Privacy Policy

The Westside School website serves as a resource for individuals both inside and outside of the Westside School community. The site functions as a central means of communication among faculty, parents, students, and board. Prospective families and employees are also included in its target audience. Users are able to access up-to-date news, resources, and calendars. Westside's philosophy, history, curriculum, admissions materials, and employment listings are also available on the website.

Acceptable Use

Westside School has adopted and enforces the standards set forth in this Website Policy for materials posted on its website and on any related Westside School website. Westside School reserves the right to remove or disable access to material that violates its acceptable use policies. However, the School does not assume any responsibility or liability for content provided by others, including content provided by faculty, staff, and students on their own personal web pages, nor does Westside School assume any liability or responsibility for failure to enforce its acceptable use standards as set forth herein.

Privacy Regulations

Personal contact information for students, parents, and faculty, including home and e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and other information that could be used by unauthorized individuals, will not be published on any Westside School-related website. Student and parent contact information is available only to parents, students, and employees through The Westside School Veracross Family Portal, which is published by the school Registrar. Personal contact information for faculty is only accessible to employees.

Westside School complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. Parents and eligible students have the right to inspect, amend, and control the disclosure of educational information as required by law.

General Provisions

Westside School is not liable or responsible for the accuracy or completeness of any information provided on its website. We assume no liability or responsibility for any damages arising from a visitor's use of, or inability to use, a site. The contents are provided as general information only and are not intended as legal advice. Westside School makes no warranty, either express or implied, regarding the completeness, accuracy, or currency of this information or its suitability for any particular purpose. Some of the information or material on this site may be affected by current legislative, regulatory, judicial, or other developments which are not reflected here; you should not rely solely on the information on this site but should confirm that it remains complete and correct before relying upon it.

Westside School may also post material prepared by other organizations and individuals not employed by Westside School for informational purposes. Westside School does not necessarily agree with the opinions expressed in such material and we are not responsible for the completeness, accuracy, or currency of the information.

Westside School reserves the right to alter the content of any of its site at any time without notice.

Use of Personal Information

We do not collect any personal information unless you voluntarily provide it by sending us e-mail, participating in a survey, or completing an online form. Personal information submitted will not be transferred to any non-affiliated third parties unless otherwise stated at the time of collection. When a user submits personally identifiable information, it is used only for the purpose stated at the time of collection.

Westside School may work with third-party service providers (such as our student information system Veracross or website host Finalsite) to process data on our behalf. These providers are contractually obligated to protect the privacy and security of any information shared and may not use it for any other purpose.

Consent

Where consent for the use and disclosure of personal information is required, the school will seek consent from the appropriate person. In the case of a student’s personal information, the school will seek the consent from the student and/or parent depending on the circumstances and the student’s mental ability and maturity to understand the consequences of the proposed use and disclosure.

Westside Photo Policy

Westside uses photographs, videos, and images of activities, faculty, students, alumni, and families at school on our website and to communicate regularly with our internal community. In addition, we use that media in publications, on social media sites, and in other marketing efforts.

Westside School uses photos and videos of students for promotional purposes. Families are notified annually of their right to opt out of the use of their child’s image via the Westside Handbook. Images will never be used in a context that links students to academic, behavioral, or health records.

Families may request that the school not publicly publish or distribute images of their child by contacting Westside School.

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file stored by your browser that allows the website to “remember” your preferences (such as calendar settings and site bookmarks) on the site 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 personally identifiable information while on our site. 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.

Log Files

Like most standard website servers, we use website statistic 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 site via search engines. This information is anonymous and cannot be directly linked to individual users. We may use it to identify high-use or low-use areas of the site, pinpoint problem areas of the site, analyze broad demographic trends in our visitors, and make decisions about how to make it easier for people to find and navigate our website.

Links

This website may contain links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every Web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this website.

Security

This website takes every precaution to protect our users' personal information. Whenever users submit personal information (such as contact info or credit card info) via online forms, registration, or online purchase, upon submission that information is encrypted via the highest level of SSL (Secured Sockets Layer) available. Servers that store personally identifiable information are in a secure environment. Under no circumstances are credit card numbers permanently stored on our website servers.

Non-secured Communications

Posts to discussion forums, discussion boards, comments to blogs, and Alumni Class Notes are viewable by other users. When these areas are not in a password protected area, they may be viewable by the general public. Please be aware of this when posting personal information in these areas.

Contact Information

If users have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us at information@westsideschool.org.