Child Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance

This document outlines Manzano Day School’s policy regarding the sharing of student information digitally with third party software vendors.

In our effort to provide Manzano Day School students the best possible learning experience, the school utilizes a variety of technologies, including free and purchased cloud based software operated by third parties.

In order to utilize these applications most effectively, some require the collection of student information (typically a username/password combination or occasionally an age, in order to tailor services to a particular age group).

Any company that knowingly collects information about or from children under the age of 13 in the United States is governed by the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This law requires that any time a company knowingly collects information about or from children under the age of 13, they must notify the parent/guardian of the child as to what information they are collecting, how they will use that information, and what their privacy policy is regarding that information.

In order to expedite matters for schools utilizing technology specifically for use as a school tool, COPPA permits schools to act on behalf of parents in providing consent for students to utilize software and accept and approve the privacy policy. Manzano Day School does act in this manner on behalf of your child(ren) when utilizing educational software applications in the school learning environment.

Please know that we do not take this matter lightly; Manzano Day School is committed to the safety and security of our students at all times, including in the digital environment. We carefully vet all software and privacy policies, and limit the information provided to third party suppliers by using anonymized usernames and generic birth dates (where applicable) in order to ensure the continued safety and security of the entire Manzano Day School community.

At this time, Manzano Day School is utilizing a handful of software applications that collect information about students (limited to username/passwords and/or age), or share information about students with other applications. Those applications include: TypingPal, StudyDog, BrainPop, Seesaw, Google Apps for Education, Khan Academy, and Code.org. We believe that these vendors are serious about protecting student information, and as part of our commitment to the safety and security of our students, we have taken additional steps to prevent information collected by these vendors from being of value, or allowing for personal identification, should their security protocols be breached.