School Alert privacy policy

School Alert is operated by MEPAworx, based in Illinois ("we", "us"). This policy explains what information the School Alert app collects, why, and the choices you have. School Alert is currently in development and being tested; we'll update this policy as the app changes.

The short version

We collect only what the app needs to deliver school alerts.
Your phone's location stays on your phone. We never receive or store it.
We don't sell your information, show ads or use tracking or analytics tools.

Information you give us

Account details: your email address and a password. Passwords are stored only in a scrambled (hashed) form.
Your role: whether you signed up as a parent or a teacher.
Your school and alert settings: the school you choose and, for parents, the alert radius you pick.
Teacher access code checks: when a teacher enters an access code, we check it and keep a count of wrong attempts to prevent guessing. We don't store the code you type.
Alerts and messages: teachers' alerts, follow-up messages and all-clear notices, with the time and the teacher account that sent them. Teacher actions, including the simulated "Alert police" button, are kept in an event log that can't be edited.

Information collected automatically

Push notification address: if you allow notifications, your device gives the app an address used only to deliver alerts to your phone.
Delivery records: whether each alert was sent to each parent's device, so teachers can see how many parents were reached and failed deliveries can be retried.

Your location

If you allow it, the parent map shows a blue dot for where you are. Your location is used only on your phone, only while the app is open, and is never sent to or stored by us. Alerts are matched to you by the school and radius you choose, not by where you are. You can say no to location access and the app still works.

To draw the map, the app downloads map images from a map service. Like any website, that service can see your device's internet address and which area of the map was loaded.

How we use information

To create and secure your account.
To send alerts and updates to the parents who should receive them.
To show teachers delivery counts and the event log.
To prevent misuse, such as guessing teacher access codes.
To answer your messages when you contact us.

Services that help run the app

We share information only with the services needed to run School Alert, and only for that purpose:

Supabase: stores accounts, school choices, alerts and messages.
Expo: delivers push notifications.
Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (Android) and Apple Push Notification service (iPhone): deliver notifications to your device.
OpenFreeMap: provides the map images.

School information comes from public data published by the National Center for Education Statistics. We may also share information if the law requires it.

Who can see what

Parents see alerts for their own school and schools within their chosen radius.
Teachers see alerts for their own school, delivery counts (not who received them) and their school's event log.
Other users can't see your email address or settings.

Keeping and deleting information

We keep your account information while your account exists. Alerts, messages and event logs are kept as a record of what happened at a school. To delete your account and the information tied to it, email support [at] mepaworx [dot] com from the address you signed up with. Event log entries may be kept with your account details removed.

Security

Information is sent over encrypted connections. Database rules limit each person to the information their role allows. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information.

Children

School Alert is meant for adults: parents, guardians and school staff. It isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. If you believe a child has created an account, contact us and we'll delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. For significant changes, we'll let users know in the app.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Email support [at] mepaworx [dot] com.