Introduction & Overview

The sponsoring partner organizations (Families and Communities Together Coalition at the Michigan State University, Michigan State University Extension, Michigan State University's Center for Physical Activity and Health, Michigan Department of Community Health, and the United Dairy Industry of Michigan) are committed to protecting the privacy of school personnel and students participating in the Student Health Survey (SHS) and to making sure you know about the privacy policies and practices associated with the online SHS and the SHS websites (www.mihealthtools.org/studenthealth and www.mihealthtools.org/shs). This page discloses the privacy practices for these websites and for the online SHS.

The Information We Collect & How It Is Used

We collect information from school personnel when the school registers to participate in Student Health Survey. We also collect information from students who take the SHS. Details on the information collected from students and from school personnel is provided below along with a description of how that information is used.

• Information from School Personnel: When you register your school to participate in the SHS, we collect the following personal identifying information:
  
  
  • Name of primary contact for the school
  • Email address of school primary contact
  • Phone number of school primary contact
  • School postal address
  • School principal's email address
  
  In addition to using this information to register your school to participate in the SHS, we use the primary contact's email address and name to communicate any updates or information related to the SHS. For example, we send an email to confirm your school's registration and we will share your contact information with other staff from your school who try to register in order to promote collaboration. We use the primary contact's phone number as a back up for contact (we generally use email as our first method) with any important information regarding the SHS. We may also use your phone number to respond to any questions you may ask that are more easily answered via phone. We use your school's postal address to confirm your school's identity as many schools have similar or identical names. If you request that something related to the SHS be mailed to you via the school, we will also use the school's address for that purpose. We use the school principal's email address to send a notification that his/her school has registered to participate in the SHS as a way of ensuring that school administration is kept informed.
  
  Except as indicated above, this personal identifying information will never be shared with anyone except the Healthy Schools team (staff and consultants) unless we contact you and obtain your permission. It will be used only for the purpose of administering this website (including the online SHS forms) and effectively communicating with the school about issues or information related to the SHS at your school and about news related to the SHS.
  
  We also collect general information about the school during the school registration process and when enrolling classrooms to participate in the SHS:
  
  
  • School name
  • School enrollment
  • Type of school (such as public or private)
  • Classroom names (the primary contact for the school determines the classroom names)
  
  
  The school enrollment and type of school is used for classification and informational purposes. The classroom names are used only for the purposes of administering the survey at the school, for providing technical assistance and for providing aggregated survey result reports to the classroom (if the teacher requests this information). This school level information will not be shared with outside parties unless the school provides permission. The school name may also be used for administration purposes similar to the classroom name. However, schools that choose to participate in the SHS may be publicly recognized as this is an important step in creating healthy school environments.
  
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• Information from Students: No names, addresses or other personal identifying information is collected from any student taking the SHS. The survey asks students about their food choices and preferences, about their activity choices and preferences and about their observations and opinions about what is offered by the school related to food and activity. Some background information such as age, grade in school, gender and race/ethnicity is collected for classification and data analysis purposes.
  
  To ensure anonymity, students are given a unique numeric survey ID that they use to log in to take the online survey. Classroom teachers may temporarily store the survey ID assignments in case a student misplaces his/her student ID before completing the survey ID and to prevent assigning one survey ID to more than one student. In addition, classroom teachers or other staff may need to help students who have problems or questions about taking the survey; this may sometimes require a teacher to work with a student while he/she is taking the survey to provide the necessary assistance. Teachers and other school personnel must destroy any survey ID records that contain identifying information after the survey period is complete. During the survey period, teachers and other involved staff will use this information only as needed to administer the survey process or provide assistance to students. As part of the school registration, the school and all staff agree to take these steps to ensure anonymity of student responses. To further protect anonymity of responses, once a survey is complete, the Survey ID can no longer be used to access the survey.
  
  Responses to the SHS will be reported only in aggregate. Individual survey responses may occasionally be reported but will not be associated with any information that would identify a particular classroom or student.

How Information is Protected

This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. A unique username and password is required for log in to the school administrator tools and students receive a unique numeric survey ID to prevent access to their survey responses by others. Once a survey is complete, the Survey ID can no longer be used to access the survey thus further protecting student response data.

Primary contact names, email addresses, phone numbers, school data and student response data are maintained on secured files accessible only by the Healthy Schools team (the SHS partner organizations). However, as with any Internet endeavor, absolute security of information transmitted through channels (communication networks, hardware, software) not directly operated or controlled by us or our partners cannot be guaranteed.

How to Update Your Information

We rely on you to provide updates to information about your school and primary contact that you have provided to us. You can update your primary contact name, email address and phone number by logging in with your school's username and password. Then click on the Update Your Info menu item and follow the instructions provided. You can update classroom names using the "Rename Classroom" function provided in the school administrative tools which are available after you log into the website.

Students can changes their SHS response any time prior to their submitting it as complete simply by logging in with their survey ID and changing their answers.

For other information that you would like to update or to correct information, please contact the Healthy Schools Technical Support Team at healthy.schools@earthlink.net.

Opt Out Policy and Student Consent

Your school may stop participating in the SHS at any time. Participation is always voluntary. All you need to do is stop logging in and generating and distributing survey IDs. If you no longer wish to receive emails about the SHS, please contact us to be removed from the contact list (via email at healhty.schools@earthlink.net).

If students are asked or assigned to take the SHS, their ability to opt out of the assignment is governed by each school's policies, rather than this privacy statement.

Because the SHS did not receive any funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the People Protection Rights Amendment does not apply and student consent is not mandated by Federal law. However, your school district or school may have additional policies that apply. Please follow your local policies regarding student consent.

Use of Cookies

We use cookies on the SHS websites to allow us to personalize the user's experience when they log in. For the school, this allows us to display the SHS information you have created for your school, to allow you enroll other classrooms in your school and to provide survey results for classrooms that have enough completed surveys.

For the student, cookies allow the student to take the survey in more than one session and to resume where they left off when they log in again.

No personal identifying information is stored on any cookie. If you do not accept cookies, you will not be able to log in and record your school's information or take the SHS.

Notification of Changes to This Policy

In the unlikely event any substantial changes are made to this privacy statement, you will be notified via email (provided you are still on our email list). Examples of substantial changes include changes in the way your identifying information or school information will be used or shared.

Minor changes also may be made (for example to clarify points based on user feedback or to change contact information if there are changes in administrative staff). You will not receive email notification of such minor changes; the most recent version of the policy will always appear on this website.

How to Reach Us

Questions regarding this statement should be directed to the Healthy Schools Technical Support Team at healthy.schools@earthlink.net