Privacy Policy
K12's Commitments to Privacy
This Privacy Policy explains how We collect, use, and protect information We obtain from you. It applies to information We get over the Internet, by phone, by fax, through the mail, or by other means. By using the Sites (defined below), you accept the Privacy Policy. Please read it carefully before you use K12’s Sites.
This version of the Privacy Policy has added information about the privacy rights of California residents.
- What definitions apply to the Privacy Policy?
- What laws generally apply to student records?
- What non-personally identifiable information does K12 collect?
- How does K12 use non-personally identifiable information?
- When does K12 share non-personally identifiable information?
- How do K12’s Sites use “cookies”?
- Does K12 share information collected from cookies?
- What personally identifiable information does K12 collect?
- Does K12 share personally identifiable information?
- How does K12 use personally identifiable information?
- How does K12 treat personally identifiable information about children under 13?
- What are my California privacy rights?
- What information is collected or shared on message boards and chats?
- What happens when I link to other websites, chat rooms or resources from K12’s Sites?
- What is K12's commitment to data security?
- What happens if K12's corporate structure changes?
- Will this Privacy Policy change?
What definitions apply to the Privacy Policy?
"K12" (or “We”) means K12 Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliated companies.
"K12 School Program" means a school that offers education programs or services We provide.
"Local School" means the school that contracts with us for a K12 School Program.
"Personal Information" (or “PI”) means information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate someone. “Non-PI” means information that cannot be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate someone.
“Sites” means K12’s websites, including this one.
What laws generally apply to student records?
K12 obeys laws that protect education records. This includes the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA") and state laws about student records. Other entities can access those records only if allowed by those laws and they agree to keep them confidential as required by those same laws. K12 does not use a student’s PI to target the student for advertising. K12 does not sell PI. K12 does not illegally create profiles about a student. K12 does not use (unless We ask for and receive permission) a student’s PI for purposes unrelated to providing or improving their education where We are prohibited by law from doing so. If any part of this policy conflicts with FERPA or other laws, K12 will obey the standard that provides more protection for the education records.
What non-personally identifiable information does K12 collect?
We automatically receive Non-PI from your web browser or device connected to the Internet. That includes your IP address (the string of numbers that identifies the device), the name of the Web page you visited just before visiting ours, the page or pages you visit on our Site, and how much time you spend on each page.
How does K12 use non-personally identifiable information?
We use this information to monitor and improve our Site. We also use it to study Internet traffic trends, administer the Site, and gather information.
When does K12 share non-personally identifiable information?
Except for “cookies,” We will not share non-PI unless i) We are required to by law, such as by a court order, ii) allowed to for law enforcement, health or safety purposes, iii) We collected it in the on-line school, to your child’s Local School, iv) to other companies that help us provide the K12 School Program, or v) where permitted, to protect K12’s legal rights.
How do K12's sites use "cookies"?
When you visit our Sites, the server creates a piece of text known as a “cookie” to put on your device. The cookie is unique to your browser. It lets the server remember information about your visit. Cookies do not collect PI. We use cookies to follow how you use the Sites to adapt Web content to your interests. If your child is in a K12 School Program, cookies will help you and the child use the K12 Online School ("OLS").
We may use cookies from other companies to provide relevant information to you. These cookies may record that you visited our Sites and the websites you visited before visiting our Sites. These cookies can be used to provide relevant information to you on other websites.
You can accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually change your browser setting to decline cookies. Use the “help” feature of your browser to learn more. If you decline cookies, you may not be able to see or use the interactive features of our Sites and some services on the Sites may not function the way they should.
You can 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 the Network Advertising Initiative opt out page and opting out with companies that participate in those choices. On this policy’s effective date, those sites were at http://www.aboutads.info/choices and http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices. Opting out will not prevent you from seeing ads on the Internet; it will only affect ads that use cookies to serve messaging on the specific networks. We are not responsible for the activities of the third parties.
Does K12 share information collected from cookies?
We will not share or sell individual information contained in cookies to any third party, except if required by law or permitted to do so for law enforcement purposes.
What personally identifiable information does K12 collect?
You can use parts of our Sites without providing PI. Our Sites do not collect personal information about people except when the information is given on a voluntary basis (for example, when registering with a Local School for a K12 School Program; requesting information by contacting us; signing up for a K12 in-person event; requesting help; using an online chat; or changing the information on your account with us). When you create an account with us, register your children for a K12 School Program or participate in a Local School, you provide us with information about you and your children. This personal information may be collected on our Sites, by telephone, facsimile or ordinary mail. The information you provide may include 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; an e-mail address where We can contact you; and other information. If you are enrolling in one of K12's private schools or making a purchase from the K12 store, We may also collect credit card information.
Does K12 share personally identifiable information?
Information you provide may be given to your Local School or to others parties if legally required or if requested by your Local School. Information you or the child provide may be given to state and federal agencies, including law enforcement if required or permitted by law.
If others help K12 provide online services, they are given the least information needed to do their work for K12, as required by law. They have no other rights to the information and have agreed to keep the data private, to use it only to perform the work they provide for K12 and to keep the data safe.
If allowed by law, K12 may share your information with companies that are not connected to K12 but want to send you information about their products or services. If permitted by state and federal law, K12 may share your information with other companies to improve the education performance of K12 School Programs or so that K12 can offer services to you or give you information about services of third parties. You can ask that your personal information not be shared with third parties by writing to privacy[at]K12.com.
K12 does not sell PI for monetary compensation. Even though we do not sell PI, if you are a Nevada resident, you may notify us to put you on a list of persons who have opted-out of the sale of PI. Our address for such requests is privacy[at]K12.com. Please be aware that we may require you to verify your identity before processing any such request.
How does K12 use personally identifiable information?
K12 uses PI to provide educational services to children enrolled in a Local School, and to otherwise support you and your children for things such as testing, academic progress, attendance, customer service, student affairs or for health or safety purposes. K12 may also use PI to protect its own legal rights.
K12 responds to requests for information and to questions from customers and possible customers. Because We only call customers at the telephone numbers they leave for us to provide the requested information, K12 does not call people by using random or sequential telephone numbers. K12 may use pre-recorded messages when allowed by law to make sure that customers receive the information they requested. Customers do not have to agree to receive calls in order to receive K12’s services.
Once you have registered your children in a Local School for a K12 School Program, there will be a page that contains some or all of the personal information. You may also be assigned a Member ID and password and may create, if you wish, a Member ID for your children any time you are logged on to the OLS. If you choose someone other than yourself as a learning coach, that person will also be assigned a Member ID. The Member IDs will be used to recognize you, the learning coach and your children on the OLS. The Member IDs will allow K12 to recognize: your first and last name; registration ID; type of account, such as teacher, administrator, parent, learning coach or student (if you created a separate Member ID and password for your children or learning coach); your child’s Local School; integration number; the e-mail address you gave, and the education records of your child connected with the account. The Member IDs and the OLS will allow you and the learning coach to track your children's attendance, school work, and testing, and to submit that to K12 or your Local School to follow your children's progress and comply with law.
K12 or your Local School may use PI you provide to contact you or your child’s learning coach about your child's progress, testing, attendance, or other school issues or for customer service, and quality control. The PI is also used to provide services to you or your child’s Local School or to carry out activities that you or your child’s Local School have requested. K12 also uses PI you supply to satisfy requests for information, and to deliver requested services to you and your children.
K12 will use or share PI 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 K12’s legal rights.
If permitted by law, K12 may use your information to provide you with information about new products or services available through K12 and may combine PI to improve the educational experience or to determine how K12’s educational products and services may interest other people.
How does K12 treat information about children under 13 years old?
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) protects the privacy of children under the age of 13. It requires web site operators and online services to post privacy policies and obtain true parental permission before collecting information from those children.
K12 receives personal information about children who are under the age of 13 strictly from their parents or guardians when those children are enrolled into a Local School using a K12 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 K12 School Program.
Other than through the OLS, the Sites do not ask children under 13 to provide personal information. We do not intentionally contact or collect PI from children under 13 except as noted above.
If you want to tell us that We accidentally received information for a child under the age of 13, for example, by lying by others, please email us at privacy[at]K12.com. Also, you can review some personal information that K12 has about your children by writing to that same email address.
For information on COPPA and the use of children's personal information, please contact:
K12 Legal Department
2300 Corporate Park Drive
Herndon, VA 20171
privacy@k12.com
What are my California privacy rights?
If you are a California resident you have several specific privacy rights that supplement this Privacy Policy. This section describes those rights. If any part of the Privacy Policy conflicts with your rights as a California resident, K12 complies with the standard that provides more protection for you and your information.
If you are a student, the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act protects the use and disclosure of "covered information." We comply with the act.
You can request information about the disclosure of your PI for direct marketing purposes of other entities. You can also tell K12 not to disclose PI to others for their direct marketing purposes. You can do so by emailing us at privacy@k12.com.
California residents have certain additional rights related to their PI collected by and on behalf of a business subject to the California Consumer Protection Act (“CCPA”) statutes. The CCPA does not apply to non-profit or public educational institutions. Much of the information collected by us is collected for the benefit of non-profits and public education institutions. Depending on whether information is collected for K12’s business or for the benefit of non-profit and public education institutions, some of what is described below may not be applicable to at least some of your information that We collect.
Over the past twelve months, We may have collected and disclosed some or all of the following types of PI in connection with providing services to you. The type of information, how it is collected, why it is collected and to whom it is disclosed can vary from person to person depending on the services the person receives from us and how the person interacts with us.
Non-Public Education Information – If you are enrolled in or applying for enrollment in a public K12 School Program, We collect “education records” from you that are not publicly available personally identifiable information as defined in FERPA. This information is also collected from your Local School, other curricular software and other third parties. This information can include past and present education, including institutions attended, years of attendance, courses of study, grades, and awards earned, as well as assignments and other student-generated work.
Identifiers - This information is collected from you and is used to identify users and includes such things as names, email addresses, telephone number, usernames, IP addresses or other identifiers.
Audio and Video Data – We collect audio, video and other electronic information from you.
Professional or Employment-Related Information – If you are applying for employment with us or are a K12 employee, We collect PI from you and third parties about your current and past job history, reference information and other employment-related information.
Customer Records – If you may be purchasing our products or services, We collect from you information about what products or services you are considering, purchasing or using. This may include your name, signature, education history, and credit card number. We collect this information from you in order to provide our services and for business purposes.
Protected Class Characteristics – We collect information about protected classification characteristics under federal, state or local laws, such as race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, veteran or military status. We collect this information from you.
Network Activity – We collect information about your interactions with websites and the internet. We collect this information from you and third parties.
Geolocation Data – We collect information from you about the geographic location from where your device accessed our Sites. We collect this information from you and third parties.
Inferences Drawn from Other Personal Information – We may make inferences to create a profile about a consumer reflecting the consumer’s preferences, characteristics, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, abilities, and aptitudes.
Depending on your relationship with us, We may use your PI for one or more of the following purposes: administering applications and enrollment, providing educational services, providing support and services you requested, personalizing content and experiences, analyzing and improving our services, content, functionality and the usability of our Sites, securing and protecting our assets and rights and preventing misconduct, complying with legal obligations, inviting you to participate in surveys and provide feedback to us, having a better understanding of your needs and interests, contacting you with information that may be of interest to you, improving marketing and promotional efforts and supporting our general business.
We may share your PI with your Local School and the K12 School Program in which you are enrolled, other entities that perform certain functions for us, analytics and service providers, benefits providers, transaction processors, and law enforcement (if necessary). We may also share it with our affiliates, with third-party social media platforms (e.g., if you “comment” on a post), with other carefully selected business partners, or as part of a business transfer.
As a California resident, you have several rights regarding the collection, use, transfer, and processing of your PI. We have the right to reasonably verify your identity, to limit your rights to the extent they adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others and, if your request is excessive, repetitive or unfounded, to require payment from you. If a fee will apply, We will advise the person making the request before completing the request, explain why a fee applies and provide an estimate. We may have additional rights under law and do not waive them.
Only you, your parent or legal guardian (if you are not yet 18 years of age) or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that you authorize to act on your behalf may make a request related to your PI. To verify your identity as a California resident, We may request PI from you to compare against our records. We will only use Personal Information provided in your request to verify your identity and will delete any Personal Information you provide after processing the request. If We believe that your request is fraudulent We may take additional steps as necessary to verify your identity as a California resident. We may also request that you sign a declaration under the penalty of perjury. Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us.
If you choose a person registered with the California Secretary of State to act on your behalf to submit your requests, We will require that you provide the agent and that the agent provide us with written permission to allow them to submit your request. We will also require that you verify your identity directly with us.
Our goal is to respond to requests within 45 days. If We need another 45 days, We will advise the person making the request within 45 days after receiving the request.
You have the right to request We inform you of the PI We collected, used, and disclosed about you to third parties over the previous twelve months. If you make such a request, We will provide you with information about the categories of your PI collected, the categories of sources from which your PI is collected, the business purpose for collecting or selling the information, and the categories of third parties to which your PI is shared or sold. If you request it, We will provide you with information about specific pieces of PI collected about you. You may request this information twice in a 12-month period. We will inform you if an exception to your right to this information is applicable.
You have the right to request that We and our service providers delete your PI that We collected from you and have retained. This right is also subject to certain exceptions. We will let you know if an exception applies. These exceptions include where We or a service provider uses the PI to complete a transaction for which the PI was collected, provide goods or services that you requested or reasonably should have anticipated within the context of our relationship with you, use the information internally in a way that is compatible with the purpose for which you originally provided the information, detect or protect against security incidents, or malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity or otherwise comply with law.
You have the right to opt-out of the sale of your PI by a business subject to certain laws and regulations. We do not sell any PI, regardless of the person’s age, for money or anything similar. However, to the extent that third party advertising cookies and related technologies are ultimately determined to be a “sale” We may engage in that activity.
If you would like to request your PI, that your PI be deleted or that your PI not be sold, please send the request to privacy[at]k12.com or calling 703 483-7000. IMPORTANT: Please direct all requests related to education records and to course data directly to the public school in which the student is enrolled. As a service provider to those schools, We cannot delete or modify education records or other records collected or processed for, or on behalf of, a school, unless directed to do so by the school.
You also have the right not to be discriminated against for exercising your privacy rights under California statutes. We will not discriminate against you (by, for example, denying goods or services to you or providing a different level of quality of goods or services to you) because you exercised any of these privacy rights.
What information is collected or shared on message boards and chats?
We may have message boards or chat rooms on our Sites. The information you put on a message board or in a chat room will be available to all users of that message board or chat room, and is no longer private. We cannot promise privacy of information that you disclose online in public areas. Disclosure is at your own risk. We reserve the right, but not the duty, to monitor the message boards and to publish your postings from message boards or chat rooms in other places on the Internet or in other formats.
What happens when I link to other websites from K12's Sites?
The Sites may contain links to other websites that We provide for your convenience ("Linked Sites"). These sites are not under K12’s control. K12 is not responsible for the content on any Linked Site or the actions of any Linked Site. The links do not suggest that K12 recommends the Linked Site. K12 has no liability for your access to the Linked Sites. Access to the Linked Sites is at your own risk. You should review the Privacy Policy that may be on the Linked Sites because those websites are not covered by this Privacy Policy.
What is K12's commitment to data security?
To reduce the risk of unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and secure the correct use of information, We use commercially reasonable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to protect the information We collect. We also use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol on your account information and registration pages to protect personal information. We encrypt credit card numbers that you provide to us. No security system for data is completely secure. Therefore, K12 cannot promise that PI you supply will not be intercepted by others.
What happens if K12's corporate structure changes?
If all or part of K12 is sold, merged or transferred to another business, the personal information you have given may be transferred as part of that process. However, K12 will take steps to assure that the personal information is used in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy.
Will this Privacy Policy change?
We may change this policy to be consistent with the law and our practices. We reserve the right to do that at any time. If K12 materially changes its use of your personal information, We will inform you of the change on the OLS, and will note it in this Privacy Policy. We will post any changes to this policy. The effective date of this Privacy Policy is stated below. If you have any questions about K12's Privacy Policy, please contact us in writing at privacy@k12.com.
Privacy Policy last updated June 30, 2020.
