BoardBook® Privacy Policy

General

This BoardBook® Privacy Policy (“Policy”) covers how the Texas Association of School Boards, Inc. (“TASB” or “Supplier”) handles personal information collected and received from or through the BoardBook website, including the online applications at boardbook.org, (together, the “Site”). As used in this Policy, the term “Supplier” shall also include its third-party business partners, resellers, and vendors that supply, operate, or otherwise make BoardBook or the Site available to subscribers and users. This Policy applies to information Supplier collects in connection with use of the Site. It does not apply to information collected through other means or by others, such as through third-party social media sites or by the BoardBook subscriber/account holder.

Personal information is information about you that ordinarily would not be publicly available and that identifies you individually, such as your name, residential address, personal e-mail address, geolocation (your mobile internet device’s longitudinal and latitudinal information), and personal phone number.

Accessing the Site and Personal Information Collection

You are not required to hold a BoardBook subscription and you not required to provide personal information in order to access certain parts of the Site. When you access the Site without actively providing any personal information, we may collect limited technical information, such as your IP address and geolocation. We also use cookies and analytics as described below. 

Certain parts of the Site do require that you provide us with personal information in order to gain access to or use of those parts. You may also provide information if you participate in a chat session through the live chat feature offered by third-party providers in some areas of the Site. (Read more about live chat in the Terms and Conditions of Use.)   

Cookies

Supplier uses cookies (text files placed on your hard drive by a web server) to help personalize and maximize your experience and time online. Cookies are not used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. They are uniquely assigned to your computer and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you. We use cookies to improve the Site and to facilitate your use of the Site. (Read more about how to manage cookies in the Terms and Conditions of Use.)

How We Collect and Use Boardbook User Information

Supplier collects several types of information from and about BoardBook users in connection with their use of the Site, including information:

  • Provided by the BoardBook subscriber or any authorized user for public or private display; 
  • That is or includes personal information, such as email addresses; 
  • About your internet connection and usage details; and/or
  • That is about you but does not identify you individually, such as IP addresses or browsing activity.

Supplier collects this information:

  • When you directly provide it to us in connection with your use of the Site, for example, when you enter board agenda items or create a calendar entry for a board meeting; and/or
  • Automatically as you navigate through the Site. For example, the Site automatically captures the date and time when you access the Site, the IP address from which you access the Site, and your activity on the Site.

User Notations and Entries

Subject to subscriber settings and preferences, the Site may make online forums and message boards available to certain users and may allow them to make notations within the online application. Depending on public information laws applicable to the subscriber, information you enter in these areas may become subject to public disclosure. Therefore, Supplier makes no guaranty of confidentiality as to any such entries.

BoardBook Online Applications

Supplier makes available certain online applications. Some of these online applications, such as BoardBook Premier™ and BoardBook Manuals™, are provided on a subscription basis and are available based on subscriber settings and preferences. Supplier collects information in connection with these online applications, including one or more of:

  • Subscriber information, including name and identifying information for the subscriber, identification and personal information of authorized users and subscriber personnel, and account information, including subscription term, renewal and expiration dates, subscription options, and cost and billing information;
  • Authentication and activity information for authorized users, including access credentials, user profile and photograph, access permissions, and personal information of authorized users, and access and usage information, including logs of user activity and account activity;  
  • Content entered or posted to the Site by you or any authorized user for public or private display (“User Contributions”), including:
    • meeting agendas, minutes, motions, resolutions, proposals, and other documents and materials,
    • policies and procedures, articles, and bylaws,
    • calendar information,
    • identification and contact information (including personal information) of users and third parties,
    • committee or board information, including membership roster and positions, and
    • information provided or generated during use of Boardbook features.

Your User Contributions are posted on the Site and transmitted to others at your own risk. Although Supplier limits access to certain pages and you may set certain privacy settings for such information through your account profile, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. Additionally, Supplier cannot control the actions of other users of the Site with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions. Therefore, Supplier cannot and does not guarantee that your User Contributions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons. Information you provide in these areas may be disclosed under “public information” laws that apply to the subscriber/account holder, so exercise caution when deciding what information to disclose.

Use of Automatic Data Collection Technologies

As you navigate through and interact with the Site, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your usage of the Site and online applications, including:

  • Details of your visits to the Site, including activity logs, data and time of activity, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Site; 
  • Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address; and
  • Analytical data for troubleshooting.

The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:

  • User activity logging tools on the servers used to support, host or provide the Site; and
  • Cookies, which are small files placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of the Site. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Site.   

How Information Collected About You is Used

Supplier uses information that it collects about you or that you provide to Supplier, including any personal information, in order to:

  • Present the Site and its contents to you;
  • Store your preferences regarding use of the Site;
  • Troubleshoot and provide user support for the Site;
  • Fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it;
  • Provide you with notices about your account or subscription, including expiration and renewal notices;
  • Carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection;
  • Notify you about changes to the Site or any products or services we offer or provide though it;
  • Allow you to participate in interactive features on the Site;
  • Use the information in any other way we describe when you provide the information; and
  • Use for any other purpose with your consent.

Disclosure of Your Information

Supplier may disclose aggregated information about BoardBook users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.

Supplier may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this Policy:

  • To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to make available the Site, and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and to use it only for the purpose of providing and maintaining BoardBook. The Site, and data collected from subscribers and users, is hosted on the on Microsoft Corp. Azure platform. If you would like more information about the privacy and security of customer data stored on the Azure platform, go to: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/legal/ 
  • To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it. For example, if you give us an email address to use the "email a user" feature of the Site, we will transmit the contents of that email and your email address to the recipients.
  • For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
  • With your consent.

Supplier may also disclose your personal information:

  • To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government-authorized or regulatory request.
  • To enforce or apply our Terms and Conditions of Use, our subscription agreement with you, and other agreements, including for billing and collection purposes.
  • If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Supplier, our subscribers, or others.

State-Specific Disclosures

Illinois:

Pursuant to the Illinois Student Online Personal Protection Act (105 ILS 85/15(6)), TASB is currently disclosing, or has disclosed, “covered information” or potentially “covered information,” to the following third parties and affiliates:

  • Sparq Data Solutions, Inc.
  • Microsoft Corporation, specifically, the Microsoft Azure cloud computing service and platform
  • Google LLC, specifically, the Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google AdWords services

Web Links

The Site may contain links to other websites or third-party applications. Supplier is not responsible for the privacy practices of sites other than its own. We encourage you to become aware of the privacy policies and statements on other sites. 

Protection of Information

Some areas of the Site are secured and can only be accessed using unique login credentials. You must have a specific user identifier (user ID) and password to access resources through any password-protected portions of the Site. Your login credentials and password are for your use only and are strictly confidential. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of those credentials and are responsible for all activity occurring on the Site using your login credentials and password. You are strictly prohibited from any sharing of your login credentials and/or password with any other person(s) and from any use of your login credentials other than for your use of the Site in compliance with this Policy. 

Social Media

The collection and use of information on social media websites and applications are governed by their own privacy policies. Please remember that any information posted on or through any BoardBook social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, or on other social media pages or channels, is subject to the policies and practices of the applicable social media channel.

We may receive personal information from a social media site platform or application when you connect through a social media feed, post content, or otherwise interact with us using social media tools. For example, we may receive basic Facebook account information (name, e‑mail, gender, birthday, current city, and profile picture URL) through Facebook. Also, when you “like” us, or send a “Tweet” to us through a social media channel, we may receive your username, handle, and any other available personal information from the social media site or application. All information received from social media sites and applications is treated and used in the same manner and for the same purposes as described in this Policy with respect to similar information we obtain through the Site. 

Third-Party Data Collection/Online Tracking

We may use service providers such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google AdWords to help us understand and improve the usage of the Site and the effectiveness of our marketing. Google Analytics may use cookies, your IP address or an anonymous identifier as well as certain information from your browser, together with other information about you and your visits to our Site and other websites, so that we, Google, or third parties may provide you with advertisements about goods and services of interest to you on our Site and other websites (including through Google search results pages) and/or to provide analytical information about our Site.

If you would like more information about advertising networks, including choices about the use of information by Google and other companies for multi-site advertising purposes, go to thenai.org and thenai.org/opt-out. Also, Google offers a Google Analytics browser add-on (designed to be compatible only with certain browsers) to provide website visitors the ability to prevent their data from being collected and used by Google Analytics. That add-on may be obtained here; other Google privacy controls are available here; and you can manage your Google ad settings here

Various internet browsers offer a “do not track” or “DNT” option that uses a DNT header to indicate the DNT preference setting on the browser. Supplier does not track your activity over time and across different websites or online services, and thus we do not currently respond to browsers’ DNT signals with respect to the Site. We do not permit our third-party service providers to collect information from the Site for other websites or for their own purposes other than as described in this Policy.

Geolocation Information

We may receive information about your geolocation and your mobile internet device when you use our Site. We may use this information to provide you with location-based services and information. Most mobile internet devices allow you to turn off geolocation, and we encourage you to contact your device manufacturer for detailed instructions on how to do so. 

Children’s Privacy

We are committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations regarding the collection, storage, and use of personal information of minors under the age of 18, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. 

We do not collect personal information from minors under the age of 18. Individuals under the age of 18 are not permitted to use the Site without the supervision of a parent or legal guardian. We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from children under the age of 18 or knowingly allow such persons to register for an online account or to place orders or provide personal information through the Site. If we learn that someone under the age of 18 has provided any personal information through the Site, we will remove and permanently delete that information as soon as reasonably possible.

If you are a parent or guardian who believes that your minor under the age of 18 has submitted personal information or other information to us without your consent, please contact us using the contact information provided below. Once we verify that you are the parent or legal guardian, we will cooperate with you to discuss what, if any, personal information we have collected about your child and how that information may have been shared or used.

Updates to This Policy

Supplier may modify this Policy at any time. When changes are made, we will update the version date at the bottom of the Policy. Your use of BoardBook services following these changes means that you accept the revised Policy.

Correcting Your Information

We strive to assure the correctness of the information we maintain. If the information we have about you is inaccurate, we will correct the information in a manner as timely as possible. To provide us with corrections, please contact us in any of the following ways:

  • Send an e-mail message with corrections to webmaster@boardbook.org.
  • Send mail with corrections to P.O. Box 400, Austin, Texas 78767.
  • Call us at 512.467.0222.

Security

We employ reasonable security methods to prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure correct use of your information. However, no data transmission over the internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be perfectly secure. As a result, while we try to protect your information, we cannot ensure or guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk.

v.06.11.2020