St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School’s Privacy Policy

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School is committed to protecting the privacy and information it collects from its community. This policy explains how St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School collects and handles information it receives from applicants and their families, students and their families, alumni, employees (including applicants for employment) and others who interact with St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School or its website. Other than IP addresses and traffic information collected described below, we do not collect personally identifying information on our website unless you choose to provide such information to us.

This policy sets forth the type of information we collect, how it is stored and used, and the rights and options you may have with respect to your personal information.

What Personal information We Collect; How and When We Collect It

Our goal is to collect the minimum amount of information necessary - whether from applicants, enrolled students, alumni, employees, or contractors.

We collect information you provide us. A person’s interaction with St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School occurs during the admissions process, during matriculation (and throughout a student’s enrollment at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School), and as alumni.

It is important to STA to protect the privacy of young children who may use our website. STA does not knowingly solicit or collect the personal information of children under the age of 13 on this website.

Usage Information, Site Activity and Location Information

We automatically collect information regarding the actions you take on the website ("Usage Information"). Usage Information helps us understand trends in our users’ needs and improve our website and its functionality. We also may use Usage Information for general marketing purposes. This Privacy Policy in no way restricts or limits our collection and use of Usage Information, and we may share Usage Information about our users with third parties for various purposes, including to help us better understand your needs and improve our website. When you use our website and/or provide us with information, some examples of the Usage Information we may collect include: the type of Web browser you use, your operating system, your web requests, your Internet Service Provider, your IP address, referring/exit pages and URLs, the pages you view and how you interact with links on our website, comments and other content you post, the time and duration of your visits to the website and other such information. We may store such Usage Information itself and/or such information may be included in databases owned and maintained by agents or service providers. We may also collect information that identifies the device you use to access the website, your device’s unique device ID, the IP address of your device, your operating system, connection type (e.g. WiFi or cellular) and GPS technology (or other similar technology) to determine your current location when you use a mobile device to access the website. If you do not want us to have your location information, you should turn off the location services before accessing the website from a mobile device. We may use such information and pool it with other information to track, for example, the total number of visitors to our website, the number of visitors to each page of our website, etc. We use this information to help us understand how people use the website and to enhance the website.

Admissions

It is expected that information shared with St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School during the admission process is given with the consent of a parent or guardian. The school does not knowingly collect information from anyone under the age of 18 without the consent of a parent or guardian.

During the admissions process, personal information will be collected and stored about the applicant and family for the purposes of evaluating the applicant. St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School also will use the information for communicating with the family during the admissions process.

Personal information about applicants, their parents/guardians and siblings will be collected via our website (the Inquiry Form) as well as by our online application portal administered by FACTS or other similar common applications administered by a third party. Additional information may be collected by the admissions office via various interviews, phone calls, references, and emails.

Types of personal information collected include names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, gender, dates of birth, race, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, educational history, and legacy status. Further, we collect information about the student’s academic and disciplinary history, athletic, and extra-curricular records and interests, and possibly financial information (to process financial aid requests). Additional information regarding the applicant’s parents or guardians such as employment and marital status also will be collected.

As part of the admissions process, the school also may gather or receive information from other sources including teacher evaluations, principal recommendations, and other evaluative material. The types of information we collect in these cases may be specific to the individual and are confidential.

We receive and process such personal information pursuant to your agreements with such third-party service providers, and in furtherance of your agreement with us concerning your application and matriculation and pursuant to our legitimate interests in assessing your application. For information on the privacy practices of such third parties, please consult your agreements with them and their own privacy policies.

You are required to provide this information if you would like to apply to or be enrolled at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School. Without this information, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School cannot process a student’s application or enroll them. To the extent that any requested personal information is not necessary for the performance of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School’s agreements and policies, such requests will be separately identified, and the appropriate consent obtained.

Applicant information is kept permanently.

Matriculation

It is expected that information shared with St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School during a student’s enrollment is given with the consent of a parent or guardian. The school does not knowingly collect information from anyone under the age of 18 without the consent of a parent or guardian.

Once enrolled, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School continues to collect and process personal information for the purposes of caring for and educating the student. The personal information is used to keep you informed about the school and to offer you access to school services. Personal information also will be collected, created and stored (about the student and family) for the purposes of tracking student progress at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School.

The information collected for enrolled students and their families includes names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, gender and dates of birth. Health and medical information is collected to ensure their well-being while on campus and for medical treatment purposes. Further, we collect information about the enrolled student’s academic, athletic, and extra-curricular records and interests, and possibly financial information. Information about performance (classes, co-curricular activities, etc.) and images of the student engaged in academic, athletic, and extra-curricular activities also may be collected and maintained. We may post information about performance and images of the student on the internet and in publications.

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School may gather or receive information from other sources such as testing agencies (including, medical/educational, standardized tests, etc.). The types of information we collect in these cases may be specific to the individual. We receive and process such information pursuant to your agreements with such third-party service providers, and in furtherance of your agreements with us concerning your matriculation. For information on the privacy practices of such third parties, please consult your agreements with them and their individual policies.

This information collection is required if one wants to be enrolled at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School. To the extent that any requested personal information is not necessary for the performance of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School’s agreements and policies, such requests will be separately identified, and the appropriate consent obtained.

Student records are kept permanently.

Alumni and Friends:

Alumni, friends and parents are lifelong members of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School community. The Development Office of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School is dedicated to keeping our alumni, friends, and parents (past and present) connected to the school.

Types of information collected include name, address, phone number, email, gender, date of birth, employment, gifts received, and events attended. Credit card numbers are collected and used only for donation or payment processing through an encrypted, secure, third-party processing system, and are not retained for other purposes.

The information we collect is used for a variety of reasons, including:

·       Directory information, including the online alumni community.

·       Communicating with you to let you know about receptions, reunions, and other events with alumni or St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School faculty/administrators in the area.

·       Making you aware of projects and opportunities to support the school (via volunteering, gifts, etc.)

·       General Fundraising

·       Surveys

·       Promoting services we may offer to alumni.

Since St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School likes to keep in contact with you for life, we retain these records permanently.

For any questions regarding the collection or use of alumni information, please contact communications@staschool.org

Email and Web Inquiries

You also may send us personally identifying information, for example, in an email message containing a question or comment, or by completing a web form that provides us with this information. We use personally identifying information from these communications primarily to respond to you. We may forward your correspondence to school representatives who are better able to answer your questions. We may also use your email to contact you in the future about our programs that we deem may be of interest to you. We do not share your name or email address with any third parties.

Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose your information pursuant to legal requirements and to comply with our school rules and policies. We also may share your information with:

·       Law enforcement or other governmental officials, in response to a verified request relating to an investigation or alleged illegal activity.

·       Third parties that provide a valid subpoena or court order; or

·       Third parties as requested or authorized by you (or your parent or guardian).

We also may share your information with third party vendors providing services to us in our operations. St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School uses cloud-based software to efficiently assist the school in its operations. Most information, including personal information, is processed and/or stored in these systems. These cloud-based software providers also have their own security policies, terms of use and privacy policies.

External Links

Our website offers links to other sites that are not owned or affiliated with St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School. These sites have their own security policies, terms of use and privacy policies. If you choose to visit one of these websites you should review the policies of that particular site. St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School exercises no control over and is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.

Copyright

Text, images, videos, documents, and any other electronic materials and media available on the school’s website are available as a resource to the public and are the sole property of the School and are protected by copyright. The reproduction, redistribution, and/or exploitation of any of these materials is prohibited without express, written consent from the school.

All users agree that all content and data, particularly any telephone numbers, email addresses, postal addresses, or other information contained in the directories of the website, is restricted to the personal use of authorized visitors only. The commercial use of information in this website is strictly prohibited. Users agree not to copy, post, email, or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising or promotional materials.

STA reserves the right to limit, restrict, or terminate the use of the website by any individual person or party with or without notice at any time.

Security

The school employs commercially reasonable physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect the confidentiality and security of personal information and other information and data transmitted to us. However, no data transmission over the Internet or other network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. You acknowledge and accept the data security risks of using our website and our services.

Changes to this Policy

STA reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to change this Privacy Policy in whole or in part, at any time. Your continued use of the website after any changes to the Privacy Policy have been become effective will be considered acceptance of those changes. When we make changes, we will also revise the "last modified" date of the Privacy Policy page. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.