Privacy Policy — Avecina School

1. Introduction

Avecina School provides an educational management platform, student web portal, and Android application to facilitate school administration, academic tracking, communication, fee recording, and school transport coordination for our students, parents/guardians, teachers, drivers, and administrative staff.

This Privacy Policy describes how personal information and technical data are collected, processed, used, and maintained through our website, web portal, and Android application.

We process information to operate educational services, manage student and school records, support academic and transport workflows, and provide authenticated access to school accounts.

2. Information We Collect

Information processed by Avecina School is provided by parents, guardians, students, staff, and school administrators, or generated during the use of our services.

A. Student and Educational Information (Minors)

Because Avecina School serves children from early years through primary education, we process student information provided through admissions and school administration:

• Student Identification: Full name, admission number, date of birth, gender, class assignment, and student photograph.
• Academic Records: Subject assessment scores, term examination marks, and teacher academic remarks.
• Attendance Records: Daily classroom attendance records (including statuses such as Present, Late, Absent, or Excused).
• Authorized Pick-up Documentation: Identification document images (such as national identity cards or passports) of parents, guardians, or individuals authorized to pick up a student from school.

B. Parent and Guardian Information

• Contact Details: Full name (father, mother, guardian), residential address, primary and secondary email addresses, and telephone numbers.
• Financial and Billing Records: Assigned fee structures, term invoices, payment balances, fee concession rates, and manual payment records (such as bank deposit references or transaction codes entered by the school finance office).

C. Staff and Teacher Information

• Staff Profile: Full name, contact telephone number, residential address, emergency contact, date of birth, staff photograph, assigned classes, job title, and employment category.
• Payroll and Statutory Identifiers: Gross salary details, session pay calculations for temporary staff, bank payout information, and statutory identifiers used for employment administration under Kenyan regulations (including Kenya Revenue Authority [KRA] PIN, National ID number, National Social Security Fund [NSSF] number, Social Health Insurance Fund [SHIF] number, and Higher Education Loans Board [HELB] deduction records).

D. Device, Technical, and Session Telemetry

• Web Portal Telemetry: When accessing the web portal, the system collects operating system, browser type and version, language, timezone, IP address, login timestamps, and device fingerprint hashes used to identify unrecognized devices.
• Local Storage: The web interface stores user interface preferences (such as dark or light theme settings) in browser local storage. Authenticated session tokens are maintained by Firebase Authentication libraries to preserve authorized logins.
• Android Application Specifics:
  • The Android application communicates with the school backend using Firebase Authentication and Firebase Cloud Functions.
  • The Android application does not include Google Analytics, Firebase Crashlytics, or push notification libraries (Firebase Cloud Messaging is not implemented in the application).
  • Device storage access on Android is limited to user-initiated file selection via the system file picker when uploading required admission documents (such as student photographs or guardian IDs) or email attachments.
  • Local Android storage (SharedPreferences) is used strictly to retain local UI states (such as onboarding display flags).

3. Location Information

The system handles location data under three distinct categories:

1. Parent/Guardian-Provided Student Home Coordinates for Transport Planning:
   During admission or transport registration, a parent or guardian may submit their home physical address, GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude), a Google Maps link, or a map pin image.
   Purpose: This information is used by the school transport office to design bus routes, determine transport zones, and assign morning pickup and evening drop-off stops.
2. Active Driver/Bus GPS During Transport Trips:
   When an assigned school driver initiates an active bus route trip, the driver's device transmits GPS coordinates (latitude, longitude, and timestamp). In the Android application, location permissions (ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION and ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION) are requested and used strictly within the driver transport module when a driver starts an active route watch.
   Purpose: Coordinates are broadcast to authorized school transport monitoring staff while the trip is in progress and are cleared when the trip concludes.
3. Approximate City/Country Derived from IP for Login Security:
   When logging into an account on the web portal, the client IP address is used with an external IP lookup service (ipapi.co) to determine approximate city and country.
   Purpose: This is used to detect unexpected logins from unrecognized locations and trigger automated security notification emails to the account holder.

The system does not continuously track parents, students, or staff outside the specific transport tracking functionality described above.

4. How We Use Information

Information processed by Avecina School is used for school operations, including:

• Administering student admissions, enrollment, and classroom placement.
• Recording academic marks, assessment results, and attendance registers.
• Managing school bus routes, student pickup lists, and transport logistics.
• Preparing fee statements, tracking payments, and processing staff payroll.
• Authenticating authorized accounts and managing account security.
• Delivering operational and service notifications (such as password resets, login security warnings, and school announcements).
• Maintaining internal audit records of administrative changes.

5. Access Controls and Data Sharing

Personal information is not publicly accessible. Information is accessible internally according to role-based access rules:

• Students: Access is restricted to their own profile, class, attendance, grades, and learning materials. Students cannot view fee balances, financial records, staff files, or other students' information.
• Parents and Guardians: Access is restricted to the academic, attendance, transport, and financial records of their own linked children.
• Teachers: Access is limited to the student rosters, attendance, and academic grading of classes assigned to them. Teachers cannot access parent fee accounts or staff payroll records.
• Transport Drivers: Access is limited to student pickup and drop-off rosters for their assigned route (student name, class, parent emergency contact number, and pickup location pin). Drivers cannot access academic or financial records.
• School Administration and Finance: Directors, administrators, and finance personnel have access to administrative, billing, admissions, or payroll modules necessary for their respective job responsibilities.

Information may also be processed by external technical service providers where necessary to provide the relevant technical services (as detailed in Section 6).

6. Third-Party Service Providers

Information is processed by third-party technical providers that support our cloud infrastructure, communications, and mapping features:

• Google Cloud & Firebase (United States):
  • Firebase Authentication: User account creation and identity verification.
  • Cloud Firestore: Central database storing operational school records. Direct client read/write access is blocked; data access is controlled through backend Cloud Functions.
  • Cloud Storage for Firebase: Cloud storage for photos, student pictures, and guardian verification documents. Sensitive files are stored in private directories accessible only via temporary, signed URLs.
  • Firebase Cloud Functions & Hosting: Serverless compute execution and web portal hosting.
  • Google Analytics: Used on the website to help us understand usage of the website and improve the service.
• Resend (resend.com):
  Used to transmit administrative and transactional school emails (such as password resets, new device login alerts, and official announcements) from @avecina.school mailboxes.
• ipapi.co:
  Used during web portal login to resolve client IP addresses to approximate city and country for new-device security detection.
• Mapping and Routing Providers:
  OpenStreetMap, CartoDB, and ArcGIS servers are used to display map tiles. Project-OSRM (router.project-osrm.org) is used for calculating route navigation paths for school buses. Google Maps is used when opening parent-provided location links.

7. Children’s and Student Records

Avecina School serves minor students. Student accounts and enrollment records are created through the school's admissions and administrative processes, involving parents/guardians and authorized school personnel as applicable.

Student educational records, attendance, and transport details are collected and processed for educational delivery, student safety, and institutional administration. Access to minor student records is restricted according to the role-based controls described in Section 5.

8. Data Security

We implement technical safeguards designed to protect personal data:

• Network Transmission: Web portal and Android application network communication with cloud services utilizes HTTPS/TLS.
• Hosting Security Controls: Production web hosting includes security response headers such as HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), Content Security Policy (CSP), frame denial protections, and MIME-type sniffing prevention.
• Restricted Database Access: Direct client database access to Cloud Firestore and Cloud Storage is disabled (allow read, write: if false;). Data operations are routed through backend Cloud Functions that verify identity tokens and permissions before processing requests.
• Private Media Storage: Sensitive uploads (such as student photos and guardian identification documents) are stored in private storage folders accessible only via authenticated, short-lived signed URLs.
• Rate Limiting: Admission form submissions and password reset requests are protected by rate limits based on IP and submission identifiers to prevent automated abuse.

No electronic transmission or cloud storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

9. Data Retention, Deletion, and Audit Records

• Administrative Record Deletion: Authorized administrators (admin and director roles) can remove student, user, transport, or activity records from operational collections through administrative tools. When a user profile is deleted by an administrator, the corresponding account in Firebase Authentication is also removed.
• Audit Trails: For institutional accountability, operational security, and record-keeping integrity, administrative record changes and deletions are recorded in an internal audit_logs collection noting the timestamp, actor UID, and affected collection. These audit logs may remain after operational records are deleted where required for accountability and security.
• Deletion Requests: Parents, guardians, students, and staff may request the deletion of their accounts, student records, or personal data by contacting the school administration. Deletion requests may be subject to legitimate school, educational, financial, legal, security, or audit record-retention requirements.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically to reflect operational, technical, or regulatory changes. When updates occur, the “Last Updated” date at the top of this document will be revised. We encourage users to review this policy periodically. Continued use of the Avecina School portal or mobile application following changes constitutes acknowledgment of the revised policy.

11. Contact Information

For inquiries, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or personal data handling, please contact the school administration: