monitor the social climate in their classrooms. The information from the Programs should only supplement teachers' and school staff's direct observations. The Programs are meant solely to offer additional insights into the social dynamics of the classroom. By recognizing trends in the social climate, teachers can gain extra information to help create a safer learning environment for all students.
The Classroom Dynamics, Inc. Programs are designed to offer additional insights into classroom social interactions and to share ideas for classroom activities that can be used as a complement to, not a substitute for, direct observations by educators, input from school personnel, and feedback from parents or guardians. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can make mistakes, so verify any results from "Ask ClassNeighbors?" or "Ask ClassPeers?" before relying on them. We utilize our own private large language model supported by OpenAI's ChatGPT. Before considering any supplementary perspectives on classroom social interactions or ideas for classroom activities derived from the Services from the Programs or similar educational resources, it is the obligation of the school district administration to ensure that you have secured all necessary approvals from your school district administration, as per school district policies and procedures.
Classroom Dynamics, Inc. is committed to protecting user privacy in accordance with applicable laws. Classroom Dynamics, Inc. offers polling categories and suggested questions within each category to help ensure compliance with PPRA, which should not require advanced parental or legal guardian permission. However, seek legal counsel before conducting any student polls to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
Because school district administrators and classroom teachers can customize student polling inquiries, they are solely responsible for ensuring that all inquiries comply with the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA, also known as the Hatch Amendment, 20 U.S.C. § 1232h), relevant state and local laws, and school board policies. This includes obtaining parental consent in advance, offering opt-out options, and following restrictions on collecting or sharing protected student information. Classroom Dynamics, Inc. does not monitor or verify compliance and disclaims liability for any user's failure to comply with COPPA or PPRA.
It is recommended that the proper utilization of Classroom Dynamics, Inc. programs be incorporated into the school district's other regular PPRA compliance training, such as staff professional development days or similar training sessions.
Classroom Dynamics, Inc. may partner with foundations, non-profits, or for-profit entities to make our Services available to schools and other educational organizations. While providing these Services, Classroom Dynamics, Inc. may come into contact with information, including personal information, from the end-user throughout our platform. Some, but not all, content within our Services is built for children under 13. This COPPA and PPRA Privacy Policy applies to the information we collect from children under 13 through Classroom Dynamics, Inc. tools and technology directed toward children. Classroom Dynamics, Inc. will handle children's personal information as described in this COPPA and PPRA Policy. Any personal information we collect about other users (e.g., adults) will be treated in accordance with this Classroom Dynamics, Inc. Privacy Policy ("Privacy Policy").
Safeguards have been further developed to protect student data. These features include requiring a teacher to be logged into their program platform before students can access the program and begin polling. If the teacher is not logged in, students will not be able to access the program. Another security feature is automatic logoff after 20 minutes of inactivity, which closes teacher and student access to the program, which helps ensure data security.
The use of our Services and any dispute regarding privacy are subject to this COPPA and PPRA Policy, as well as our Terms of Service. Classroom Dynamics, Inc. is not responsible for damages and the resolution of disputes. Our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy are incorporated by reference into this COPPA and PPRA Policy.
Classroom Dynamics, Inc. operates our application and sites, and we will collect children's personal information as approved in advance by the school district administration, in accordance with this COPPA and PPRA Policy and our Privacy Policy.
As explained in more detail below, we collect some personal information about classroom dynamics from children to monitor student interactions on our platform. Data is kept solely for trend analysis. Students' "Personally Identifiable Information" (PII), if ever compromised, will only reflect current and previous snapshots, or a moment in time, when the student provided this information.
As required by PPRA, advanced permission from parents is necessary to inquire in the following areas;
Classroom Dynamics, Inc. has attempted to structure polling question options in compliance with PPRA, assuming no parental consent. You should always consult legal counsel for your school district's proper interpretation of Federal PPRA and State guidelines before polling students when you use our formatted polling question options or create customized polling questions by members of the school district.
The platform services of CleverTM and ClassLinkTM are utilized by Classroom Dynamics, Inc. as single sign-on platforms and are managed by their respective school districts. We collect information from children through their use of our Services. We cannot require a child to disclose information that COPPA and the PPRA prohibit.
For all children accessing our platform, at the school district's discretion, we are provided with the child's first name and last name. We do not ask children for their complete name, but CleverTM or ClassLinkTM might supply it. A teacher within our platform is associated with their classroom. The teacher will verify, through the CleverTM or ClassLinkTM platform or their independent use, individual children in their classroom. We use the child's first name and last name, as well as general classroom information that is not specific to any one child. No other information is required to use the platform. If a parent directs us to stop collecting and using a child's personal information, we must request that the school district disable their use of our program for that child, ensuring that no data is collected or used.
A teacher must open the Site so children can make any selections on the app. When the teacher closes the app, children no longer have access to the Site. We DO NOT automatically collect information about a child's use of our Site through cookies and other technologies.
We collect variable information about children's selections on our Site, such as:
"If we had new seats next week, select four students you would like to sit with."
"Select one student you feel deserves to be our Citizen of the Week and why?"
Do you feel the school provides a safe learning environment for all of its students?
This information is intended for the internal use of school administration and teacher staff only and will not be disclosed to any other entities. We do not use this information in personally identifiable form for commercial purposes. From time to time, Classroom Dynamics, Inc. may aggregate data to identify macro trends using our algorithm and a respected large language model and share that information with interested parties without identifying specific students, teachers, or school districts.
We use personal information collected from children for the following purposes:
We de-identify and/or aggregate the information we collect from children under 13 before we use it for any other purposes, as noted below.
A. Unique Identifiers. We only collect and use unique identifiers as necessary to operate our Site or Services, including to maintain or analyze their functionality, perform network communications, authenticate users, personalize content, and protect the security or integrity of users and our Site and Services. We never use unique identifiers to track users across third-party apps or websites.
B. Aggregate or De-identified Information. We may use aggregate or de-identified information about children for research, analysis, and similar purposes. When we do so, we strip out any specific names, email addresses, contact information, and other personal identifiers that have been provided to us by a teacher or school district. We may use aggregate or de-identified data for the following purposes:
We do not sell children's personal information, and a child may not make their personal information public through our services. In general, we may disclose the personal information that we collect about children provided by our Services to comply with the law and to protect Classroom Dynamics, Inc. and other users of our Application Services. For example, we may share children's personal information as follows:
Parents have the right to review the information we have collected about their children, delete it, and request that we stop using it. Parents should request the information collected from their child by having their school district's administration make a written request to info@ClassNeighbors.com. You will be required to authenticate yourself as the child's parent or guardian to the school district administration to receive information submitted by your child. Please note that copies of information may remain in cached or archived form on our systems after you request us to delete it.
This COPPA and PPRA Policy is current as of the Effective Date set forth above. We reserve the right to modify this COPPA and PPRA Policy from time to time. Please check back periodically for updates. We will post any changes to this COPPA and PPRA Policy on our Websites at www.ClassNeighbors.com or www.ClassPeers.com If we make any changes to this COPPA and PPRA Policy that materially affect our practices regarding the personal information we have previously collected from a child, we will endeavor to provide you with notice in advance of such change by highlighting the change on our Site and by direct notification upon login or via email.