Privacy Policy

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Enrollment & Account Information — provided by the parent/guardian

Because every account is created and every enrollment form is completed by a parent or legal guardian, not by the student (see Section 3), the personal information below is collected from the enrolling adult, about themselves and their child, not submitted independently by a child:

• Parent/guardian name, email address, phone number, billing address
• Student's name, grade level, school (if provided), and date of birth or age (where relevant to program eligibility)
• Emergency contacts and Authorized Pickup List (for in-person sessions)
• Allergies, medical conditions, or medications disclosed for safety purposes (Section 15 of the Terms of Service & Policies)
• Payment information — processed directly by our third-party payment processor, Stripe; we do not store full card numbers
• Any photo/video consent choice made on the Liability Waiver

2.2 Automatically Collected Information

When anyone visits launchpadstemacademy.com — a parent researching the program, or a student browsing on their own before a parent is involved — our site and its third-party tools automatically collect:

• IP address, approximate location (city/region level), device and browser type
• Pages viewed, referring site/search terms, time on page, general navigation behavior
• Cookie identifiers set by our analytics and advertising tools

We currently use Google Analytics and a Meta (Facebook/Instagram) advertising pixel for site performance measurement and marketing. Section 4 explains how these are configured specifically because minors are part of our audience.

2.3 Communications

If a parent, guardian, or adult student emails or calls us, we keep a record of that communication to respond and to maintain a service history.

3. Children's Privacy (COPPA)

Launchpad STEM Academy primarily serves students in grades 6–12, which spans ages that include children under 13. We take the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) seriously and have designed our enrollment process specifically to limit our COPPA obligations rather than merely disclaim them:

• We do not operate any part of our enrollment, account-creation, or checkout flow in a way that collects personal information directly from a child. A parent or legal guardian is always the one who creates the account, enters the student's information, and completes payment. Information the operator receives about a child, submitted by that child's own parent, is treated differently under COPPA than information a child submits about themselves — and our process is built around that distinction, not around it as a loophole: no student anywhere on our site is invited to create their own account, submit their own contact form, or provide their own information unsupervised.
• We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from a child under 13 outside of what a parent or guardian provides on the child's behalf during enrollment.
• We do not sell children's personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for advertising, for monetary or other consideration, or to train AI systems.
• We do not use any information about an enrolled minor to build an advertising profile or target ads to that child.
• If we ever learn that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information directly and without a parent or guardian's involvement — for example, by misrepresenting who was filling out a form — we will delete that information promptly and will not use it.

A note on the marketing site itself. The pages a visitor sees before ever creating an account (home page, program pages, pricing) are written for parents evaluating the program, not designed to appeal to children — no games, characters, or child-directed content. That matters because COPPA's obligations for a general-audience site are narrower than for a site directed to children: a general-audience site's duties turn mainly on whether it has actual knowledge a specific visitor is under 13, whereas a site "directed to children" carries COPPA obligations for all visitors, regardless of age. This is a judgment call for counsel, not something to self-certify — but it is the reason Section 4 below treats the passive analytics/ad tracking on the marketing pages as the highest-risk item to lock down, independent of how that determination comes out.

Parents' Rights

A parent or legal guardian may, at any time, by emailing [email protected]:

• Review the personal information we have collected about their child
• Request deletion of their child's personal information (subject to the retention exceptions in Section 7 — e.g., records we must keep for a completed transaction)
• Refuse to permit further collection or use of their child's information, which will result in the account being unable to book further Services
• Revoke consent previously given (e.g., withdraw photo/video consent — see Section 18 of the Terms of Service & Policies)

We will respond to a parental request within a reasonable time, generally within 14 days.

4. Cookies, Analytics & Advertising

We use Google Analytics to understand site traffic and Meta's advertising pixel to measure and optimize marketing to parents considering our program. Because our audience includes children, these tools are configured with limits that go beyond their default settings:

• Ad personalization and remarketing are not built from any signal tied to a known minor. Our marketing audiences are built from parents who complete checkout or explicitly opt into marketing communications — not from anonymous visits to program pages that a student might make on their own.
• [Action item before launch — verify and check the box that applies]: Google Signals / ads personalization is disabled in our Google Analytics property, and the Meta Pixel is configured for aggregate measurement rather than Advanced Matching on any page a child could reach without a parent present. (This line should be confirmed against the actual GA4/Meta Events Manager configuration before publishing — it's the one item in this policy that describes a setting rather than a business practice, so it needs to be true, not just written.)
• Visitors can decline non-essential cookies through our cookie banner [to be added to the site if not already present], opt out of Google Analytics using Google's browser add-on, and manage Meta ad preferences at facebook.com/adpreferences.
• We do not use cookies or pixel data to identify a specific visitor as a child, and we do not ask visitors to self-report age through the site's general pages.

5. How We Use Information

We use the information described in Section 2 to: schedule and deliver tutoring, advising, and related Services; process payment through Stripe; communicate with families about bookings, cancellations, and account matters; ensure student safety during in-person sessions (emergency contacts, allergy/medical disclosures, Authorized Pickup List); respond to inquiries; and, on an aggregate or de-identified basis, understand and improve our website and marketing. We do not use student information for any purpose unrelated to delivering the Services without separate parental consent.

6. How We Share Information

We share personal information only as needed to operate the business:

• Service providers who process data on our behalf under confidentiality obligations — currently Stripe (payments), our scheduling/booking platform, and our email/communication tools
• Analytics/advertising providers (Google, Meta) — limited to the cookie/pixel data described in Section 4, never full enrollment records
• Legal or safety disclosures — if required by law, subpoena, or to protect the safety of a student or others (e.g., the authorities-contact provision in Section 13 of the Terms of Service & Policies)

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share children's personal information with third parties for advertising or monetary consideration.

7. Data Retention & Deletion

We keep family and student account records for as long as the account is active, plus a limited period afterward to meet tax, accounting, and legal recordkeeping obligations (generally consistent with Florida's recordkeeping and statute-of-limitations periods). Once that period has passed and information is no longer reasonably necessary for the purpose it was collected for, we delete or de-identify it. A parent may request earlier deletion under Section 3, subject to any records we're legally required to retain.

8. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to our size and the sensitivity of the information we hold — including limiting staff access to student records to those who need it, relying on Stripe (a PCI-compliant processor) for payment data rather than storing card numbers ourselves, and reviewing our safeguards periodically. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure; if a breach affecting personal information occurs, we will notify affected families consistent with Florida law.

9. Your Choices

• Marketing communications: Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link; opting out doesn't affect transactional emails about an active booking.
• Photo/video consent: Opt-in only, withdrawable anytime — see Section 18 of the Terms of Service & Policies.
• Cookies/ads: See Section 4.
• Account information: Contact us to review, correct, or request deletion of your family's information (Section 3).

10. Direct Notice to Parents (COPPA Summary)

Launchpad STEM Academy collects the information you provide when you create an account and enroll your student — your contact information, your student's name and grade, emergency contacts, and (for in-person sessions) any medical or pickup information you disclose. This information is used solely to deliver and administer our tutoring and advising Services, is not sold, and is not shared with third parties for advertising. You may review, correct, or request deletion of this information at any time by emailing [email protected], and you may withdraw any previously given consent (such as photo/video use) at any time. Full details are in our Privacy Policy.

11. Account Creation Notice

Short-form text shown at account creation / checkout, near the Enrollment Agreement checkbox:

Because you're creating this account and providing your student's information on their behalf, Launchpad STEM Academy is collecting this information from you, not from your student. See our Privacy Policy for what we collect, how it's used, and your rights to review, correct, or delete it.

I have read and agree to the Privacy Policy — required to complete enrollment.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted here with an updated "Last Updated" date. Continued use of the Services after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.

13. Governing Law

This Policy is governed by the laws of the State of Florida, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

14. Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy, or to exercise any of the rights described above:

• Email: [email protected]
• Service Area: Miami-Dade County, Florida (online now; in-person opening soon)

Quick-reference summary

• Who creates the account? Always the parent/guardian — never the student directly.
• Do we collect info directly from kids under 13? No — not knowingly, and not through any part of the site by design.
• Do we sell children's data? No.
• Do we use children's data for ad targeting? No.
• What tracks visitors passively? Google Analytics + Meta ad pixel — configured with no ad-personalization tied to minors (verify before launch).
• How does a parent review/delete their child's info? Email [email protected].
• How does a parent revoke consent? Email [email protected], effective for future use.
• Where's the full COPPA notice? Section 10 (parent-facing summary).