FERPA Statement

Ballfrog is committed to protecting the privacy of students, parents and educators. We partner with privacy experts and design our platform to comply with FERPA, COPPA, and applicable state student-privacy laws. Our platform is designed to support athletics departments and their community at large with a focus on aggregating publicly available information into a concise, digitally interactive format provided in a mobile application and optional website. By default, we do not collect, request, import or export sensitive student, parent or educator data from existing school back-end providers. Schedules, results, rosters, and news displayed through our application are published by school-affiliated personnel. Community members may also contribute posts, comments, and chat messages within their school’s community. All information collected through the platform is governed by our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

What is FERPA?

FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. It applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. FERPA grants parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records, including:

• The right to inspect and review education records
• The right to request amendments to inaccurate or misleading records
• The right to control the disclosure of personally identifiable information (PII) in those records

What is an Education Record?

Education records are records that are:

1. Directly related to a student; and
2. Maintained by an educational agency or institution, or by a party acting on its behalf.

These may include grades, class schedules, transcripts, disciplinary records, and other documents containing student PII.

The “School Official” Exception

Under FERPA, schools may share PII from education records with third-party providers without parental consent if the provider meets all of the following conditions:

1. Performs a service or function the school would otherwise use its own employees to perform
2. Is under the direct control of the school with regard to the use and maintenance of education records
3. Uses education records only for authorized purposes and does not re-disclose the information without permission
4. Meets the criteria defined in the school’s FERPA policy for having a “legitimate educational interest”

Where Ballfrog receives FERPA-protected information in providing Services to a school, Ballfrog acts as a school official with a legitimate educational interest to the extent provided in the school’s agreement with Ballfrog and applicable FERPA requirements.

Ballfrog’s Handling of Education Records

Ballfrog generally does not require schools to provide education records or student PII from student information systems or other school backend systems. Information schools choose to publish, such as schedules, scores, rosters, and team pages, is managed and controlled by the school, and schools decide what, if any, information is shared publicly through their custom app or website powered by Ballfrog. To the extent Ballfrog receives or maintains information that constitutes an education record under FERPA in connection with services provided to a school, Ballfrog handles that information as a service provider acting on behalf of the school and only for the purposes authorized by the school.

Use By Children Under 13 Years of Age

Our Services are not directed to persons under 13, and no one under 13 may create an account or use the Services, including through a school-provided account. Schools may not provision Ballfrog accounts for students under 13. If you become aware that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at questions@ballfrog.com. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we take steps to remove such information and terminate the child’s account.

Data Storage and Security

Ballfrog’s primary infrastructure, including any school-provided student information, runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the US-East (Virginia) region. Encrypted backups are also kept with a second cloud storage provider in the United States, and the service providers described in our Privacy Policy may process limited data in order to deliver the platform. AWS maintains leading security practices including encryption, strict access controls, and compliance with rigorous industry standards. Our IT Overview summarizes hosting, encryption, access, and retention for school IT reviewers.

How FERPA Applies to Ballfrog

Ballfrog’s platform is built around information schools choose to publish and generally does not require access to education records. Where a school does provide FERPA-protected information, Ballfrog acts as a school official under the school’s direct control, uses it only for the purposes the school authorizes, does not re-disclose it without permission, and returns or deletes it at the school’s direction. We are committed to privacy-first design and work closely with schools to ensure they retain full control over their data.

Contact Us

If you have questions about our privacy practices or would like supporting documentation for your school’s records, we’re happy to help. Please contact us at questions@ballfrog.com.