Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

TeachNEW ("we," "us," or "our") is a software company based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. We provide a curriculum intelligence and resource management platform ("Platform") designed exclusively for Alberta K-12 school divisions.

We operate as a data processor on behalf of your school division (the data controller) for all curriculum and professional content you create or upload using our Platform. We are an independent data controller for operational data such as analytics and system logs.

Contact: Ethan West, Founder: customschoolsoftware@gmail.com

2. Information We Collect

We collect the minimum information necessary to provide the Platform. The table below describes each category.

Information We Do Not Collect

• We do not collect passwords. Authentication is handled entirely by Google.
• We do not create student accounts. The Platform is for educators and administrators only.
• We do not collect payment card information directly. Billing is handled separately.
• We do not collect sensitive personal information such as health data, government ID numbers, or financial records.

3. How We Use Information

We use the information we collect only for the following purposes:

• Providing the Platform:Authenticating your account, displaying your division's curriculum library, enabling resource sharing, and generating curriculum gap reports.
• AI-assisted features:When you use our outcome suggestion tool, your lesson title and description are sent to Google's Gemini API to suggest curriculum outcome alignments. See Section 4 for details.
• Platform improvement: Aggregated, anonymised analytics help us understand how the Platform is used and where we should focus development.
• Security and integrity: System logs help us detect and respond to security incidents.
• Communications:We may contact you about your account, platform updates, or your division's subscription.

We do not use your information for advertising. We do not sell your personal information to any third party.

4. Google API Disclosure

Google Sign-In

We use Google Sign-In to authenticate users. We receive your Google account email address, display name, and profile photo URL. We use this information only to create and manage your TeachNEW account and to associate it with your school division. We do not use Google account data for any other purpose.

Google Drive

If you choose to link Google Drive files to lessons, we request access to your Google Drive. Specifically, we may request the following scopes:

• drive.file: access to files you explicitly open or create through TeachNEW
• drive.readonly: read-only access to locate and link your Drive files

We store only the file ID and link reference of files you choose to attach. We do not download, copy, or store the content of your Drive files on our servers beyond what is necessary to display the link within the Platform. You can revoke Google Drive access at any time through your Google Account permissions page.

Google Gemini API (AI Features)

TeachNEW uses Google's Gemini API to power two AI-assisted features:

• Outcome suggestions:When you request suggestions, your lesson title, description, and your division's learning outcome text are sent to the Gemini API. The API returns suggested outcome IDs. This data is processed by Google and is not stored by TeachNEW beyond the immediate response.
• Curriculum import (administrators only): When a division administrator imports curriculum from a URL or PDF, the content of that document is sent to the Gemini API to extract structured learning outcomes. This content is not stored by TeachNEW beyond the immediate Cloud Function execution.

Consumer Gemini (External Tool)

TeachNEW provides an optional link to Google's consumer Gemini tool (gemini.google.com). This opens an external website in a new browser tab. Any content you enter into that external tool is governed by Google's consumer terms of service and privacy policy, not this Privacy Policy. TeachNEW does not process or receive any content you submit to the external Gemini tool.

Firebase Services

Our Platform is built on Google Firebase, which provides our database (Firestore), file storage, authentication, hosting, and serverless functions. Firebase Analytics collects standard app usage events. All Firebase services are subject to Google's privacy terms and our Data Processing Agreement with Google.

5. Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We share information only in the following limited circumstances:

Within your school division

Curriculum content you publish to your division's community library is visible to other authenticated users within the same division. Content you keep private is visible only to you and your division administrators.

Sub-processors

We use the following third-party services to operate the Platform. Each acts as a data sub-processor under contractual data protection obligations:

Legal requirements

We may disclose your information if required to do so by law, court order, or governmental authority, or if we reasonably believe disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of TeachNEW, our users, or the public.

Business transfer

If TeachNEW is acquired or merges with another entity, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify your school division prior to any such transfer and ensure the acquiring party is bound to privacy obligations at least as protective as this Policy.

6. Data Residency

All curriculum content, educator profiles, uploaded files, and system logs processed by TeachNEW are stored on Google Firebase infrastructure located in Montreal, Canada (region: northamerica-northeast1). Your Division Data does not leave Canada.

Note: Firebase Authentication records are managed by Google's global authentication infrastructure. Firebase Analytics data is processed by Google's Analytics infrastructure. Both are subject to Google's Data Processing Addendum.

7. Retention and Deletion

We retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Platform to your school division.

• Account deletion: You may request deletion of your account by contacting us at customschoolsoftware@gmail.com. We will delete your account and associated personal profile data within 30 days of a confirmed request.
• Division offboarding:When a school division's subscription ends, we will provide a full export of all Division Data within 10 business days, and securely delete all Division Data from our systems within 30 days of confirmed export receipt.
• Curriculum content:Content you have published to your division's library may be retained by your division administrators after your individual account is deleted, as it forms part of the division's collective resource library.
• Analytics: Aggregated, anonymised analytics data may be retained for longer periods for product improvement purposes.

8. Security

We take security seriously and implement the following measures to protect your information:

• All data is transmitted over HTTPS/TLS.
• Authentication is handled by Google; we never handle or store your password.
• Access to your division's data is enforced by Firestore Security Rules using a verified division claim on every request, so users cannot access another division's data.
• Firebase App Check with reCAPTCHA is used to protect our backend functions from unauthorised access.
• API keys and credentials are stored in Google Cloud Secret Manager, not in source code.
• All data is stored in Canada (see Section 6).

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. If you become aware of a security concern, please contact us immediately at customschoolsoftware@gmail.com.

9. Student Data

TeachNEW is designed exclusively for educators and school division administrators. We do not create student accounts. We do not knowingly collect personal information from students.

While the Platform does not provide student access, teachers may inadvertently include student-related information in lesson descriptions, uploaded materials, or assessment content. We ask all users to follow their division's acceptable use policy and avoid including student personal information in Platform content.

If you believe student personal information has been submitted to the Platform, please contact your division administrator or contact us directly at customschoolsoftware@gmail.com and we will work with your division to address it promptly.

10. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights with respect to your personal information:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correction: Request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Deletion: Request deletion of your personal information (see Section 7).
• Portability: Request your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Withdrawal of consent: Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw consent at any time. This does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

As an educator using TeachNEW on behalf of your school division, some of these rights may need to be exercised through your division administrator, who is the data controller for Division Data.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at customschoolsoftware@gmail.com. We will respond within 30 days.

Alberta residents may also contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta (OIPC) at oipc.ab.ca if you have concerns about how your information is handled.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify affected school divisions by email and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically.

Your continued use of the Platform after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated Policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact us: