Privacy policy

SchoolBoardNews is operated by Spade House Studio in Seattle, Washington ("we"). This policy covers the website and the SchoolBoardNews iOS app. You can read news without an account. Without one, the only personal information involved is what any website request carries (like your IP address), the font request described below, and, if you choose, a location lookup. Everything else on this list applies once you sign up.

What we collect

• Account. Your email address and password (stored hashed by our authentication provider), or the name and email Google or Apple shares when you sign in with them. Your display name is that name or the first part of your email.
• Preferences. The topics, states, and school districts you choose to follow, whether you follow national news, and your onboarding answers.
• Location lookups. Anyone, signed in or not, can search by ZIP code or tap "use my location." We use the ZIP or your device's coordinates once to suggest nearby districts. We don't store the ZIP or the coordinates.
• Activity. Stories you save, reactions, comments and replies (shown with your display name), reports you send about stories or comments, and in-app notifications.
• Friends and shares. Friend requests (sent by entering a friend's email address; we don't tell the sender whether an account exists), your friend list, stories you share with friends, and private comments and reactions on those shares.
• Alerts. If you turn on push alerts, your browser's push subscription (an address and keys from your browser's push service) or your iPhone's push token.
• Premium. If you subscribe, our billing provider receives your account ID. Card details go to the billing provider; we never see or store them.
• Server logs. Our hosting and database providers keep standard request logs, such as IP address, browser type, and the time of a request, for security and troubleshooting.

What we don't do

• No advertising, ad tracking, or third-party analytics. We don't use tools like Google Analytics or PostHog.
• We don't sell or rent personal information.
• We don't infer your political views. Personalization uses only the topics and places you pick.
• We don't send marketing email. You get account emails from our sign-in provider, such as confirming your address or resetting your password, and the news digest only if you turn it on.

Cookies and browser storage

We don't use advertising or tracking cookies. The site stores a few things in your browser so it works:

• Your sign-in session, in local storage, so you stay signed in.
• Unsent comment drafts, in local storage on your device only.
• The page to return to after you sign in, in session storage, cleared when you sign in.

Who processes your data

• Supabase: our database and sign-in provider. It stores account data and sends account emails.
• Resend, our email provider, which receives your email address and the headlines in your digest if you turn the digest on.
• Our hosting provider runs the website and its server functions.
• Google Fonts: every page loads its fonts from Google's servers, so your browser sends Google your IP address and basic request details, even if you never sign in.
• Google and Apple, if you choose to sign in with them.
• RevenueCat and its payment processor, if you subscribe to Premium.
• Your browser's push service (for example Google, Mozilla, or Apple), and Expo and Apple for iPhone alerts, if you turn alerts on.
• A public school-district directory (based on federal NCES data), which receives district searches and, if you use "use my location," your approximate coordinates, to return nearby districts.

Our editors use an AI model to suggest topics and locations for stories. Only story information, never reader information, is sent to it.

Who can see what

Your preferences, saved stories, and alerts are private to you. Public comments show your display name. Shares and their comments are visible only to you and the friends you shared with. If a recipient reports a comment, editors can see it. Editors can see reports you send.

Keeping and deleting data

We keep your data while your account exists. In the iOS app, go to Account and choose Delete account. This removes your account and the data tied to it, and revokes Sign in with Apple if you used it. On the web, email emily.williams@spadehouse.studio from your account's address and we'll delete it. Server logs are kept by our providers for their standard retention periods.

Your choices and rights

You can change your preferences, turn alerts off, and delete your comments (the text is erased) at any time. To get a copy of your data, correct it, or delete it, email emily.williams@spadehouse.studio. Depending on where you live, including Washington and California, you may have additional rights. We'll honor requests regardless of where you live.

Children

SchoolBoardNews is for a general audience, including students. It isn't directed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. If you think a child under 13 has an account, email emily.williams@spadehouse.studio and we'll delete it.

Changes

If we change this policy, we'll update the date above. For significant changes, we'll also post a notice on the site.

Contact

Spade House Studio, Seattle, Washington · emily.williams@spadehouse.studio