Privacy Policy

Great Micro Schools (“Great Micro Schools,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website located at greatmicroschools.org (the “Site”), an online directory that helps families discover micro schools and other small, personalized learning environments. We take your privacy seriously, and this Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. By using the Site, you agree to the practices described here.

Information We Collect

Information you provide to us. When you create an account, we collect your name and email address. If you choose to sign in using Google, we receive basic profile information from your Google account, such as your name, email address, and profile image. When you use the Site, you may also provide information by writing a review or rating, saving schools to your account, submitting a school to the directory, claiming a school listing, uploading a profile photo, uploading a cover image for a school you manage, sending us a message through our contact form, or subscribing to our newsletter. The information you submit in these features—such as the content of a review, the details of a school listing, or images you upload—is stored so we can provide the service.

Information collected automatically. Like most websites, we automatically collect certain technical information when you visit, including your device and browser type, general usage data, and information gathered through cookies and similar technologies. We use a small number of cookies that are necessary for the Site to function, primarily to keep you signed in and to secure your session.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to operate and maintain the Site, create and manage your account, display and moderate reviews and school listings, respond to your inquiries, send you account-related and, if you have opted in, newsletter communications, protect the Site against spam and abuse, and improve the service over time. We may also use information as necessary to comply with the law or to protect the rights, safety, and property of our users, the public, or Great Micro Schools.

How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only in the following circumstances:

Publicly visible content. Certain information you submit is public by design. Reviews and ratings you post, school listings you create, profile photos you upload, and cover images you add to a school you manage are visible to other visitors. Please keep this in mind when deciding what to share.

Service providers. We rely on trusted third-party companies to run the Site, and we share information with them only as needed to provide the service. These include Supabase (database, authentication, and secure storage of Site data and uploaded images), Vercel (website hosting), Google (sign-in and authentication when you choose to sign in with Google), Cloudflare (security and spam protection, described below), Resend (delivery of account and notification emails), Stripe (processing of online donations), and OpenStreetMap (map tiles displayed on school pages—when a map loads, your browser requests it from OpenStreetMap directly). Each of these providers handles data under its own privacy terms.

Legal and safety. We may disclose information if we believe in good faith that doing so is required by law, or is necessary to enforce our terms, prevent fraud or abuse, or protect the safety of any person.

Spam Protection and Cloudflare Turnstile

To protect our forms from spam and automated abuse, we use Cloudflare Turnstile. Turnstile may collect and process certain information about your interaction with our forms to verify that you are a human visitor. Your use of Turnstile is subject to Cloudflare's Privacy Policy and the Cloudflare Turnstile terms, available on Cloudflare's website. We reference this service here to be transparent about the tools that help keep the Site secure.

Donations

Online donations are processed by Stripe. When you make a donation, you are directed to Stripe's secure payment page, and your payment card details are collected and handled by Stripe under its own privacy policy—we never receive or store your full card information. We may receive basic transaction details such as the donation amount and date.

Data Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your information, including access controls and industry-standard security practices provided by our hosting and infrastructure partners. However, no method of transmission or storage over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Data Retention

We keep your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Site and fulfill the purposes described in this policy. If you close your account or ask us to delete your information, we will remove it, except where we are required to retain it for legal or legitimate operational reasons.

Your Rights and Choices

You may review and update your account information at any time by signing in to your account. You may unsubscribe from newsletter emails using the link in those messages or by contacting us. If you would like to access, correct, or delete the personal information we hold about you, please contact us using the details below, and we will respond in accordance with applicable law.

Children's Privacy

The Site is intended for adults—parents, guardians, educators, and school operators. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will take appropriate steps to remove it.

Third-Party Links

The Site may contain links to third-party websites, including the websites of schools listed in our directory. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites, and we encourage you to review their privacy policies.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the “Last updated” date above. Your continued use of the Site after any changes indicates your acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your information, please contact us at greatmicroschools@gmail.com.