All Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence (BRSE) owned sites, including this site, are covered by the policies herein. Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence is a not-for-profit organization established for the primary purpose of improving academic excellence for all children. This is accomplished, in part, through the identification of successful programs in schools across the nation, the creation of an online best practices database to share these best practices free of charge, and to assist in the implementation of successful practices in targeted schools.

Privacy Policy

When does BRSE collect my personally identifiable information?

When you register on our site, or for services on any of our sites, we collect personally identifying information from you. During registration you are asked to provide your email address and some demographic information so we may be better able to customize our services and your experience to suit your needs and preferences.

How is my personally identifiable information used?

Our main goal is to provide you with a more relevant experience. The email address provided by you at registration, or as updated, may be used by Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence to contact you for any reason, including: (1) Your account status (including an email confirmation of registration), (2) Major changes to the website, the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, (3) Participation in user surveys, asking for feedback on the website and (4) notifying you of information that may be relevant to you and/or your organization. This information helps us to improve our website, and any information we obtain will not be shared with third parties.

IP Address. BRSE may also collect IP addresses for the purposes of systems administration or to report information in aggregate form to our partners (e.g. how many visitors logged in). An IP address is a number that is assigned to your computer automatically when you use the Internet. When you visit a particular BRSE web page, our servers log your IP address. Your IP address is not linked to anything personally identifiable.

Who does BRSE share information with?

User information is shared within BRSE in order to provide you with a more integrated and customized user experience. In general, we will not disclose your personally identifiable information to third parties except to the extent necessary to provide you with a requested product or service.

To the extent you are notified of uses of your personal information which are different from those described during your enrollment in any particular service that may also be offered, the uses of which you are specifically notified will govern that service.

What else should I know about my privacy?

You should be aware that if you voluntarily disclose personal information online in a public area, that information may be collected and used by others. We do not control the actions of our visitors and registered users. If you disclose personal information in a chat room, forum, on your home page, or any other publicly accessible place, you do so at your own risk and you understand that your submitted information may be collected and used by others to send you unsolicited messages, advertisements, or for other purposes.

Please remember that protection of your privacy begins with you. You are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any password you use to register, and you should always be careful and responsible whenever disclosing information online.

PRIVACY PROTECTION FOR CHILDREN.

In compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and building on our general Privacy Policy, we recognize the need to provide additional privacy protections when children visit our sites. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") requires that we inform parents and legal guardians about how we collect, use, and disclose personal information from children under 13 years of age; and that we obtain the consent of parents and guardians in order for children under 13 years of age to use certain features of our Web sites. Also, when we use the term "parent" below, we mean to include legal guardians.

We feel strongly about protecting the privacy of children. We encourage them to involve their parents in any interactive activity they participate in online. Except where otherwise disclosed, we will not collect or use any personal information from children we know to be under the age of thirteen without obtaining express parental consent. All general information collected from users under the age of thirteen is used only for aggregate statistical analysis.

Acceptance of Privacy Policy. By using BRSE sites and services, you signify your acceptance of this Privacy Statement. If you do not agree or are not comfortable with any policy described in this Privacy statement, your only remedy is to discontinue use of our sites. We reserve the right, to modify this Privacy Statement at any time. Your continued use of any portion of our sites following notification or posting of such changes, will constitute your acceptance of those changes. If you have questions or concerns about our specific policies, please contact us at info@blueribbonschools.com.

Terms of Use

We welcome you to our site. We ask that you review these Terms of Use, which are intended to constitute a binding license agreement that conditions your use of this site ("Agreement"). We have tried to avoid unnecessary legal verbiage. Our goal is to protect our rights in order to provide you with access to the free content available at this site. If you do not wish to be bound by this Agreement after you have read it, please leave the site. If you remain on this site, or return thereafter, you agree to be bound by this Agreement.

1. Responsible conduct. You agree to act responsibly at this site and to treat other visitors with respect.
2. Limited License/ Copyright and Intellectual Property Law Restrictions. Except for public domain material, the content on this site is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. You are hereby granted a non-exclusive license to use the material at this site ("Content") while connected to this site. You are also granted a limited license to print one copy of any Content posted at the site, but only for your personal use. Schools and districts are exempt and authorized to utilize the content of this site for the purpose of school improvement activities. Except as expressly provided above, all rights are reserved. Among other things, except to the extent required for the limited purpose of reviewing material on our site, electronic reproduction, adaptation, distribution, performance or display is prohibited. Changes to or deletion of author attribution or copyright notices are prohibited. Commercial use of any of the Content is strictly prohibited. You may not display this website in frames (or any of the Content via in-line links) without our express written permission, which may be requested by contacting us. You may, however, establish ordinary links to our site without our written permission. Requests for special exemptions and/or considerations should be submitted to us in writing.
3. Links. We may provide links from our site to other sites as a convenience to our visitors. We have no control over linked sites and make no representations about any content or material available at these locations. Links are not intended to imply sponsorship, affiliation or endorsement.
4. Discussion Boards and other self-publishing 3rd party products. Although we do not have any obligation to monitor these services, or this self-published content, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us in our sole discretion and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We also reserve the right to permanently block any user who violates these terms and conditions.
5. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT USE OF THIS WEB SITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THERE IS NO WARRANTY THAT YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF THIS SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE; OR THAT ANY PARTICULAR RESULTS MAY BE OBTAINED BY USE OF THIS SITE. THIS SITE IS MADE AVAILABLE ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT OR OTHERWISE, OTHER THAN THOSE WHICH ARE IMPLIED BY AND INCAPABLE OF EXCLUSION, RESTRICTION, OR MODIFICATION UNDER THE LAWS APPLICABLE TO THIS AGREEMENT. NEITHER WE NOR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY PROVIDING CONTENT VIA THIS SITE SHALL BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES.
6. Modifications/ Termination. The terms of this agreement will not be modified on an individual basis. You agree that we may modify the terms of this Agreement (or discontinue this site) in our sole discretion, without advance notice, and that your right to access this site is conditioned on an ongoing basis with your compliance with the then-current version of these Terms and Conditions. You should therefore visit this page frequently.
7. Jurisdiction. This Web site is hosted on servers located in the United States and is intended to be viewed by residents of the United States. In the event of any dispute arising out of or relating to this site, you agree that the exclusive venue for litigating disputes shall be in state or federal court in Columbia, South Carolina.

INTERACTIVE LIBRARY OF BEST PRACTICES

To upload a Best Practice or Successful Program in the Interactive Library of Best Practices, you must agree to the terms listed below. THIS DOCUMENT REFLECTS THE POLICY OF BLUE RIBBON SCHOOLS OF EXCELLENCE, INC., (BRSE) WITH RESPECT TO THE SUBMISSION AND UPLOADING OF THIRD PARTY SCRIPTS, LESSONS, ETC. (HEREINAFTER REFERRED TO AS "CONTENT") FOR INCLUSION ON BRSE WEB PAGES (COLLECTIVELY HEREINAFTER REFERRED TO AS THE "WEB PAGES") FOR THE PURPOSE OF SHARING THE CONTENT WITH OTHER USERS. BY SUBMISSION AND UPLOADING OF YOUR CONTENT YOU INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE CONDITIONS BELOW AND CERTIFY THAT (1) YOU HAVE READ THIS SUBMISSION AND UPLOADING POLICY AND AGREE TO ITS TERMS AND (2) YOU WILL DISCLOSE AND UPLOAD CONTENT TO BRSE ONLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TERMS HEREOF. ALL CONTENT SUBMITTED AND UPLOADED BY YOU TO BRSE OR DISCUSSIONS RELATING THERETO BETWEEN YOU AND BRSE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY THIS POLICY.

BRSE SUBMISSION AND UPLOADING POLICY

1. BRSE is not interested in obtaining access to information that is considered by you or a third party to be confidential, proprietary, and/or contains trade secrets unless BRSE enters into an appropriate confidentiality/nondisclosure agreement prior to submission and uploading of your Content.
2. You agree that no obligation of confidentiality or limitation of use is imposed with respect to the Content furnished. BRSE shall have the right to use any ideas, concepts, know-how, or techniques contained in or relating to the Content. You will only retain rights you may have in the Content under patent and/or copyright law.
3. You agree that BRSE assumes no obligation to (1) return the Content submitted by you, (2) compensate you in any way for the use of the Content in accordance with the intentions specified herein. BRSE reserves the right to remove any Content without prior notice to you that is alleged by a third party to be infringing, unlawful, defamatory, and/or violative of any person's right to privacy and/or publicity.
4. You warrant that you own and/or have the full authority and rights from the owner to grant permission(s) for BRSE to use, copy, reproduce, publicly display, publicly perform, (re)distribute, (re)broadcast, and/or (re)transmit the Content submitted and uploaded herein, and that the Content does not infringe on any proprietary and/or intellectual property rights of third persons or contain any information that is unlawful, defamatory, or violative of any person's right to privacy and/or publicity. You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless BRSE, its officers, directors, employees, agents, licensees, and assigns, and all persons acting under BRSE's permission or authority, or those for whom BRSE is acting from and against any and all liability, claims, expenses, costs, or damages arising out of you or your organization's failure to meet the aforementioned obligations.
5. You agree to follow the then current BRSE Submission Guidelines. Please review these guidelines before posting your materials. Any submissions not following the aforementioned guidelines will not be considered for posting in or on the Web Pages. All materials posted will be considered copyrighted by the author unless the author expressly states that the information and related materials are being placed in the public domain.
6. You agree that the terms of this policy shall control the rights and obligations of BRSE and you respecting the Content, however disclosed or provided to BRSE, including verbal disclosure thereof, notwithstanding any legends, markings, or other restrictions embodied in, attached to, or accompanying such Content. The terms of this policy may not be amended or superseded except by a written amendment that refers to this document and is signed by both parties. This policy shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States of America and the State of South Carolina.