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Privacy Policy

The Branson School – Privacy Policy

Effective Date: February 26, 2020

Welcome to The Branson School’s website (https://www.branson.org/) (the “Website”). Your privacy is important to The Branson School (the “School,” “we,” “us” or “our”). We are committed to respecting the privacy of all who visit our Website. This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) covers information that we collect about you when you visit and interact with our Website and describes how we collect, use, share, and protect that information. Please review this Privacy Policy carefully. By accessing the Website, you acknowledge and agree to this Privacy Policy, and consent to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.  IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY, DO NOT ACCESS OR USE THE WEBSITE.    

1. The Information We Collect.

(a) Information That You Provide.  Depending on how you use the Website, you may voluntarily choose to provide us with personal information, which includes any information that identifies or can be used to identify, contact or locate you (“Personal Information”). Examples include your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. Whether you choose to share your Personal Information with us is completely up to you, but please keep in mind that you may not be able to effectively use parts of the Website and related functionality without sharing your Personal Information. Below are some examples of when we may collect Personal Information from you.

(i) Registration and Portals

(A) We will collect certain Personal Information from you, such as your name and email address, if you register for the Website and create an account (“Account”) as a parent of a student that attends the School (“Parent”) or an alumni of the School (“Alumni”). After you create an Account as a Parent or an Alumni, you will be redirected to a third party website that hosts the School’s parent or alumni platform, as applicable. Blackbaud, an independent third party, operates those third party websites, and your use of such platforms and all Personal Information you provide on such platforms are subject to Blackbaud’s terms of use and privacy policy. 

(B) The School’s student platform is hosted on a third party website, operated by PowerSchool Learning, an independent third party. Students register and create an account directly with PowerSchool Learning. Your use of the student platform and all Personal Information you provide on that platform is subject to PowerSchool Learning’s terms of use and privacy policy

(ii) Online Giving. We will collect certain Personal Information from you if you make a donation through the School’s “Online Donation Form.” Such Personal Information includes your name, address, and amount of your donation. Online donation transactions are processed by Blackbaud, an independent third party. The credit card information that you provide in connection with a donation is not stored by us, but is stored and used by Blackbaud, for them to process your donation. If you wish to make an online donation, your Personal Information relating to such donation will be collected by Blackbaud and will be subject to Blackbaud’s terms of use and privacy policy. By clicking the “donate” button on the “Online Donation Form,” you authorize the School to charge your credit card and to process your donation. 

(iii) Correspondence With Us.  The Website contains email links to contact us and you may elect to include Personal Information in communications that you send to us through those links.

(b) Information We Collect As You Access Our Website.  In addition to any Personal Information or other information you choose to submit to us, we and our third party service providers may use a variety of technologies that collect certain non-Personal Information whenever you visit our Website (“Usage Information”). Methods that we use to collect Usage Information include the following:

(i) Cookies.  A cookie is a small text file stored by your browser that allows the Website to “remember” your preferences (such as website bookmarks) on the Website from visit to visit, or to maintain your “logged in” status when visiting protected areas. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any Personal Information while on our Website. Web browsers have settings allowing you to reject cookies, or selectively accept cookies, or delete cookies previously accepted. Please be aware that rejecting or deleting cookies from our Website may make certain functions unavailable to you.

(ii) Log Files.  Similar to many websites, we use website statistical packages such as Google Analytics to analyze trends in how our Website is accessed and utilized.  Information monitored includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, geographic location of visitors (country, city), browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, time spent on pages, and keywords used to find our Website via search engines. This information is anonymous and cannot be directly linked to individual users.

(iii) Online Tracking; Do Not Track Signals.  Some web browsers have a “Do Not Track” feature. This feature lets you tell websites you visit that you do not want to have your online activity tracked. Our Website is run through the FinalSite platform, which is not currently set up to respond to “Do Not Track” signals.

2. How We Use Your Personal Information

Our primary goal in collecting your Personal Information is to respond to and fulfill your requests of us, or to help you use the Website.  For example, we will use your Personal Information to process an online donation. We may use technical information to analyze trends, administer and improve the Website, and monitor traffic and usage patterns for information security purposes. In addition, your Personal Information may also be used to send you surveys or to send you event reminders through messages or other alerts, or as otherwise required by law.

3. Who We Share Your Information With.

(a) Service Providers.  We may share your Personal Information with companies that perform services for us, such as processing online donations and analyzing customer data. They have access to Personal Information as needed to perform their functions, but may not disclose your information for other purposes.

(b) Disclosure By Law; Protection of Us and Others.  We may disclose information you provide if we, in our sole discretion, believe that disclosure is reasonable to (1) comply with the law, requests or orders from law enforcement, or any legal process (whether or not such disclosure is required by applicable law), (2) protect or defend our or a third party’s rights or property, or (3) protect someone’s health or safety, such as when harm or violence against any person (including you) is threatened. We may also disclose information you provide if we, in our sole discretion, suspect fraud or other illegal activity.

(c) Business Changes.  If any or all of our assets are acquired by, or merged with another entity, we will share some or all of your information with this entity and/or your Personal Information may then be owned by that entity.

4. Updating and Correcting Information; Opt-Out

If you need to change any Personal Information that you provide to us, you may update or correct such information by writing us at tech_dept@brancson.org. You may opt out of future such communications with a simple reply to the communication with a request to “opt-out,” or by contacting us at tech_dept@brancson.org. Please note that you cannot opt-out of receiving administrative and transaction-related emails from us.

5. Links.  

The Website may contain links to other websites. For example, the Website contains a link to https://www.ravenna-hub.com/login, an online application website operated by Ravenna Solution, whereby students may apply online to the School.  Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of that website or any other websites. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our Website and to read the privacy policies of any other website that collects Personal Information. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by this Website. We are not responsible for any fees, charges, or actions provided by any third party website. 

6. Retention

We may retain your Personal Information on internal secure servers  for as long as the information is required to fulfill our legitimate business needs, the purposes for which the Personal Information was collected, to comply with legal obligation, or for such other period as required by law.

7. Security.  

We take the security of your Personal Information seriously and take precautions to protect your Personal Information located on our internal servers. For example, we use standard, industry-wide, commercially reasonable security practices such as encryption, firewalls and SSL (Secure Socket Layers) to protect Personal Information. But no method of data transmission over the Internet or data storage is 100% secure and therefore we cannot guarantee the absolute security of any information on our internal servers or transmitted to or from the Website. You must maintain the security of your information as well – for example, by not sharing your password and account information with any unauthorized parties.

8. Age Restriction.  

This Website is not intended for individuals under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from individuals under 13. If you become aware that your child under the age of 13 has provided us with Personal Information, please contact us. If we become aware that an individual under 13 has created an Account and provided us with Personal Information, we take steps to remove such information and terminate that person’s account.

9. Accessing This Site From Outside of the United States.  

If you are visiting our Website from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored or processed in the United States, where our servers are located and our central database is operated. The data protection and other laws of the United States might not be as comprehensive as those in your country. By using our Website, you understand that your information may be transferred to our facilities and those third parties with whom we share it as described in this Privacy Policy.

10. Changes to Privacy Policy

We may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most current version of this Privacy Policy will govern our use of your information and will always be located on this webpage. If we make a change to our Privacy Policy that is material, we will notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes before implementing the change on the Website and/or via the email associated with your Account. By continuing to access the Website after those changes become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised Privacy Policy.

11. Contact Information

If users have any questions regarding our Privacy Policy, please contact us at: tech_dept@branson.org.

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