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Privacy Policy

Girasol Montessori School

Revised November 2026

Who we are

Girasol Montessori School ("Girasol," "we," "us," or "our") is a licensed private bilingual Montessori child care center and school at 4800 Ewing Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55410. We serve the ages listed on our website and in our child care license. The school is operated by Girasol Montessori School LLC.

What this policy covers

This policy covers families, prospective families, and website visitors. Information about our staff and job applicants is handled under our employee policies.

This policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect personal information in our work as a school for those families and visitors, not only on our website at girasolmontessorimn.com. That includes visits to our website, questions and interest list sign-ups, information sessions and tour bookings, applications and enrollment, tuition and billing, email, phone, and text messages, our parent app, photos and videos, student and health records, and our social media pages.

This website is for parents and guardians

Our website is meant for parents, guardians, and other adults. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13 through the website. Information about children comes from their parents, guardians, or other authorized adults, or is created by the school while caring for the child. If you believe a child has sent us personal information through the website, please email us. We will delete it if we are allowed to do so.

Information we collect

The information we collect depends on how you interact with us. It may include:

When you visit our website. Ordinary technical information, such as pages viewed, the date and time, general location, device and browser type, and how you found us. Our website host and analytics tools may also collect an internet address (IP address) and similar technical data.

When you contact us or ask about enrollment. Your name, email address, phone number, preferred language, how you heard about us, and any questions you share. You may also tell us your child's first name, age or birth month and year, the program you are interested in, and a desired start date.

When you book an information session or tour. Your name, email, phone number if you give it, the date and time you choose, and any notes you add for scheduling.

When you apply or enroll. Parent or guardian names and contact details, information about your child and family needed to review an application and complete enrollment, emergency contacts, and records required by Minnesota child care licensing. That can include health, immunization, allergy, medication, and other care information, as well as authorizations we need to care for your child safely. Our current application form also asks about your child's health, development, behavior, and toileting, and about parents' home addresses and work, so we can understand your child's needs. Please share only what you're comfortable sharing before acceptance; we'll ask for what licensing requires at enrollment. You may also be asked to share a short video of your child as an alternative to an in-person visit, as described below.

When you pay tuition or fees. Billing contact details, payment method, and payment history. Today, families pay fees and tuition by direct bank payment (ACH) or by check.

When we communicate with you. Records of emails, phone calls, and messages, including messages in our parent app, about your inquiry, enrollment, your child's program, billing, or school updates.

Photos, videos, and recordings. Images or recordings of children, families, and events, as described later in this policy.

Other information you choose to give us. For example, feedback, event replies, or information related to a concern or request.

We may also receive information from service providers who work for us (for example, our booking tool or child care software) and, when needed, from licensing or other authorities.

How we use this information

We use personal information to:

We do not sell or rent your personal information. See "Advertising and ad measurement" below for the limited website data that advertising platforms receive.

School messages and marketing. We may contact you about your own inquiry, application, enrollment, billing, or your child's program. That kind of message is part of our relationship with you. We may also send occasional news or event information. You can ask us to stop marketing messages at any time.

Texts. We text enrolled families about school matters, such as schedule changes, closures, reminders, and school news. We send texts to prospective families only if they agree, for example by checking the optional text box on one of our forms, and only at the number they gave us. We may also reply to texts you send us. You do not have to agree to texts to apply or enroll. We send promotional texts to prospective families, such as invitations to information sessions or events, only between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Central Time. We usually send other school texts during those hours too, but we may text enrolled families at other times about urgent school matters, such as weather closures, emergencies, or a time-sensitive issue about your child. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to stop texts or HELP for help, or ask us to stop in any other reasonable way, and we will honor your request as soon as practical, within the time the law requires. If you stop texts, we will still contact you about your child through our family app, email, or phone. We do not sell or share your mobile number or text consent with third parties for their own marketing.

Cookies and site visits

Our website uses cookies and similar tools. These are small files or bits of data stored on your device.

Analytics. We use Google Analytics to count visits, see which pages are useful, and count clicks on things like information sessions, applications, phone, and email. We do not currently use tools that record your session on our pages.

Booking, forms, and media. When you visit our website, tools such as our booking calendar, forms, videos, and map load from the service providers that supply them. Those providers may set their own cookies and collect ordinary technical information, such as your device, browser, and IP address, even if you don't use those features. The companies that host our website and supply our fonts may also collect ordinary technical information, and our host may measure how fast our pages load. Some of these tools, such as our analytics and some website features, are provided by Google. To learn how Google collects and uses information when you visit sites that use its services, see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services and Google's Privacy Policy.

Your choices. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The site should still work, though some features, such as booking or videos, may not work as well. Google also offers a browser add-on to opt out of Google Analytics.

Advertising and ad measurement. We advertise the school on online platforms such as search engines and social media. Those platforms use their own information, under their own policies, to decide who sees our ads.

To learn whether our ads work, we use or may use measurement tags from advertising platforms, such as Google Ads conversion tracking and the Meta Pixel. We use them to count results: for example, that someone arrived at our site from one of our ads, or clicked a button such as Info Session, Apply, phone, or email. When one of these tags loads, it can set cookies and send the platform information such as your device and browser type, IP address, the page you visited, and the button you clicked. The platform may connect this to an account you have with it and may use it under its own policies, including to measure ads and to choose and deliver ads.

We set up these tags so they do not send advertising platforms anything you type into our forms, your email address or phone number, or information about your child. We do not use these tags for remarketing (showing you ads because you visited our site), and we do not build advertising audiences from our website visitors or families. We will update this policy before we change any of this. Apart from the limited ad-measurement data described in this section, we do not sell, rent, or trade personal information. We do not use health information or information about children for advertising.

Your ad choices. You can block or delete cookies, including third-party cookies, in your browser settings. You can manage how Google and Meta use information for ads in your Google account settings (My Ad Center) and in Meta's ad preferences in Accounts Center. Industry tools such as the Digital Advertising Alliance's WebChoices and the Network Advertising Initiative's opt-out let you opt out of interest-based ads from participating companies. Not every company participates, and these choices may not stop all ad measurement.

Photos and videos

We may take photos, videos, or voice recordings at school and at school events.

Everyday classroom use and private updates to families (for example, through our parent app) are part of running the program and are described in our enrollment materials.

We use a child's image or voice in public or marketing materials only with a parent or guardian's written permission, and only in the ways described on our photo permission form. That can include our website, social media, printed materials, advertisements, local news or community features, and community partners named on the form, who may share photos on their own websites and social media. If something new comes up that is not on the form, we will ask first. Saying no, or not returning the form, does not affect your child's place or participation at the school.

You may change your photo choices at any time by emailing us at office@girasolmontessorimn.com. A change applies to new photos and new materials going forward. Photos and materials already created may continue to be used, unless the law requires otherwise or we agree with you on a different plan.

We do not sell photos or videos of children.

Application videos. As an alternative to an in-person visit, we may ask you to share a short video of your child with your application. It is optional. Access is limited to school staff who review applications, and our service providers store it for us. We do not use it for marketing, social media, or advertising, and we do not put it into AI tools that use it for their own purposes. We keep it only as long as needed for the application and then delete it, unless you ask us to keep it or the law requires otherwise.

Children's records

Once a child is enrolled, we keep a student record as required by Minnesota child care licensing. This can include emergency contacts, health and immunization information, and other care records. These records are confidential. We share them with the parent or legal representative, with staff who need them to care for the child, with licensing authorities, with emergency responders when needed to protect the child, or with others when we have written consent or as the law requires or allows. Our service providers, such as our child care software and record systems, store and process these records for us under their agreements with us.

Who we share information with

We treat the information families share with us as confidential and keep it in each family's school file. We limit access to people who need it for their work. We share it only as described in this policy: with the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) and other licensing or government officials when the law requires or allows; with child protection or law enforcement when staff must report suspected abuse or neglect; with emergency responders when a child's health or safety requires it; with service providers who help run the school (for example, our enrollment and billing system and our email and document tools), under their obligations to protect it; and when otherwise required by law, court order, or legal process, or to protect the rights and safety of our students, families, and staff.

Service providers. We use other companies (our vendors) to help us operate. We give them the information they need to provide their services to us. Some of them also collect and use information under their own privacy policies when you use their features on our website. Our providers may change over time, but they include companies that help us with:

We may also use other providers in these same categories, such as email or communications tools, technology and security services, accountants, insurers, professional advisers, a school photo company for portrait days (if we offer them, families order under that company's own privacy policy), and (if you use it) a third-party shop for school merchandise. Our merchandise shop is run by a separate company and has its own privacy policy.

Tools that help us. We and our service providers may use AI tools to help with our work.

Licensing and legal requirements. We share information with the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (our licensing agency) and other government authorities when the law requires or allows it, including for inspections, investigations, and audits. As Minnesota law requires, our staff report suspected child abuse or neglect to child protection or law enforcement.

Emergencies and safety. We may share information if we believe it is needed to protect a child, a family, our staff, or the public, or to respond to an emergency. This includes our legal duty to report suspected harm to a child.

Professional advisers and school transfers. We may share information with our attorneys, accountants, or insurers, and with a buyer or successor if the school is transferred, with appropriate protections.

With your permission. We may share information with others if you ask us to or give us permission, for example another school, a professional working with your child, or our class directory, if you choose to be listed.

Some providers may process information in the United States and in other countries.

Children's privacy

As noted above, our website is meant for parents, guardians, and other adults. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13 through the website. Information about children comes from their parents, guardians, or other authorized adults, or is created by the school while caring for the child. We use it to run the program and meet our legal duties.

How long we keep information

We keep information as long as we need it for the purposes above, or longer when required by law, Minnesota child care licensing, tax rules, and our insurance or legal needs.

Records for enrolled children and related program records are kept at least as long as licensing and other laws require. We are putting a written schedule in place so that inquiry, booking, and application information for families who don't enroll is deleted once it is no longer needed. Website analytics data is kept for a limited time, based on our analytics settings.

If there is a complaint, a claim, or another legal matter, we may keep related information longer.

How we protect information

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information. That includes working to limit access to staff and providers who need it for their work, and using school accounts for school records. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure. If a breach occurs that the law requires us to report, we will notify affected people as required by law. We may also notify families when we believe it is the right thing to do, even if the law does not require it.

Your choices and rights

You may ask us to:

Parents and legal guardians of an enrolled child may review their child's school record, subject to any court order that limits access.

To make a request, email info@girasolmontessorimn.com or write to us at the address below. We may need to confirm that you are allowed to make the request. We will respond in a reasonable time. We may not be able to delete records we are required to keep.

We will consider reasonable requests to access, correct, or delete information where the law and licensing rules allow.

Other websites and social media

Our website may link to other sites, including our Facebook and Instagram pages, a merchandise shop, and the parent portal. Those services have their own privacy policies. We are not responsible for their practices. If you comment or message us on social media, those platforms also collect information under their own rules.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the new version on this page with a new revised date. If we make an important change, such as a new way of collecting or sharing information, we will update this policy and, when it is appropriate, give additional notice (for example, by email or a note on our website).

How to contact us

Girasol Montessori School
4800 Ewing Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55410

Email: info@girasolmontessorimn.com
Phone: (952) 222-7605

If you need this policy in another format, or would like help understanding it in Spanish, please email us.