Sandy Spring Friends School Privacy Policy

Effective Date: April 4, 2018

Sandy Spring Friends School (“SSFS,” “we,” “us”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy describes our information practices related to the public areas of our website located at www.ssfs.org and our subdomains that link to this Privacy Policy, including summer.ssfs.org, www.summeratsandyspring.org, and www.youngworldleaders.org (collectively, “site,” “website”). This Privacy Policy does not cover any of our websites or subdomains, or areas within those websites and subdomains, that require users to log in and do not link to this Privacy Policy. Please read our Privacy Policy carefully to understand how we collect, use, share, protect, or otherwise handle information that you and others provide us through our website.

What information do we collect from the people that visit our website?

When using our site, you may provide personal information about yourself and others to SSFS or to service providers acting on our behalf. You may provide this information, for example, when registering for one of our websites or subdomains, completing forms, subscribing to our blog, donating to our school, or interacting with us for any other purpose. You may be asked to enter your name, email address, mailing address, zip code, country of residence, phone number, credit card information, business information, health information, and any other information requested from time to time. You may choose to provide information about current and prospective students, such as their names, ages, addresses, and educational information. We may also receive information about you, our students, or prospective students from third parties and combine that third-party information with other personal information that we collect.

Additionally, when you are visiting the site or interacting with our email communications, we may collect technical information including, but not limited to, the IP address, cookies, web-browser name and version, the name of the file or words searched (if applicable), the internet address of the website from which you accessed the website, and information about how you use the website. We and our service providers may use cookies or similar technology to collect such information.

How do we use your information?

We, or our third-party service providers, may use the information we collect in any lawful way, including but not limited to the following ways:

To provide our services;
For business purposes, such as analytics, research, advertising and marketing, payment processing, and operational purposes;
To personalize your experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content in which you are most interested;
To maintain, operate, customize, and improve our website to better serve you, including to compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions to offer better site experiences and tools in the future;
To fundraise and process your donations;
To send emails regarding your interest in our school, including to send you updates and “must-know” information about our school activities;
To follow up with you after correspondence (live chat, email, or phone inquiries);
To evaluate and improve our marketing efforts;
To maintain the safety and security of our site and SSFS; or
As otherwise disclosed at the time of collection or use.

How do we protect your information?

To maintain the safety of your personal information, we implement a variety of reasonable security measures when you enter, submit, or access your information. Notwithstanding all our security measures and data protection protocols, no system of transmitting data over the internet is 100% secure. SSFS takes steps to protect your personal information; however, we cannot guarantee its absolute security and any transmissions of your personal information is done at your own risk.

Information Sharing and Disclosure

We may share the personal information we have collected through the site with other parties including, to the extent permitted by law:

With parents/guardians of a student or prospective student;
With our teachers and other employees of SSFS;
At parents’ or students’ direction or request, such as providing student information to third parties related to standardized testing, applications and placement for higher education, or in connection with financial aid applications and administration;
With accreditation, oversight, and research authorities;
With other members of the SSFS community, including through online social media services;
With third-party service providers that we use to support SSFS, including through providing academic, fundraising, website operation, and communications or marketing services;
As part of a sale, merger or acquisition, or other transfer of all or part of our assets including as part of a bankruptcy proceeding;
Pursuant to a subpoena, court order, or other legal process, or as otherwise required or requested by law, regulation, or government and oversight authorities, or to enforce our site policies and protect our rights or the rights or safety of third parties including in connection with a health or safety emergency and in connection with disciplinary proceedings; or
With your consent (on behalf of yourself or as a student’s parent/guardian) or as otherwise disclosed at the time of data collection or sharing.

The site also includes links to third-party websites and services where you may be able to submit personal information directly to those third parties. Please see the section on “Third-Party Links” below for more information.

We may share technical information, as well as any other information that has been de-identified or aggregated so that it does not identify you personally, without restriction.

Third-Party Links

Our website may contain links to third-party websites and embedded third-party services, such as social media or websites of educational associations and organizations. SSFS is not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or anything else having to do with sites that link to or from www.ssfs.org. We encourage you to read the privacy policies on linked sites as their policies may differ from our own.

The site may include social media tools or “plug-ins,” such as social networking and blogging tools offered by third parties. If you use these tools to share personal information or you otherwise interact with social media features on the site, those social media companies may collect information about you and may use and share such information in accordance with your account settings, including by sharing such information with the general public. Your interactions with third-party social media companies and the use of their features are governed by the privacy policies of the social media companies that provide those features. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy policies of any social media accounts you create and use.

Google Drive API

This website uses the Google Drive API to:

List a user’s Google Drive contents in a password protected portal.
Google Drive files can be copied onto the web server during this process.

Digital Advertising and Analytics

We may partner with ad networks and other ad serving providers (“Advertising Providers”) that serve ads on non-affiliated platforms on behalf of us and other organizations. Some of those ads may be personalized, meaning that they are intended to be relevant to you based on information that these Advertising Providers collect about your use of the site and other sites over time, including information about relationships among different browsers and devices. This type of advertising is known as interest-based advertising.

SSFS adheres to the Digital Advertising Alliance ("DAA") Self-Regulatory Principles in connection with this interest-based advertising activity. You may visit www.aboutads.info to learn more about this type of advertising and how to opt out of this type of advertising on your browser by companies participating in the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) self-regulatory program. If you delete your cookies or use a different browser or mobile device, you may need to renew your opt-out choices exercised through the DAA tool. Note that electing to opt-out will not stop advertising from appearing in your browser or applications. It may make the ads you see less relevant to your interests. Additionally, your browser may offer tools to limit the use of cookies or to delete cookies; however, if you use these tools, our site may not function as intended.

We may also work with third parties that collect data about your use of the site and other sites or apps over time for non-advertising purposes such as to improve the performance and design of the site. Among these third parties, we may use Google Analytics services. For more information about how Google Analytics collects and uses data when you use our website, visit https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/, and to opt out of Google Analytics, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/.

Children and Privacy

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13 years old through this site. This site is intended for the use of parents, guardians, and other adults. If you believe your child(ren) provided us with personal information, please contact us using the information provided below, and you can request that we delete that information.

Privacy Policy Updates

SSFS reserves the right to update and revise this Privacy Policy at any time. Changes will be made on our Privacy Policy page, and a date of modification will be provided. It is your responsibility to check this Privacy Policy periodically for changes.

Contacting Us

If there are any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, you may contact us using the information below.

Web Manager
Sandy Spring Friends School
16923 Norwood Rd
Sandy Spring, Maryland 20860
webmanager@ssfs.org

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