PRIVACY POLICY
Rural Virtual Academy’s Commitments to Privacy
Rural Virtual Academy seeks to maximize every child’s potential by transforming the educational experience, and making it accessible, engaging and individualized.
This Privacy Policy lets you know how we collect, use, share and protect information that we may gather from ruralvirtual.org and Rural Virtual Academy’s other web sites (collectively, “Sites”). This policy also applies to information that we may collect from you outside of our Sites, such as over the phone, by fax, through conventional mail, or by other means. By using any of the Sites, you agree to accept the terms of this Privacy Policy that are in effect at the time of use, including any provisions pertaining to changes to the Privacy Policy.
What definitions apply to the Privacy Policy?
“Rural Virtual Academy” or “RVA” means Rural Virtual Academy and all of its subsidiaries and Affiliates. An “Affiliate” of Rural Virtual Academy is an entity that controls, is controlled by, or under common control with Rural Virtual Academy, where “control” means the possession, directly or indirectly, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management policies of an entity, whether through the ownership of securities, by contract or otherwise.
“Rural Virtual Academy School Program” means a school (whether private or public) or school district that offers curriculum and services provided by Rural Virtual Academy under a written agreement with Rural Virtual Academy.
“Local School” means a school district, individual public school, charter school or private school which contracts with Rural Virtual Academy for a specific Rural Virtual Academy School Program in which your child is or seeks to be enrolled.
“PII” means Personally Identifiable Information. PII is information that, alone or in combination, is linked or linkable to a specific person that would allow a reasonable person, who does not have personal knowledge of the relevant circumstances, to identify the person with reasonable certainty.
What laws generally apply to student records?
Your children’s education records will be protected by Rural Virtual Academy as required by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) and applicable state laws regarding the privacy of student records or PII. We will only disclose education records or provide access to them in compliance with FERPA and applicable state laws, and we will require third parties that contract with us and have access to education records to do the same. Rural Virtual Academy will not use PII to target a student for advertising, sell PII or use PII to create profiles about a student (other than for purposes of the student’s education in a Local School) when those activities are prohibited by law. Rural Virtual Academy will not use, or will seek permission to use, a student’s PII for purposes unrelated to providing or improving their education where required by law to do so. If any provision of this Privacy Policy conflicts with FERPA or other federal or state law, Rural Virtual Academy will comply with the more protective standard for the education records.
What non-personally identifiable information does Rural Virtual Academy collect?
Each time you visit our Sites, non-personally identifiable information is automatically entered into an information system. Such information includes your IP address (that is, the unique string of numbers that identifies the device you are using to communicate over the Internet), the name of the Web page from which you accessed our Site, the page or pages you visit on our Site, and how much time you spend on each page.
How does Rural Virtual Academy use non-personally identifiable information?
We use this information to monitor and improve our Site and for internal analysis. In particular, we use IP addresses to analyze traffic trends, administer the Site, and gather information for aggregate use. However, IP addresses, whether alone or in combination with other non-PII, are not linked to PII.
When does Rural Virtual Academy share non-personally identifiable information?
We will neither share (except with respect to “cookies”) nor sell non-PII to any third party, except that we may share non-PII i) if required to do so by law, such as by a court order, ii) if permitted to do so for law enforcement, health or safety purposes, iii) if collected within the OLS, to your child’s Local School, iv) to third parties that use it in connection with providing services related to the education of your child in the child’s Local School, or v) where permitted, to protect Rural Virtual Academy’s legal rights.
How do Rural Virtual Academy’s sites use “cookies”?
A “cookie” is a text file that is placed on your device by a Web page server. Our Sites use “cookies” to help personalize your online experience. Cookies are uniquely assigned to the device, but do not collect PII. We use cookies to keep track of how you are using the Sites to tailor Web content to your interests. If you have enrolled your children in a Rural Virtual Academy School Program, cookies will ease your access to the Rural Virtual Academy Online School (“OLS”) and navigation around the OLS. Rural Virtual Academy cookies do not contain personal information about the parent(s) or children enrolled in Rural Virtual Academy School Programs. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer.
We may use third-party cookies of other vendors (such as, but not limited to, Google), to help provide you with relevant information as you use the Internet. These third-party cookies may record that you visited our Sites, as well as the websites that you visited prior to visiting our Sites. Such cookies can then be used to serve relevant messages to you on other websites. The third party cookies do not collect PII.
You also have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. You can use the “help” feature of your browser to determine how to modify it to decline cookies. If, however, you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of our Sites or have some of our services on the Sites function properly.
You may choose to opt out of the use of third party cookies for marketing messages on other websites by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance Consumer Choice Page and opting out with those companies that participate in those choices. On the effective date of this policy, that site was located at http://www.aboutads.info/choices. You may also opt-out of the use of third party cookies for marketing messages on other websites by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt out page and opting out with those companies that participate on that site. On the effective date of this policy, that site was located at http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices. Opting out will not prevent advertisements from being served to you on the Internet; it will only affect advertisements that utilize cookies to serve messaging on the specified networks. We are not responsible for the activities of other parties that may not comply with your opt-out requests.
Does Rural Virtual Academy share information collected from cookies?
We will not disclose, share or sell non-aggregated information contained within cookies to any third party, except that we may do so if required by law, such as by a court order, or permitted to do so for law enforcement purposes. We may also share non-aggregated information contained within cookies in order to keep track of how you are using the Sites to tailor Web content to your interests.
What personally identifiable information does Rural Virtual Academy collect?
You can use portions of our Sites without divulging any PII. Our Sites do not collect personal information about individuals except when such individuals specifically provide such information on a voluntary basis (for example, when registering with a Local School for a Rural Virtual Academy School Program; requesting additional information by contacting us; signing up for a Rural Virtual Academy in-person event; posting a message to a message board; requesting help; engaging in an online chat; or accessing, adding to, or changing the information on your account information page on the OLS). When you register your children for a Rural Virtual Academy School Program or participate in a Local School, you are providing us with information regarding you and your children. This personal information may be collected on our Sites, or via telephone, facsimile or conventional mail. The types of information that you may be asked to provide, depending on what services you would like to receive, include but are not limited to: first and last name; postal address; telephone number; the names and ages of your children; the services you request; registration and enrollment information about your children; and an e-mail address where we can contact you. If you are enrolling in one of Rural Virtual Academy’s private schools or making a purchase from the Rural Virtual Academy store, we may also collect credit card information from you.
Does Rural Virtual Academy share personally identifiable information?
Registration and enrollment information that you provide may be provided to your Local School or to third parties as required by state or federal law or requested by your Local School. Information provided by you or the child may be provided to state and federal agencies, including law enforcement as may be required or permitted by law.
To the extent that third party vendors assist Rural Virtual Academy in the provision of online products or services, those vendors are provided the minimum amount of data required to perform the tasks for which they have been engaged, consistent with legal requirements, such as FERPA. They have no independent rights to such data and have agreed to maintain the confidentiality of the data, to use it solely for the purpose of performing the school-based tasks for which they have been engaged and to safeguard the data as required by law and by contract.
Only if permitted by state and federal law, Rural Virtual Academy may share your information with companies that are not affiliated with Rural Virtual Academy but that are interested in sending you information about their products and services. Also, only if permitted by applicable state and federal law, Rural Virtual Academy may share your information with other companies in order to improve the academic performance of Rural Virtual Academy School Programs or so that Rural Virtual Academy may offer products and services to you or provide you with information about products and services of third parties. You can request that your personal information not be shared with third parties by making a request in writing to charles.heckel@ruralvirtual.og
How does Rural Virtual Academy use personally identifiable information?
Rural Virtual Academy may use the PII to provide educational services to your children who are enrolled in a Local School, and to otherwise support your children and you with regard to matters such as testing, academic progress, attendance, customer service, student affairs or for health or safety purposes. Rural Virtual Academy may also use PII to protect its own legal rights.
Rural Virtual Academy responds to families who have requested information from us and to answer questions. Because we only call families at the telephone numbers they leave for us to provide the requested information, Rural Virtual Academy does not call people by generating random or sequential telephone numbers. Rural Virtual Academy may use pre-recorded messages when allowed by law in order to ensure that families receive the information they requested. Families do not have to consent to receive calls in order to receive Rural Virtual Academy’s services.
Once you have registered your children in a Local School for a Rural Virtual Academy School Program (whether you registered on our Sites, or through offline communications), there will be a personal information page on the OLS that contains some or all of your personal information. You may also be assigned a Member ID and password and may create, at your discretion, a Member ID for your children any time you are logged on to the OLS. If you designate someone other than yourself as a mentor, that person will also be assigned a Member ID. The Member IDs will be used to recognize you, the mentor and your children on the OLS. The Member IDs will allow Rural Virtual Academy to recognize: your first and last name; registration ID; type of account, such as teacher, administrator, parent, mentor or student (if you created a separate Member ID and password for your children or mentor); your child’s Local School; integration number; the e-mail address you provided, and the education records of your child associated with the account. The Member IDs and the OLS will also allow you and the mentor to track your children’s attendance, school work, and testing, and to submit relevant portions of same to Rural Virtual Academy, and/or your Local School to track your children’s progress and abide by state and/or federal standards and regulations.
Rural Virtual Academy and/or your Local School may use PII provided by you in the OLS to contact you or your child’s mentor about your child’s progress, testing, attendance, or other school issues or for customer service, and quality control procedures. The PII is also used to deliver services to you or your child’s Local School or to carry out activities that you or your child’s Local School has requested. Rural Virtual Academy also uses PII voluntarily supplied by you to fulfill requests for information, and to deliver requested services to you and your children.
Rural Virtual Academy will use or share PII if required to do so by law, such as a court order, or permitted to do so for law enforcement, health or safety purposes or to protect Rural Virtual Academy’s legal rights.
If permitted by applicable state and federal law, Rural Virtual Academy may use your information to provide you with information about new products and services available through Rural Virtual Academy and may aggregate PII to improve the educational experience or to determine how Rural Virtual Academy’s educational products and services may interest other persons.
How does Rural Virtual Academy treat information about children under 13 years old?
We understand that children who are under 13 years of age need enhanced safeguards and privacy protection, as set forth in the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). COPPA protects the information privacy of children under the age of 13 by requiring web site operators and online services to post privacy policies and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting information from those children.
Rural Virtual Academy receives personal information about children who are under the age of 13 strictly from their parents or guardians at the time those children are enrolled into a Local School using a Rural Virtual Academy School Program. The only information received directly from your children is the information they provide (such as test answers, electronic mail and class discussions) in the OLS as part of their education in a Rural Virtual Academy School Program.
Other than through the OLS, the Sites do not solicit children to provide personal information. We also do not knowingly contact or collect PII from children under 13.
Nevertheless, we want to provide assurances that information about young children is safe. If you want to notify us that we have inadvertently received information for a child under the age of 13 as, for example, by fraud or deception by others, please email us at charles.heckel@ruralvirtual.org. Also, you can review certain personal information that Rural Virtual Academy has regarding your children by making such a request in writing to charles.heckel@ruralvirtual.org.
For information on COPPA and the use of children’s personal information, please contact:
Rural Virtual Academy
624 College Street, Rm 104
Medford, WI 54451
charles.heckel@ruralvirtual.org
What information is collected or shared on message boards and chats?
We may offer message boards and chat rooms to you on our Sites. Please be aware that anyone may read your postings on a message board or in a chat room. Furthermore, all information which you submit to be posted to a message board or in a chat room will be available to all users of that message board or chat room, and is therefore no longer private. We cannot guarantee the security of such information that you disclose or communicate online in public areas such as message boards and chat rooms, and you do so at your own risk. We reserve the right, but not the obligation, to monitor the content of the message boards only and to republish your postings from message boards or chat rooms elsewhere on the Web or otherwise in any format.
What happens when I link to other websites, chat rooms or resources from Rural Virtual Academy’s Sites?
The Sites may contain links to other websites, chat rooms, or other resources that we provide for your convenience (“Linked Sites”). These sites are not under the control of Rural Virtual Academy, and Rural Virtual Academy is not responsible for the content available on any Linked Site or the actions of any Linked Site. Such links do not imply Rural Virtual Academy’s endorsement of material on any Linked Site, and Rural Virtual Academy expressly disclaims all liability with regard to your access to such Linked Sites. Access to any other websites linked to the Sites is at your own risk. You should review the Privacy Policy that may be set forth on the Linked Sites as those websites are not covered by this Privacy Policy.
What is Rural Virtual Academy’s commitment to data security?
To reduce the risk of unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place commercially reasonable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect. We also use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol on your account information and registration pages to protect sensitive personal information. We encrypt credit card numbers that you provide to us. As effective as our safeguards are, no security system for data is completely impenetrable. Therefore, Rural Virtual Academy cannot guarantee that PII you supply will not be intercepted by others.
What happens if Rural Virtual Academy’s corporate structure changes?
If all or part of Rural Virtual Academy is sold, merged or otherwise transferred to another entity, the personal information you have provided at these Sites may be transferred as part of that transaction or process. However, Rural Virtual Academy will take steps to assure that the personal information is used in a manner consistent with the Rural Virtual Academy Privacy Policy under which it was collected. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act protects your children’s educational records, in the event of such a transaction or transfer.
Will this Privacy Policy change?
We will occasionally amend this Privacy Policy to reflect company and customer feedback or changes in the law. We reserve the right to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this policy at any time. If Rural Virtual Academy materially changes its use of your personal information, we will announce such a change on the OLS, and will also note it in this Privacy Policy. If we make any changes to this Privacy Policy, we will post the revised policy. The effective date of this Privacy Policy is documented as below, at the statement of the Privacy Policy’s most recent update. If you have any questions about Rural Virtual Academy’s Privacy Policy, please contact us in writing at charles.heckel@ruralvirtual.org.
Privacy Policy last updated December 5, 2018.