Laurel Education Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Laurel Education ("Laurel Education," "we," "us," or "our") provides a web application, installable on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android, that helps teachers record classroom observations, track student progress, and generate report card commentary. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how it is protected, and what rights you have.

This Policy applies to teachers and other educators who create an account ("Account Holders") and to the student information Account Holders enter into the application ("Student Data"). It does not create a direct relationship between Laurel Education and students or their parents/guardians — see Section 9.

2. Who We Are

Laurel Education is operated by ShadowTail Apps, located at 13 Merritt Rd, East York, ON M4B 3K4. For privacy questions, contact us at hello@shadowtailapps.com.

3. Information We Collect

3.1 Account Information

• Your email address, used as your login identifier.
• Authentication credentials — either a password you set, or your Google or Microsoft account identifier if you sign in that way. We never see or store your Google or Microsoft password.

3.2 Student Data You Enter

As part of using the app, you may enter:

• Student names and grade levels.
• Classroom observations, including free-text content, subject, type, and tags.
• AI-generated report card commentary drafts (see Section 6).

We do not independently collect information about students. We only store what you, the teacher, choose to enter.

3.3 Automatically Collected Information

• Basic authentication metadata (such as sign-in timestamps), used for account security and to apply our data retention schedule (Section 8).
• Standard server logs (for example, IP address and device type), used for security and troubleshooting.

We do not use tracking cookies for advertising, and we do not sell personal information.

4. How We Use Information

We use the information described above only to:

• Provide the core functionality of the app — storing and displaying your students’ records and generating report card commentary.
• Secure your account and prevent abuse, including rate-limiting excessive requests.
• Maintain an internal audit trail of changes to student records for accountability.
• Comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests.

We do not use Student Data to train AI models, and we do not share Student Data with advertisers.

5. Data Isolation Between Teachers

Every student record, observation, and evaluation is tied to the teacher who created it. Our database security rules enforce this at the infrastructure level: one teacher’s account cannot read or write another teacher’s data, even in the event of a bug in the application itself.

6. AI-Generated Report Commentary

When you request AI-generated report card commentary, the relevant classroom observations are sent to Anthropic (the provider of the Claude AI model) to generate a draft. We limit what leaves our infrastructure in the process:

• The student’s name is never included in what is sent to the AI provider. The AI receives a placeholder ("[STUDENT]") and writes using it; the real name is substituted back in on our own servers before the result reaches you.
• Free-text observation content you write is sent to the AI provider as entered, so please avoid including sensitive information — such as another student’s name, or medical or disciplinary details — in observation text beyond what is necessary.
• AI-generated commentary is a draft only. You are responsible for reviewing it for accuracy before using it in any official capacity (see our Terms of Service, Section 6).

7. Where Your Data Is Stored and Processed

• Your account and Student Data are stored in Google Cloud Firestore, located in Canada.
• The application’s backend logic (Cloud Functions) runs on servers located in Montreal, Canada.
• The one exception is AI-generated commentary (Section 6): the request to Anthropic’s API is processed on infrastructure located in the United States. As of the date of this Policy, we have not identified a Canadian-region hosting option for this specific AI capability. We monitor for one and will migrate if one becomes available.

We do not transfer Student Data to any other country, or use any other subprocessor outside Canada, except as described above.

8. Data Retention and Deletion

• You may permanently delete an individual student’s record — and all of that student’s associated observations and evaluations — at any time from within the app.
• You may permanently delete your entire account and all associated data at any time, from Settings → Password & Security → Delete Account. This action is immediate and irreversible.
• If an account has no sign-in activity for two years, we automatically and permanently delete that account and all associated data.
• We retain security and audit logs of changes to student records for 2 years to support accountability, unless deleted earlier as part of an account deletion.

9. Students and Parents/Guardians

Laurel Education is a tool used by teachers and schools, not directly by students. If you are a parent, guardian, or student with questions about information a teacher has entered, please contact your child’s teacher or school directly — they control what is entered into the app and are best positioned to correct, explain, or request deletion of that information.

Schools and teachers are responsible for ensuring they have the appropriate authority under applicable education and privacy law before entering student information into any third-party tool, including this one.

10. Your Rights (Account Holders)

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you — contact us at hello@shadowtailapps.com.
• Correct inaccurate information; most fields are editable directly in the app.
• Delete your data, largely on a self-serve basis (Section 8).
• Withdraw consent by closing your account, subject to any legal retention obligations.
• Complain to us, or to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (or your provincial equivalent), if you believe we have not handled your information appropriately.

11. Security Measures

We apply layered technical safeguards, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest (Google Cloud default encryption).
• Server-side enforced data isolation per teacher account (Section 5).
• Rate limiting on AI-generation requests to reduce abuse.
• Automated audit logging of the creation, modification, and deletion of student records.
• Password requirements and re-authentication before sensitive actions, such as changing your password or deleting your account.

No system is perfectly secure. If we become aware of a breach affecting your information, we will notify affected Account Holders and, where required by law, applicable regulators, in accordance with our incident response process.

12. Children’s Information

This application is not directed at or intended for use by children. It is a professional tool for teachers. Students do not create accounts or interact with the application directly, and we do not knowingly collect information directly from children.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. We will update the "Last updated" date above and, for material changes, notify Account Holders by email or in-app notice.

14. Contact Us

Questions about this Policy or your data can be directed to hello@shadowtailapps.com, or 13 Merritt Rd, East York, ON M4B 3K4.