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US Charter Schools Web Site Privacy Policy

: Background
: General Policy
: Personal Information
: Non-Personal Information
: Cookies
: Important Notice for Kids
: Links to Other Sites


I. Background
Thank you for visiting the US Charter Schools web site. By accessing or using our web site, you agree to the terms of the US Charter Schools Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not access or use our site. The US Charter Schools web site reserves the right to change the Privacy Policy periodically at its discretion. This page should be reviewed from time to time, so that you can be aware of any changes. Your use of the site will be subject to the most current version of the Privacy Policy at the time of such use. If you have comments about the policy or about the use of your personal information, please contact us at:

US Charter Schools web site
c/o WestEd
730 Harrison Street
San Francisco, CA 94107

or e-mail us at: uscharterschools@wested.org


II. General Policy
 The US Charter Schools web site recognizes the privacy concerns of visitors to our site (http://www.uscharterschools.org) and the importance of protecting the privacy of personally identifiable information collected from them. As a general policy, no personally identifiable information, such as a visitor's name, address, e-mail address, or telephone number, is collected on our web site unless you choose to provide that information to us.


III. Personal Information
We may request personal information when you submit comments to the US Charter Schools web site or when you register in the Charter Community Exchange section of our web site. This personal information generally includes your name, email address, and state of residence. Optional information such as your street address and phone number may also be requested.

The US Charter Schools web site uses this information to send periodic announcements about charter school news and events, to identify the author of messages or postings to our discussion groups and calendar, to identify the managers of school profiles, and to allow individuals interested in public charter schools to contact each other for networking purposes. The US Charter Schools web site does not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to anyone, or disclose personal information except: 1) when the purpose and manner of the disclosure has been disclosed to you prior to your providing the information; and 2) when disclosure is required by law.

We may also allow access to our database by third parties that provide us with services, such as technical maintenance of our Charter School Exchange software, but only for the purpose of and to the extent necessary to provide you with those services. Any third party who has access to our database for this purpose is bound by the terms set forth in this policy.

Please remember that any information you post in our discussion groups, our calendar, your personal profile, or your school profile becomes public information. You should use caution when sharing information as any of it can be collected and used by people you may not know. Users under the age of 18 should be particularly careful not to divulge any personal information. While the US Charter Schools web site strives to protect and respect your privacy, we can not guarantee the security of any information you disclose in a discussion group, personal profile, or school profile and you do so at your own risk.

If at any time after joining a discussion group or registering in the Charter Community Exchange you would no longer like to receive announcements from us, or messages from a discussion group you joined simply follow the "unsubscribe" directions at the end of any e-mail communication you receive.

If you want your personal or school profile removed from our database at any time or you want to correct any inaccuracies, you can contact us at the mailing or e-mail address indicated above.

You may send us an e-mail message or comment to our site without joining the Charter Community Exchage. The message will usually contain your return e-mail address. If you include personally-identifying information in your e-mail or comment because you want us to address issues specific to your situation, we may use that information in responding to your request. In other limited circumstances, including requests from Congress or limited other parties, we may be required by law to disclose information that you submit.

Remember that e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. Please send only information necessary to help us process your request.


IV. Non-Personal Information
If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the Web site, read pages, or download information, our Web site's operating system will automatically record some general information about your visit including but not limited to: We use this information for statistical analysis, reporting purposes, and to help us make our site more useful to visitors. This tracking system records web site activity overall. It does not track information about individuals. We may disclose aggregated data to third parties (such as the U.S. Department of Education) or include it in public records.


V. Cookies
A "cookie" is a small data file that web sites commonly write to your hard drive when you visit them. A cookie file contains information that can identify you anonymously in order to track traffic patterns and add functionality to the website. Cookies don't identify you personally, but rather identify your computer when you visit our site. A cookie can't read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites.

The cookies on the US Charter Schools web site do not collect information about you, but only about your browser "session." The cookie makes it easier for you to use the Charter Community Exchange section of our web site without having to provide the same information again as you move from one page to another.

Your browser can be set to warn you before accepting cookies. In this case, you will receive the warning message with each cookie. You may choose to refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. You do not need to have cookies turned on to use the majority of the US Charter Schools web site, but you will need to allow cookies to use the Charter Community Exchange. To protect your privacy, be sure to log out of the Charter Community Exchange and close your browser completely each time you have finished using our web site.


VI. An Important Notice for Kids
In keeping with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, children under 13 years of age must have permission from a Parent or Legal Guardian before providing personal information as described above. The US Charter Schools web site will not knowingly receive personal information from children under 13 years of age who have not received prior Parental Consent. When Parental Consent has been obtained, the US Charter Schools web site will receive and use personal information from children as described in this Privacy Policy. Any personal information from a child stored by the US Charter Schools web site will be deleted upon written request from the child's Parent or Legal Guardian. Deletion requests should be addressed to:

US Charter Schools web site
c/o WestEd
730 Harrison Street
San Francisco, CA 94107


VII. Links to Other Sites
Our Privacy Policy discloses the privacy practices for the US Charter Schools web site, but we also provide links to other web sites. When you leave the US Charter Schools web site, you will be going to sites that are beyond our control. These other sites may send their own cookies to users, collect data, or solicit personal information. The privacy policies and procedures described here do not apply to any external links. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any site you link to from ours, especially if you share any personal information. Be informed. You are the person best qualified to protect your own privacy.