Privacy Policy
South Bay Reading and Literacy
Effective Date: October 7, 2026
At South Bay Reading and Literacy, I respect the privacy of the students and families I serve. This Privacy Notice explains what personal information I may collect, how I use it, how I protect it, and the choices parents and guardians have regarding their information and their child's information.
My goal is to collect only the information that is reasonably necessary to provide individualized literacy tutoring, communicate with families, manage my business, and maintain appropriate educational records.
1. Information I May Collect
Parent or Guardian Information
Name; email address; telephone number; mailing address, when needed; preferred method of communication; scheduling information; and payment records.
Student Information
Student's name, age and grade level; reading, spelling, writing, or literacy concerns; educational history; information about learning strengths and areas of difficulty; information voluntarily provided by a parent regarding dyslexia, learning differences, IEPs, school evaluations, or other educational information; literacy assessment results; tutoring notes and progress information; student work samples; and information needed to develop and provide individualized instruction.
Parents and guardians are encouraged to share only information that is relevant to their child's educational needs.
2. How I Use Information
South Bay Reading and Literacy may use personal information to:
• Respond to inquiries and consultation requests.
• Schedule tutoring sessions.
• Communicate with parents and guardians.
• Provide individualized literacy instruction.
• Conduct and document educational assessments.
• Develop lesson plans and instructional recommendations.
• Monitor and document student progress.
• Maintain appropriate educational and business records.
• Process and document payments.
• Respond to questions or concerns.
• Maintain and improve the website and business.
• Meet legal, accounting, tax, or other business obligations.
I do not sell student information or use student educational information for targeted advertising.
3. Children's Privacy
South Bay Reading and Literacy provides services to children, but the tutoring relationship is established with the parent or legal guardian, not directly with the child.
Parents and guardians provide information about their child when they request tutoring or assessment services. I do not ask children to provide personal information through the website in order to access tutoring services.
If a child independently submits personal information through the website, a parent or guardian may contact me to request that the information be reviewed, corrected, or deleted when appropriate.
Where applicable law requires parental consent or other protections for the online collection of a child's personal information, South Bay Reading and Literacy will follow those requirements.
4. Educational and Assessment Information
Information provided by parents, schools, or other educational professionals may be used to better understand a student's literacy needs and provide appropriate instruction.
Student assessment results, lesson notes, work samples, and progress information are treated as confidential educational information.
This information is not used for advertising or sold to third parties.
With appropriate parental permission, educational information may be shared with a child's parent, guardian, educational team, or another professional when doing so supports the student's educational needs.
5. Confidentiality
I take reasonable steps to protect the confidentiality of information shared by families.
Student information will not be publicly shared without appropriate parental or guardian permission, except when disclosure is required by law or when necessary to address a legitimate safety or legal concern.
I will not publish a student's name, photograph, work, testimonial, or other identifying information for marketing purposes without appropriate permission.
6. Website Information
When you visit the South Bay Reading and Literacy website, certain information may be collected automatically by the website provider or technology used to operate the site.
This may include information such as IP address, browser or device information, general website usage information, pages visited, date and time of visits, and referring website information.
This information may be used for website functionality, security, analytics, and improving the website.
The website may use cookies or similar technologies provided by the website platform or third-party services.
7. Third-Party Services
South Bay Reading and Literacy may use trusted third-party services to operate portions of the business, such as website hosting and website services, email and business communication, scheduling, payment processing, cloud storage or document management, and website analytics.
These providers may process information on behalf of South Bay Reading and Literacy or according to their own privacy policies.
Examples may include services provided through Squarespace, Google Workspace, Venmo, Zelle, or other providers selected for business purposes.
I do not control the privacy practices of independent third-party companies. Families should review the privacy policies of those services when appropriate.
8. Payment Information
South Bay Reading and Literacy may accept payment through methods such as Venmo, Zelle, check, or other payment methods offered by the business.
I maintain records of payments for business, accounting, and tax purposes.
When a third-party payment service is used, payment information is processed according to that provider's terms and privacy practices.
South Bay Reading and Literacy does not intentionally collect or retain full credit card numbers through ordinary email, text messages, or other informal communication.
9. Communication
I may communicate with parents and guardians by email, telephone, text message, or other agreed-upon communication methods.
Communication may include scheduling information, tutoring updates, assessment information, questions regarding a student's instruction, progress updates, and business or payment information.
Because ordinary email and text messaging cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure, families are encouraged not to send highly sensitive information through those methods unless necessary.
10. Sharing Information
South Bay Reading and Literacy does not sell, rent, or trade student or family personal information.
Information may be shared when reasonably necessary to provide tutoring services; communicate with a parent or guardian; use a third-party service provider; comply with a legal requirement; respond to a legitimate safety concern; or protect the rights, safety, or property of South Bay Reading and Literacy or others.
Whenever possible, information will be shared only to the extent reasonably necessary for the particular purpose.
11. Data Security
I take reasonable administrative, technical, and physical steps to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use, alteration, or disclosure.
However, no method of electronic storage or transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
For this reason, I encourage families to use reasonable care when sending sensitive information electronically.
12. How Long Information Is Kept
South Bay Reading and Literacy retains personal and student information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice, including providing services, maintaining appropriate educational records, managing business and tax obligations, resolving disputes, and complying with applicable legal requirements.
When information is no longer reasonably necessary, it may be securely deleted or destroyed.
13. Parent and Guardian Choices
Parents and legal guardians may contact South Bay Reading and Literacy to ask what information is being maintained about their child; request correction of inaccurate information; request deletion of information when appropriate; ask questions about how information is being used; withdraw permission for certain uses of their child's information, when applicable; and request clarification about information shared with third-party service providers.
Certain information may need to be retained for legitimate business, legal, accounting, or recordkeeping purposes.
If a parent or guardian has concerns about information collected directly online from a child under 13, they may contact South Bay Reading and Literacy to request access, correction, or deletion as applicable.
14. Marketing and Student Stories
South Bay Reading and Literacy values the privacy of its students.
Student photographs, testimonials, work samples, names, or stories will not be used in advertising, social media, the website, or other promotional materials without appropriate permission.
A parent or guardian may choose not to provide permission, and doing so will not affect the student's access to tutoring services.
15. Links to Other Websites
The South Bay Reading and Literacy website may occasionally contain links to other websites or resources.
South Bay Reading and Literacy is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of websites operated by other organizations. Families should review the privacy policies of those websites before providing personal information.
16. Changes to This Privacy Notice
This Privacy Notice may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in business practices, technology, services, or applicable legal requirements.
The most current version will be posted on the South Bay Reading and Literacy website with an updated effective date.
If a significant change affects how personal information is collected or used, additional notice may be provided when appropriate.
17. Contact
If you have questions about this Privacy Notice or would like to discuss your personal information or your child's information, please contact:
South Bay Reading and Literacy
424-236-2398
kate@southbayreadingliteracy.com
southbayreadingliteracy.com
I welcome questions from parents and guardians and want families to feel comfortable asking how their information and their child's information is handled.
Thank you for trusting South Bay Reading and Literacy with an important part of your child's learning journey.