Privacy Policy

State Department of Education (SDE) policy is to respect and protect the privacy of our website users, consistent with the applicable laws of the United States and the State of Connecticut, including the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act and the Connecticut Personal Data Act. We do not collect, use or disclose any information about our users without their knowledge as contained in this policy. We do not share user information with third parties unless we have informed users about the disclosures or when we have prior consent.

Data obtained or collected via SMS Short Code will not be shared with any third party. This policy is to notify you that, by applying for a choice school opportunity through the RSCO School Choice Application, we will share application information with:

operators of the school choice programs (Magnet schools, Open Choice schools and districts, and Hartford region technical high schools) for placement purposes,
third parties for purposes of messaging opportunities through the RSCO School Choice Application and Greater Hartford Region School Choice System, and
third parties for purposes of data and system analyses concerning the RSCO School Choice Application and Greater Hartford Region School Choice System.

This information would be limited to the applicant’s name, age, school, and contact information, and may be used solely for the purpose of:

the placement process,
developing and delivering targeted communications about programs, services, or opportunities administered or promoted by RSCO, and/or
completing data and system analyses about the application, placement process, and/or the programs, services, or opportunities administered or promoted by RSCO.

Visitors should be aware that the State of Connecticut may be required to disclose personal information in response to valid legal process, such as a search warrant, subpoena, or court order, or pursuant to the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act. All record keepers face the possibility that disclosure of their records may be compelled in some civil, criminal, or administrative matters. Disclosures may also be necessary to protect the State’s legal rights or during emergencies if physical safety is believed to be at risk. These events are unlikely, but possible.

Policy Revision and Notification of Changes

RSCO will update this policy as new services and features are added. We will tell our users about policy changes through notices on this page, which will always contain a version number and date. Any information collected under the current policy will remain subject to these terms. Information collected after any changes take effect will be subject to the revised privacy policy.

What Information About Users Does The State Of Connecticut Collect?

A. Automatic Information

The following information is collected and stored automatically from all users accessing the SDE web sites (including but not limited to the RSCO School Choice Application through ChooseYourSchool.org) to browse or download information:

The Internet domain and Internet Protocol address from which you access our site;
The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
The date and time you access our site;
The pages you visit; and
If you linked to ChooseYourSchool.org from another website, the address of that website.

This information is used to create summary statistics, which are used for purposes such as assessing what information is of most interest to users, determining technical design specifications, and identifying system performance or problem areas.

This information is not reported or used in any manner that would reveal personally identifiable information, and will not be released to any outside (third) parties unless legally required.

B. Personal Information You Provide to Us

RSCO does not retain personally identifiable information about you when you visit our web sites unless you choose to provide such information to us (i.e. sending an e-mail, participating in a survey, creating an account, etc.).

We consider any information that could reasonably be used to identify you as “personally identifying information.” This includes, but is not limited to:

Your name;
Your address;
Your e-mail address;

Any combination of data that could be used to identify you such as your birth date, your zip code and your gender.

Connecticut state government agencies, organizations and institutions may request personally identifiable information from you in order to provide requested services, but such information is handled as it would be on an in-person visit to that same agency, organization or institution.

If personal information is requested on the web site or volunteered by the user, state law and the United States Privacy Act of 1974 may protect it. However, this information is a public record once you provide it, as part of the RSCO School Choice Application, and may be subject to public inspection and copying if not protected by federal or state law. For purposes of information provided as part of the RSCO School Choice Application, personal information provided to us as part of the Application may be shared with (1) operators of the school choice programs (Magnet schools, Open Choice schools and districts, and Hartford region technical high schools) for placement purposes, (2) third parties for purposes of messaging opportunities through the RSCO School Choice Application and Greater Hartford Region School Choice System, and (3) third parties for purposes of data and system analyses concerning the RSCO School Choice Application and Greater Hartford Region School Choice System. This information would be limited to the applicant’s name, age, school, and contact information, and may be used solely for the purpose of (1) the placement process, (2) developing and delivering targeted communications about programs, services, or opportunities administered or promoted by RSCO, and/or (3) completing data and system analyses about the application, placement process, and/or the programs, services, or opportunities administered or promoted by RSCO.

E-Mail Communications and Web Forms

If you send us an electronic mail message with a question or comment that contains personally identifying information, or fill out a form that e-mails us information, we will only use this personally identifying information to respond to your request. We may redirect your message to another government agency or person who is in a better position to answer your question.

All e-mail messages collected by RSCO contain the e-mail addresses of persons who voluntarily communicated with or requested information from us. E-mail addresses are not sold, leased or shared with any governmental or commercial entities without the user’s consent except as detailed in this policy. When a user has given us their e-mail address for purposes of communicating with or requesting information from RSCO, that communication becomes part of the public record and may be subject to public inspection and copying if not protected by federal or state law.

Google Analytics

RSCO uses Google Analytics to collect various user technology and website behavior. This information is collected and stored automatically during all visits to the CT.gov websites. Examples of this information may include:

The Internet domain and Internet Protocol address from which you access our site;
The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
The date and time you access our site;
The pages you visit; and
If you linked to ChooseYourSchool.org from another website, the address of that website.

No personally identifiable information is collected. This information is not reported nor used in any manner that would reveal personally identifiable information. Furthermore, any information collected will not be released to any outside (third) parties unless legally required.

You can find information on how Google uses data from visits to CT.gov by going to the Google Analytics Data Collection and Usage Policy.

Does ChooseYourSchool.org use Cookies to Collect Information About a User?

We do not use permanent cookies to retain information on the ChooseYourSchool.org. A cookie is a text file, not a program, which is sent to your computer when you access a site. Cookies do not disclose your name or e-mail address to a web site. They can only tell a web site if you have visited before and can pass short bits of information from the web site back to itself the next time you visit. ChooseYourSchool.org does use temporary cookies that do not write anything to the user’s hard drive. When the browser is closed the cookie is gone. (Please see Addendum1 for further clarification.)

Does RSCO Share The Information It Receives With Anyone?

Except as provided by applicable state and federal laws and as provided below, we do not collect, use or disclose user information without the user’s knowledge and approval. We do not share user information with third parties unless we have informed users about the disclosures or have prior consent except as indicated in this policy. In addition, all State of Connecticut contractors must comply with this policy.

In certain instances, and in accordance with applicable laws, RSCO may share personally identifiable information voluntarily provided by applicants with the operators of the school choice programs, the RSCO marketing firm, and/or institutions that conduct data and system analyses for system improvement. As indicated, this information would be limited to the applicant’s name, age, school, and contact information, and may be used solely for the purpose of (1) the placement process, (2) developing and delivering targeted communications about programs, services, or opportunities administered or promoted by RSCO, and/or (3) completing data and system analyses about the application, placement process, and/or the programs, services, or opportunities administered or promoted by RSCO.

Can I Access and Correct My Personal Information?

Persons concerned about information contained in their personal records should contact RSCO.

Do I Have a Choice About Whether or Not My Personal Information is Provided to Others?

RSCO does not obtain personally identifiable information about you when you visit our web sites unless you choose to provide such information to us (i.e. sending an e-mail, participating in a survey, creating an account, etc.). We do not disclose, sell, lease or provide any personal information about our users to any other government or commercial entity for any purpose except as described in this policy.

There may be instances where we send ongoing updates or announcements to interested parties.

However, it is important to understand that under applicable state and federal law, various forms of correspondence and other communications may be subject to public disclosure.

Commitment to Security

The Department of Administrative Services, Bureau of Enterprise Systems and Technology, which manages the computers that support ChooseYourSchool.org, has put into place appropriate safeguards to ensure that any personal information is secure from destruction, corruption, unauthorized access and breach of confidentiality. This effort includes an ongoing review of safety measures, implementation of changes, and regular training for their personnel.

Disclaimer/Links to other Sites

ChooseYourSchool.org contains links to other web sites. These may include links to web sites operated by other government agencies, non-profit organizations and private businesses. When you link to another site, you are no longer on the CT.gov web site and this privacy notice does not apply. When you link to another web site, you are subject to the privacy policy of that web site.

Addendum 1 (Effective Date – December 13, 2010)

This website now employs the use of “Persistent Cookies.” The purpose of these Persistent Cookies is to collect and aggregate data regarding the site’s visitor activity in order for the State to continuously assess utilization and modify its website services accordingly. You may optionally elect to disable the Persistent Cookies.

Please Note: Other Connecticut state government agencies’, organizations’ and institutions’ privacy policies may be different from this one.

More importantly, individual service delivery functions or data collection applications within those agencies, organizations and institutions may have privacy policies specific to those particular activities.

Please take the time to locate, read and understand the privacy policy associated with the particular Connecticut state government site or application you are using.