Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Sultana High School Career & Technical Education (“Sultana CTE,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website located at https://shscte.com (the “Site”). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect information about visitors and registered users of the Site.

This Site is operated as an educational resource by Sultana High School, part of the Hesperia Unified School District, located in Hesperia, California. By using this Site, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

2. Applicability & Governing Law

Because this Site is operated by a California public school and serves students, the following laws apply to how we handle personal information:

• Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) – We do not knowingly permit children under the age of 13 to create accounts. Account registration requires users to be at least 13 years of age.
• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) – Student education records are protected under FERPA. We do not share student information with unauthorized third parties.
• Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA, California) – We do not use student personal information for targeted advertising, do not build profiles on students for non-educational purposes, and do not sell student data.
• California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA) – This policy discloses what information we collect and how it is used, in compliance with CalOPPA.
• California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA) – California residents have rights regarding their personal data as described in Section 8 of this policy.
• AB 1584 (California Education Code §49073.1) – Any third-party services used by this Site that handle student data are expected to comply with AB 1584 requirements.

3. Who Can Register

Account registration on this Site is open to:

• Students enrolled at Sultana High School who are 13 years of age or older
• Educators and administrators of Sultana High School and Hesperia Unified School District
• Employers and industry partners who post job opportunities

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that a user under 13 has registered, we will promptly delete that account and its associated data. If you believe a child under 13 has registered, please contact us at the address in Section 10.

4. Information We Collect

4.1 Information You Provide

When you register for an account, we collect:

• Your name
• Your email address (school-issued email addresses are recommended for students)
• A username and password

When you leave a comment on the Site, we collect:

• Your name and email address (as entered in the comment form)
• Your IP address and browser user agent string (used for spam detection)
• An anonymized hash of your email address may be sent to the Gravatar service to retrieve a profile picture if you use Gravatar. Gravatar’s privacy policy is available at https://automattic.com/privacy/.

4.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you visit the Site, we may automatically collect:

• Your IP address
• Browser type and version
• Pages visited and time spent on the Site
• Referring website

This information is used to maintain site security, prevent abuse, and improve site performance. It is not used to identify individual users for marketing purposes.

4.3 Cookies

This Site uses cookies in the following ways:

• Comment cookies – If you leave a comment, you may opt in to saving your name, email, and website in a cookie for convenience. These cookies last for one year.
• Login cookies – When you log in, cookies are set to maintain your session. Standard login cookies last two days; if you select “Remember Me,” your session persists for two weeks. Screen display preference cookies last one year. All login cookies are removed when you log out.
• Browser detection cookie – A temporary cookie is set when you visit the login page to check whether your browser accepts cookies. It contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
• Editor cookie – If you publish or edit content, a cookie is saved containing the post ID. It contains no personal data and expires after one day.

You can configure your browser to refuse cookies; however, some Site features (such as logging in) will not function without them.

4.4 Uploaded Media

If you upload images to the Site, you should remove any embedded location data (EXIF GPS data) before uploading. Visitors to the Site may be able to download uploaded images and extract any location data contained within them.

5. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Operate and maintain your account on the Site
• Display job postings, pathway information, and educational resources
• Enable communication features such as comments
• Detect and prevent spam, abuse, and unauthorized access
• Comply with legal obligations

We do not use student personal information for:

• Behavioral advertising or targeted marketing
• Building profiles for non-educational purposes
• Sale or rent to third parties
• Any purpose unrelated to the educational mission of Sultana CTE

6. How We Share Your Information

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

• Hesperia Unified School District – As a school-operated site, district administrators may have access to account and activity information as required for oversight and compliance.
• Service providers – Third-party services that help operate the Site (such as web hosting, spam detection, and comment moderation) may process limited data on our behalf. These providers are contractually prohibited from using data for their own purposes.
• Spam detection – Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
• Password reset emails – If you request a password reset, your IP address is included in the reset email.
• Gravatar – An anonymized hash of your email address may be shared with Gravatar solely to retrieve a profile picture.
• Legal compliance – We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or governmental authority, or to protect the safety of students or staff.

7. Data Retention

We retain personal information as follows:

• Account information – Retained for as long as your account is active. You may request deletion of your account at any time.
• Comments – Comments and associated metadata are retained indefinitely to support moderation. You may request deletion of your comments as described in Section 8.
• Login and activity logs – Retained for a limited period for security purposes and then deleted.

When data is no longer needed for its original purpose and we have no legal obligation to retain it, we will securely delete or anonymize it.

8. Your Rights

Depending on your relationship with the Site and your location, you may have the following rights:

• Access – Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction – Request correction of inaccurate personal data. Registered users can update most information directly in their account profile (usernames cannot be changed).
• Deletion – Request deletion of your personal data. Note that we may be required to retain certain data for legal, administrative, or security purposes.
• Data portability – Request an export of your personal data in a portable format.
• Opt-out of data sale – We do not sell personal data. No opt-out is necessary.

California residents (including students) may exercise these rights under the CCPA/CPRA. FERPA rights for students are handled through Hesperia Unified School District.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the information in Section 10. We will respond within 45 days.

9. Embedded Content & Third-Party Links

Pages on this Site may include embedded content from third-party websites (such as videos or documents). Embedded content behaves as if you have visited the third-party website directly. Those websites may collect data about you, use cookies, and track your interaction with the content, particularly if you are logged in to those services.

This Site may contain links to external websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites and encourage you to review their privacy policies.

10. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or need to report a concern about a user under 13, please contact:

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the Effective Date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of the Site after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.