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Terms of Use/Privacy Policy

Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, and Confidentiality Agreement

Effective Date:  June 1, 2020

Welcome to The Santa Clara County Parent Portal, which is owned and operated by the Santa Clara County Office of Education (“SCCOE,” “we,” “our,” “us”).  These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your use of this website, our mobile application, and our services (collectively, the “Services”).  

These Terms are a binding contract between you and us.  You must agree to and accept all of the Terms in order to use the Services.  By using the Services, you are indicating your, and on behalf of your child as the parent or guardian, acknowledgment and acceptance of these Terms of Use and all related policies and guidelines related to the Services, including our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated herein by reference.

We are constantly working to improve our Services, so these Terms are subject to change by us at any time in our sole discretion.  If we make changes to these Terms, we will advise you by placing a notice on our website, by sending you an email, or by some other means.  Your continued use of our Services after such changes are implemented constitutes your acknowledgment and acceptance of the changes.  If you do not agree to any changes in these Terms of Use, please immediately discontinue your use of our Services.

1. Purpose of Website and Services

The Santa Clara County Parent Portal is a free online portal that provides families with access to current information regarding the vast array of child care, early education, and development services in Santa Clara County that includes, among other things, program and eligibility information, the opportunity to connect with resource and referral agencies and providers, the ability to use an online eligibility screening tool to help determine potential eligibility for services, and a way to link to local child care resource and referral agencies and alternative payment programs for additional assistance in selecting and assessing child care.

The online portal also provides child care and development services providers the ability to provide current and robust information about the services that they provide, including but not limited to the quality level of the provider, locations of services, hours of services, special services, and vacancies and potential vacancies.

2. Privacy

We take your privacy very seriously.  To review our current Privacy Policy, please view items 19 and 20.  We encourage you to check our Privacy Policy on a frequent basis for changes.  You hereby consent to our use of your personal information in accordance with the terms of, and for the limited purposes described in, our Privacy Policy.  By agreeing to these Terms of Use, you acknowledge and agree that certain information about you is subject to our Privacy Policy.  

In addition, the California Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) requires that online service providers obtain parental consent before they knowingly collect personally identifiable information online from children who are under 13.  We do not knowingly collect or solicit personally identifiable information from children under 13; if you are a child under 13, please do not attempt to register for the Services or send any personal information about yourself.  For clarity, children under 13 may not register as users of the Services, and may only interact with or receive the benefit of our Services through a parent and with parental supervision.

However, we do collect information about children from parents or guardians who are registered users of the Services and we treat such information as “Personal Information” under our Privacy Policy.  We ask that you refrain from providing information about a child unless you are that child’s parent or guardian (“Parental Consent”).  If we learn we have collected personal information directly from a child under 13 or about a child without Parental Consent, we will delete that information as quickly as possible.  If you believe that a child under 13 may have provided us personal information or that information about a child was provided without Parental Consent, please contact us at ccportal@sccoe.org.

3. Basics of Using the Services

You may be required to sign up for an account, and select display name (“ID”), and other registration information in order to use the Services.  By registering for an account, you promise to provide us with accurate, complete, and updated registration information about yourself.  You may not select as your ID a name that you don’t have the right to use, or select another person’s name with the intent to impersonate that person.  You may not transfer your account to anyone else without our prior written permission.

You represent and guarantee that you are the parent or guardian of the particular child and an individual of legal age to form a binding contract (or if not, you have received your parent or legal guardian’s permission to use the Services and gotten your parent or guardian to agree to these Terms on your behalf).  If you are agreeing to these Terms on behalf of an organization or entity, you represent and warrant that you are authorized to agree to these Terms on behalf of that organization or entity and to bind that organization or entity to these Terms (in which case, the references to “you” and “your” in these Terms, except for in this sentence, refer to that organization or entity).

As a parent or guardian, you will only use the Services for your own internal, personal, or non-commercial use, and not on behalf of or for the benefit of any third party.  If you are representing an organization or entity, the sole purpose of your use of the Services must be to promote that particular organization or entity and not for the benefit of any third party.  Further, you will use the Services in a manner that complies with all laws that apply to you.  If your use of the Services is prohibited by applicable laws, then you are not authorized to use the Services.  We are not responsible for your use of the Services in a manner inconsistent with applicable law.  Your use of the Services must at all times comply with all applicable local, state, federal, and international laws, regulations, and conventions, including without limitation those related to data collection, use, disclosure and privacy and exportation of technical or personal data.  You are responsible for any and all activities that occur under your account.  You agree to take reasonable steps to assure that use of the Services shall at all times conform to the terms and conditions included in these Terms.

You agree not to share your login credentials with anyone and you must protect the security of your account.  You must notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of any password or account or any other known or suspected breach of security.  You are responsible for any activity associated with your account.

Your interactions with organizations and/or individuals found on or through the Services, including payment and delivery of goods or services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such organizations and/or individuals.  You should make whatever investigation you feel necessary or appropriate before proceeding with any online or offline transaction with any of these third parties.  You agree that we shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings.

If there is a dispute between users of the Services, or between users and any third party, you agree that we are under no obligation to become involved.  In the event that you have a dispute with one or more other users, you release us, our officers, employees, board, agents, and successors from claims, demands, and damages of every kind or nature, known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and/or or the use of our Services.  

4. Prohibited Uses  

You acknowledge and agree that these Terms of Use prohibit you from the following using our Services for the following prohibited purposes:

  1. Leasing, selling, copying, sublicensing, transferring, or assigning any information, intellectual property, goods or services acquired through use of the Services
  2. Using the Services for any illegal purpose
  3. Using the Services to gain unauthorized access to data or information of any third parties
  4. Altering, modifying, adapting, reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling, or hacking our website in a manner that infringes on our intellectual property rights
  5. Altering or modifying another website to falsely imply that it is associated with our website
  6. Using or exporting our information, products, or services in violation of federal export laws and regulations
  7. Violating anyone else’s legal rights (e.g. privacy rights) or any applicable laws (e.g. copyright laws) 
  8. Using our website or our Services to transmit content that could be deemed unlawful, threatening, harassing, racist, abusive, libelous, pornographic, vulgar, defamatory, obscene, indecent, or otherwise inappropriate, including any messages constituting or encouraging criminal conduct
  9. Breaching or attempting to breach our website’s security systems
  10. Enabling third parties to violate the Terms of Use
  11. Using the Services to violate the security of any computer network, or cracking any passwords or security encryption codes
  12. Running Mail list, Listserv, or any form of auto-responder or “spam” via the Services, or any processes that run or are activated while you are not logged into the Services, or that otherwise interfere with the proper functioning of the Services (including by placing an unreasonable load on the Services’ infrastructure)
  13. “Crawling”, ”scraping”, or using “spiders” on any page, data, or portion of our website relating to the Services or Content (whether through use of manual or automated means)
  14. Copying or storing any portion of the content of our website
  15. Decompiling, reverse engineering, or otherwise attempting to obtain the source code or underlying ideas or information of or relating to the Services.

5. User Rights

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferrable worldwide right to use the Services, solely for your own personal purposes.  You shall not, without our prior written consent: (i) license, sublicense, sell, resell, transfer, or assign the Services to any third party; (ii) modify or make derivative works based upon the Services; or (iii) commercially exploit the Services in any way.  Any rights not expressly granted to you are reserved by us and our licensors.  Subject to these Terms, you grant to us the non-exclusive, worldwide right to use, copy, store, transmit, and display your user data in accordance with these Terms and our Privacy Policy.  You acknowledge that you have no rights with respect to data that you share with us when using the Services, except as expressly identified in our Privacy Policy.

6. Intellectual Property

The entire contents of our Services, , including, but not limited to text, graphics, images, data, articles, photos, images, illustrations, User Submissions, logos, slogans, trademarks, trade names, service marks, and domain names (all of the foregoing, the “Content”) are protected by copyright and/or other intellectual property laws.  The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (“DMCA”) provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under U.S. copyright law.  We respect other’s intellectual property rights, and we reserve the right to delete or disable Content on the Services which allegedly infringes another person’s copyright.  

You promise to abide by all copyright notices and/or restrictions contained in the Services, and you will not use, copy, reproduce, modify, translate, publish, broadcast, transmit, distribute, perform, upload, display, license, sell or otherwise exploit for any purpose any Content not owned by you (i) without the prior consent of the owner of that Content; or (ii) in a way that violates the rights of another person or entity.

You understand that SCCOE owns the Services.  You will not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as expressly provided in this Section), create derivative works based on, or otherwise exploit any of the Services.

The Services may allow you to copy or download certain Content; please remember that just because this functionality exists does not mean that all the restrictions above do not apply – they do!

7. Use of Cookies

We use “cookies” on our website to help you personalize your online experience.  A cookie is a small file that can be placed on your device that allows us to recognize and remember you so we can help make your next visit easier and the Services more useful to you.  It is sent to your browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive, tablet, or on your mobile device.  As part of the standard operation of the Services, we may use cookies to automatically collect certain information from you when you use the Services, including but not limited to your browser type, operating system, IP address, and the domain name from which you accessed the Services.  We may also collect information about your browsing behavior, such as the date and time you visit our website. Cookies can be persistent or linked to a particular Web browsing session.

We use cookies to enable certain functions of the Services, for statistical and analytical purposes, to store your user preferences, and to share important information with you. Many browsers have settings that allow you to delete cookies, but by doing so, you may not be able to use certain features of our Services or take full advantage of all of our offerings. 

By using the Services, you agree to our use of cookies.  

We also may use third party analytics services.  We may use such these third-party analytics services to track performance and usage metrics and other diagnostic data.  You can set your Internet browser to prohibit the installation of cookies that are utilized by our third-party analytics service providers. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may be restricted in how you are able to use our Services.  

8. Service Interruptions and Updates

Our Services may suffer either scheduled service interruptions (for maintenance and upgrades purposes) or unintended shutdowns (for whatever reason).  We will do our best to provide you with advanced notice of scheduled interruptions, and to provide you with updates in cases where unintended service interruptions occur.  In such cases, we will also do our best to restore the Services as soon as possible.  If you are suffering a service issue or have a concern about a service interruption, please contact us at ccportal@sccoe.org.  We will use commercially reasonable efforts to promptly identify and resolve your concern.

9. Responsibility for Content

By using our Services, you may have the opportunity to post your own content, comments, or inquiries (collectively, the “User Content”) on our website and through our Services.  You agree to only post User Content to which you own all proprietary right, title and interest, or for which you have a license, or written consent from the owner to post such User Content through the Services.  You grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, fully-paid, non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, publicly perform, publicly display, publish, distribute, and create derivative works of any User Content.  We acknowledge and agree that you will own all proprietary right, title and interest in your own User Content. 

Any information or User Content posted or privately transmitted through the Services is the sole responsibility of the person from whom such content originated, and you access all such information and User Content at your own risk.  We are not liable for any errors or omissions in that information or User Content or for any damages or loss you might suffer in connection with it.  We cannot control and have no duty to take any action regarding how you may interpret and use the User Content or what actions you may take as a result of having been exposed to the User Content, and you hereby release us from any liability for Content that you have acquired or not acquired through the Services.  We cannot guarantee the identity of any users with whom you interact in using the Services.

We may monitor and review User Content before it is posted, and we may refuse to post any User Content for any reason in our sole discretion.  Additionally, we may monitor User Content already posted on the website or via our Services.  We reserve the right to edit or remove any User Content that we, in our sole discretion, determine to violate any applicable law, these Terms of Use, or the purpose of our Services, or that we determine to be offensive or inappropriate, or for any other reason in our sole discretion.

10. Third Party Links

The Services may contain links or connections to third party websites or services that are not owned or controlled by us.  We make no warranties or claims regarding services from these sites, and no such warranties or claims should be implied or assumed.  When you access third party websites or use thirty party services, you accept that there are risks in doing so.  We encourage you to review the privacy policies and terms and conditions of websites you choose to link to from the Services so that you can understand how those websites collect, use, and share your information.

By using the Services, you release and hold us harmless from any and all liability arising from your use of and access to any third party website or service.

11. Changes to Services

We always strive to improve the Services.  To that end, we may suspend or discontinue any part of the Services, introduce new features or impose limits on certain features, or we may restrict access to all or parts of the Services.  We will try to give you notice when we make a material change to the Services that would adversely impact you.  Similarly, we reserve the right to remove any Content from the Services at any time, in our sole discretion and without notice to you for any reason, including but not limited to Content or User Content that may have been posted in violation of these Terms.

12. Indemnification 

To the fullest extent allowed by California law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the SCCOE, its officers, agents, Board, employees, contractors, partners, successors and assigns (the “Indemnified Parties”) from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages (actual and consequential), losses and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) arising from or in any way related to any third party claims relating to (a) your use or misuse of the Services (including any actions taken by a third party using your account), and (b) your violation of these Terms.  You also agree to indemnify and hold the Indemnified Parties harmless from and against any claims brought by third parties arising out of your use of our Services.  In the event of such a claim, suit, or action (“Claim”), we will attempt to provide notice of the Claim to the contact information we have for your account (provided that failure to deliver such notice shall not eliminate or reduce your indemnification obligations hereunder).

13. Limitation of Liability 

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES AND UNDER NO LEGAL THEORY (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, TORT, CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE) SHALL SCCOE (OR ITS LICENSORS OR SUPPLIERS) BE LIABLE TO YOU OR TO ANY OTHER PERSON FOR (A) ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFIT, LOST REVENUE, LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, ACCURACY OF RESULTS, OR COMPUTER FAILURE OF MALFUNCTION, OR (B) ANY AMOUNT, IN THE AGGREGATE, IN EXCESS OF THE GREATER OF (1) $100 OR (2) ANY MATTER BEYOND OUR REASONABLE CONTROL. 

14. Warranty Disclaimer

Neither SCCOE nor its licensors or suppliers make any representations or warranties concerning any content contained in or accessed through the Services, and we will not be responsible for liable for the accuracy, copyright compliance, legality, or decency of materials contained in or accessed through the Services.  We (and our licensors and suppliers) make no representations or warranties regarding suggestions or recommendations of services or products offered or purchased through the Services.  Products and services purchased or offered (whether or not following such recommendations and suggestions) through the Services are provided “AS IS” and without any warranty of any kind from SCCOE or others (unless, with respect to such others only, provided expressly and unambiguously in writing by a designated third party for a specific product).  THE SERVICES AND CONTENT ARE PROVIDED BY SCCOE (AND ITS LICENSORS AND SUPPLIERS) ON AN “AS-IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR THAT USE OF THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE.  

15. Assignment

You may not assign, delegate or transfer these Terms or your rights or obligations hereunder, or your Services account, in any way (by operation of law or otherwise) without our prior written consent.  We may transfer, assign, or delegate these Terms and our rights and obligations with your consent.

16. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms and any action related thereto or related to our Services shall be governed, controlled, interpreted, and construed under the laws of the State of California, without regard to the conflicts of law provisions thereof.  Any dispute arising from or relating to the subject matter of these Terms shall be finally settled in San Jose County, California, in English, in accordance with the Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures of Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, Inc. (“JAMS”) then in effect, by one commercial arbitrator with substantial experience in resolving intellectual property and commercial contract disputes, who shall be selected from the appropriate list of JAMS arbitrators in accordance with such Rules.  Judgment upon the award rendered by such arbitrator may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.  Notwithstanding the foregoing obligation to arbitrate disputes, each party shall have the right to pursue injunctive or other equitable relief at any time, from any court of competent jurisdiction.  For all purposes of this Agreement, the parties consent to exclusive jurisdiction and venue in the state or federal courts located in, respectively, San Jose County, California, or the Northern District of California.  Any arbitration under these Terms will take place on an individual basis; class arbitrations and class actions are not permitted.  YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT BY ENTERING INTO THESE TERMS, YOU AND SCCOE ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY OR TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION.  

17. Term, Termination, and Survival

These Terms shall be effective as of the date that you accept the Terms or first access, download or use any of the Services and shall remain in effect for so long as you use or access any of the Services (“Term”).  Upon termination of the Term, you shall no longer be permitted to use or access the Services.  

You are free to stop using the Services at any time.  If you are an organization or an entity, please contact us at ccportal@sccoe.org if you desire to terminate your account.  Additionally, we are free to terminate (or suspend access to) your use of the Services or your account, for any reason in our sole discretion, including your breach of these Terms.  We have the sole right to decide whether you are in violation of any of the restrictions set forth in these Terms.

Account termination may result in the destruction of any Content associated with your account, so please keep that in mind before you decide to terminate your account.

If you have deleted your account by mistake, please contact us immediately at ccportal@sccoe.org  -- we will try to help, but unfortunately, we cannot promise that we can recover or restore anything.

The Terms that contemplate obligations after the Term, including but not limited to Indemnification, Warranty Disclaimer, Limitation of Liability, and Governing Law and Dispute Resolution shall survive termination.

18. Miscellaneous

You will be responsible for paying, withholding, filing, and reporting all taxes, duties, and other governmental assessments associated with your activity in connection with the Services.  

The failure of either you or us to exercise, in any way, any right herein shall not be deemed a waiver of any further rights hereunder.  No delay or omission by either party in exercising its rights or remedies will impair or be construed as a waiver.  Any single or partial exercise of a right or remedy will not preclude further exercise of any other right or remedy.  Our failure to enforce the strict performance of any provision of these Terms will not constitute a waiver of our right to subsequently enforce such provision or any other provisions of these Terms.

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated, to the minimum extent necessary, so that these Terms shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable.  

You agree that these Terms are the complete and exclusive statement of the mutual understanding between you and us, and that it supersedes and cancels all previous written and oral agreements, communications and other understandings relating to the subject matter of these Terms.  You hereby acknowledge and agree that you are not an employee, agent, partner, or joint venture of SCCOE, and you do not have any authority of any king to bind SCCOE in any respect whatsoever.  You and SCCOE agree that there are no third party beneficiaries intended under these Terms.  

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these Terms or the Services, please contact us at ccportal@sccoe.org or at 1290 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA  95131.

19. Redisclosure and Confidentiality Agreement for Providers

REDISCLOSURE:  The organization(s) and provider(s) receiving my information will not re-share it with any other entity or person after receiving it.  As a child care organization or provider, and as a condition of accessing this Portal, we agree that we will not use any of the personal information that we obtain about a child and/or a family (including but not limited to names, address, contact information, dates of birth, etc.) for ANY purpose other than to facilitate the enrollment of the child into our facility.  We understand and agree that we will not use any of the personal information for ANY OTHER purpose (including but not limited to personal or commercial purposes).

CONFIDENTIALITY:  The organization(s) and provider(s) receiving my information have signed agreements to maintain the security and confidentiality of my information and my child’s information.  Such organization(s) and provider(s) agree that they will not use any of the personal information that they obtain about my child and/or my family for ANY purpose other than to facilitate the enrollment of my child into their facility.  They understand and agree that they will not use any of my personal information for ANY OTHER PURPOSE (including but not limited to personal or commercial purposes).  Any data collected by SCCOE on children will be stored behind the password-protected Parent Portal.  I have the right to review all applicable confidentiality polices and agreements.

20. Privacy Policy

All personal information provided through the Santa Clara County Parent Portal is confidential.  “Personal information” means individually identifiable information, including but not limited to your child’s first and last name, your first and last name, the names of family and household members, your home address or other physical address (including street name and number and the name of the city or town), and your telephone number.  Such information shall be maintained in the strictest privacy and security.  

You must consent to share any personal information with an agency or organization or to a school or school district before The Santa Clara County Parent Portal will share such information.

21. Consent to Release and Share Information for Families

This language is provided to families in the form of a pop-up prior to creating an account. 

BACKGROUND:  The purpose of this Consent to Release and Share Information is to give my permission to provide confidential personal information to potential childcare and education agencies of my choosing for my child through The Santa Clara County Parent Portal (“Parent Portal”).  This information will be shared for admission to a program and to plan and provide essential and necessary services to my child. Information will be shared only to help my child and to improve outcomes for my child and for program evaluation. 

PURPOSE:  The personal information shared may only be used to plan and provide services to my child and to improve the effectiveness of services.  I also permit information about my child to be shared in an aggregated and anonymized manner (no name, date of birth or other personal identifier) with other children’s data for research, planning, program evaluation and policy development purposes.  Such aggregated and anonymized information may appear in public dashboards.

DURATION:  This consent is valid immediately and will be valid unless I cancel this consent.

CANCELLATION:  I understand that I have a right to cancel this Consent at any time.  To cancel, I must cancel this consent in writing and submit it to ccportal@sccoe.org. A cancellation will not apply to actions already taken by the SCCOE or the organization(s) and provider(s) listed on page 1 under this consent. 

RIGHT TO A COPY:  A copy of this consent will be available on the portal website.  A copy of this consent is as valid as an original.

REDISCLOSURE:  The organization(s) and provider(s) receiving my information will not re-share it with any other entity or person after receiving it.

CONFIDENTIALITY:  The organization(s) and provider(s) receiving my information have signed agreements to maintain the security and confidentiality of my information and my child’s information.  Any data collected by SCCOE on children will be stored behind the password-protected Parent Portal.  I have the right to review all applicable confidentiality polices and agreements.

Please check the box (below) indicating that you agree to consent.  This also tells us that you have read and understand what we are asking you to do. 

Please read this carefully. If you have any questions about this consent, please contact ccportal@sccoe.org.

By Selecting AGREE, I agree to the following: I have read this consent form and I understand the terms and conditions of this Consent to Release and Share Information (or someone has explained this form to me).  All of my questions have been answered and I understand what my permission involves. I have also read the TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY for the Santa Clara County Parent Portal. I UNDERSTAND THAT IF I DO NOT AGREE, I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO USE THE PARENT PORTAL.