Privacy Policy
Last updated August 2026
Who we are
DFPP Academy is a free educational program teaching AI literacy to middle- and high-school students, operated as a pilot initiative by DFPP LLC. This policy explains what information we collect, why, and how parents and guardians can control it. It applies to the DFPP Academy website and application at academy.dfppagency.com.
Our approach to children's privacy
DFPP Academy serves students in middle and high school, some of whom are under 13. We designed this program to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA):
- Students cannot create their own accounts. Every student account is created by DFPP Academy staff, not by the child.
- We collect the minimum information necessary. We do not collect or store a student's email address, phone number, date of birth, home address, or photo anywhere in the system.
- A parent or guardian is our point of contact for every student, not the child.
- We obtain verifiable parental consent before a student account becomes active — collected in person, on paper, at the student's first live session, and recorded in our system. A student's account cannot be used for coursework until that consent is on file.
What we collect
About a prospective student (from the public interest form): the child's first name and grade level, and their answers to a short interest questionnaire (things like hobbies and interests) used to tailor coursework.
About an enrolled student: first name, last initial, grade level, which program cohort they're in, their coursework progress, and their answers within lessons. We never collect a student's email, phone number, birthdate, address, or photo.
About a parent or guardian: name, email address, and optionally a phone number, so we can communicate with you about enrollment, sessions, and your child's progress.
About staff (instructors and administrators): name and email address, used for account access and secured with mandatory two-factor authentication.
How we use this information
- To run the program: enrolling students, scheduling sessions, and tracking attendance
- To tailor coursework to a student's stated interests
- To communicate with parents about enrollment, sessions, and progress
- To keep the program and its accounts secure
We do not use student information for advertising, and we do not sell any information to third parties.
Photos and video
We do not publish identifiable photos or video of Detroit-track students under any circumstances. Any recognition of student work from that track uses anonymized formats only — voiceover, work samples without faces, or first names only. Students in other tracks may appear in photos or video only if a parent or guardian has signed a separate media release; this consent is tracked independently from account access and can be withdrawn at any time.
Who we share information with
We use a small number of service providers to run the application — for hosting, authentication, database storage, and sending email to parents. These providers only process data on our behalf, under their own security and privacy commitments, and don't use it for their own purposes. We do not otherwise share, sell, or rent personal information to third parties.
Parental rights
As a parent or guardian, you can at any time:
- Review the information we have about your child
- Request that we delete your child's information
- Refuse to allow further collection or use of your child's information
- Revoke consent and withdraw your child from the program
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at academy@dfppagency.com. We will respond and act within a reasonable time.
Data retention
We keep student and parent information for as long as a student is enrolled, plus a limited period afterward for program records, unless a parent requests earlier deletion. We are still finalizing exact retention windows for different types of records.
Security
We use industry-standard safeguards to protect information, including encrypted connections, access controls limiting who can see student data, mandatory two-factor authentication for all staff accounts, and audit logging of sensitive actions. No system can guarantee perfect security, but we take reasonable steps to protect the information you share with us.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the program develops. We'll post the updated policy here with a new "last updated" date.
Contact us
Questions about this policy or your family's information? Email academy@dfppagency.com.
See also our Terms of Service.