Privacy Policy
Last updated: August 27, 2026
Mechy School ("we," "us") is an afterschool education program based in River Edge, New Jersey. This policy explains what information we collect, why, and what we do with it — including information about the children enrolled in our programs.
We've tried to write this in plain language. If anything is unclear, email us at [ming@mechyschool.com].
---
## Information we collect
From parents and guardians:
- Name, email address, phone number
- Billing address and payment information
- Emergency contact details and adults authorized for pickup
- Any information you choose to share in messages to us
About enrolled students:
- First name, last initial, and age or grade
- Allergies, accommodations, or medical information you tell us about
- Work the student creates during the course (writing, images, video, code)
- Photographs or video of the student, only if you give separate written consent
Automatically, when you visit our website:
- Standard analytics such as pages viewed, browser type, and approximate location. Our website is hosted on Squarespace, which sets cookies for site functionality and analytics.
## How we use it
- To run the course your student is enrolled in
- To contact you about schedules, changes, and your student's progress
- To process payments
- To respond to your questions
- To keep students safe, including responding to a medical situation
- To tell you about future Mechy School programs, if you've opted in
We use student work and photographs in marketing materials only with your separate written consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
## Payments
Payments are processed by Google Pay through our website. We never see or store your full card number. Those companies handle payment data under their own privacy policies.
## AI platforms used in class
Our courses teach students to work with AI tools. Most of these platforms set a minimum age of 13 or 18 in their own terms of service.
Students do not create or hold accounts on any AI platform.
Every account used in class is created, owned, paid for, and operated by Mechy School. An instructor is the account holder and the party bound by each platform's terms. Students direct the work — writing prompts, choosing shots, judging results — on instructor-operated workstations under supervision.
Students are never asked for, and never enter, personal information into these tools. No names, no birthdates, no addresses, no email addresses, no school names. Instructors monitor this throughout each session and it is a stated class rule.
Content created during class is processed and stored by the platform providers under their own terms while the course runs. At the end of each cohort we export all student work to our own storage and delete it from the platform accounts wherever the platform permits.
Parents do not need to create accounts on any AI platform for their child to participate, and we don't ask families to.
## Your student's work
Work created in a Mechy School course belongs to the student and their family.
At the end of the course, we give each family a link to a private folder containing everything their student made — finished projects, the raw clips and images behind them, and the prompts they wrote. These are ordinary files that you can download, keep, and open on any device without a subscription to anything.
That folder stays available for [90] days after the course ends, so please download what you want to keep. After that we remove it from active storage.
We keep a copy of finished projects only if you've given media consent, and only for the uses that consent covers.
## Children's privacy
We take this seriously, and we collect as little about students as we can.
We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children. All enrollment information comes from a parent or guardian. Our website is directed at parents, not children, and students cannot create accounts on our site.
If you believe we have collected information about your child that you didn't provide, contact us and we'll delete it.
## Who we share information with
We do not sell your information. We do not share it with advertisers.
We share information only with:
- Service providers who help us operate — website hosting, payment processing, email, file storage — and only what they need
- Emergency responders or medical personnel, if a student's safety requires it
- Authorities, where required by law
## How long we keep it
- Parent contact and enrollment records: [3] years after your student's last course, for our business records
- Student work in the shared folder: [90] days after the course ends
- Student work inside AI platform accounts: deleted at the end of each cohort where the platform allows
- Photos and video with consent: until you withdraw consent
- Marketing email list: until you unsubscribe
## Your choices
You can, at any time:
- See what information we hold about you or your student
- Correct anything inaccurate
- Delete your information, except records we're required to keep
- Withdraw photo or media consent
- Unsubscribe from marketing emails, using the link in any email or by replying
Email [ming@mechyschool.com] and we'll respond within 30 days.
## Security
We store records and student work in access-controlled accounts protected by strong, unique passwords and two-factor authentication. Only Mechy School staff have access. Workstations are cleared of student sessions at the end of every class.
No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your information, we'll notify you promptly and tell you what happened.
## Changes to this policy
If we make significant changes, we'll email enrolled families and update the date at the top of this page.
## Contact us
Mechy School
[Street Address]
[City, NJ ZIP]