teachChat

Privacy Policy

Effective July 28, 2026. Questions: dalton@daltonjfowler.com

The short version

Students do not create accounts and do not provide email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, photographs, or location data.
A student's first name and one last initial are processed momentarily in server memory for anti-impersonation screening. Real student names are never written to teachChat's database. If the teacher has linked Google Drive, the name is transferred to a roster file in the teacher's Drive and discarded by teachChat. If Drive is not linked, teachChat does not retain the name.
Classroom activity occurs under screennames. teachChat does not sell student data, run advertising, or use analytics or cross-site tracking.
Schools and teachers can review and delete class data. Inactive class data is subject to the retention schedule below.

Who we are and how to contact us

teachChat is a live classroom chat service available at teachchat.app. It is operated by TeachChat, LLC ("TeachChat," "we," "us," or "our").

Operator contact: TeachChat, LLC, 14 Mill Street, Medford, New Jersey 08055; telephone: (609) 535-2725; email: dalton@daltonjfowler.com. TeachChat, LLC is the operator responsible for responding to questions from schools, parents, and users about this Policy and children's information.

When this Policy applies

This Privacy Policy explains how TeachChat collects, uses, discloses, protects, retains, and deletes information through the service. The service is designed for teacher-directed use in grades 7 and above, including use by students who may be under 13. This Policy applies to the free and paid versions of TeachChat. A signed school data privacy agreement may impose additional protections. If that agreement conflicts with this Policy regarding student data, the agreement controls.

Where teachChat is offered

TeachChat is offered only to schools in the United States and its territories. We do not offer or market it outside the United States, and requests from outside that service area are refused at our edge before they reach the application. Where the data itself is stored is described under "Where information is maintained" below.

Information we process

Student identity check. At initial class entry, TeachChat receives a first name and one last initial solely to check whether the student's proposed screenname appears to impersonate a classmate. The name exists momentarily in server memory and is not written to TeachChat's database. If the teacher has linked Google Drive, TeachChat transfers the name to an app-created roster file in the teacher's Drive and then discards it. If Drive is not linked, TeachChat discards the name without storing it. The service rejects a full last name in the name field.

Roster-import classes. A teacher may instead provision student accounts from a roster sheet in their own Google Drive. In that mode the sheet is read in the teacher's browser, only screennames and generated PINs are sent to TeachChat, and real names never reach our servers at all.

Student class credentials. TeachChat retains the student's chosen screenname, a salted cryptographic hash of a four-digit PIN, a class identifier, and a device-local session token. TeachChat does not retain the PIN itself. The token is stored in the student's browser, not as a student tracking cookie, and is used only to maintain or restore the class session.

Classroom activity. TeachChat processes chat messages, shared notes, reactions, poll responses, participation points, moderation events, held or blocked messages, and related timestamps. Other students see the screenname and class content made visible within the class. They do not see the student's real name through TeachChat.

Teacher information. When a teacher signs in with Google, TeachChat receives the teacher's email address and display name. We also process class settings, teacher instructions, support requests, bug reports, and feedback. If a teacher purchases a paid plan, Stripe processes payment and billing information. TeachChat receives subscription status, transaction identifiers, and limited billing records, but does not receive or store full payment-card numbers.

Acceptance records. When an Account Holder accepts these documents, TeachChat records that acceptance with the account, the version of the documents accepted, and the date and time.

Safety and abuse reports. A teacher or student may report a message or participant. A report includes a snapshot of the surrounding class conversation so the incident can be understood in context, and is delivered to TeachChat by email at the operator address above. Reports may therefore contain classroom content and screennames. They are used only to investigate the report, protect students, and meet legal obligations.

Technical information. Cloudflare produces short-lived operational and security logs that may contain an Internet Protocol address, request time, browser or device information, and diagnostic information. TeachChat does not use this information for advertising or cross-site tracking.

Demo information. Interactive demo classes use fictional, server-generated student records. Demo classes are restricted to signed-in teachers, marked as demos, excluded from public usage counts, and automatically deleted. They do not contain real student information.

How we use information

TeachChat uses information only to provide and secure the classroom service; authenticate teachers and class participants; prevent impersonation and misuse; display and moderate classroom content; calculate participation features; create teacher-requested exports; provide support; maintain audit records; process teacher subscriptions; comply with law; and diagnose or improve the service for K-12 educational purposes. We do not use student information to build commercial profiles, advertise to students, train artificial intelligence models, or market unrelated products.

Google user data

Only teachers sign in with Google. TeachChat requests basic profile information and the Google Drive drive.file scope. That scope permits TeachChat to access only files TeachChat creates or that a teacher opens with TeachChat. It does not permit TeachChat to browse or read other Drive files. TeachChat uses Google data only for teacher sign-in and teacher-directed roster or class exports. Google authorization tokens are encrypted by TeachChat at the application level. TeachChat's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs complies with the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Student privacy and school control

TeachChat is offered for school-authorized educational use under a teacher's supervision. For students under 13, TeachChat relies on authorization from a school or school district only when the school has authority to act for parents in the educational context, has received TeachChat's direct notice of data practices, and uses TeachChat solely for the school's educational purpose. This Privacy Policy is TeachChat's direct COPPA notice to a school considering that authorization. TeachChat remains responsible for its own compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

A school may review student information maintained by TeachChat, direct TeachChat to stop collecting it, and request deletion by contacting dalton@daltonjfowler.com. Parents should ordinarily direct access, correction, or deletion requests to the school so the school can authenticate the request and apply its education-record procedures. TeachChat will cooperate with the school. A parent may also contact TeachChat using the information above.

For purposes of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), TeachChat will act as a school official only when the school has designated TeachChat to perform an institutional service, has a legitimate educational interest in the service, exercises direct control over TeachChat's use and maintenance of education records, and has restricted use and redisclosure through an agreement or other enforceable terms.

Automated moderation and artificial intelligence

TeachChat currently uses rule-based moderation tools such as word filters and teacher-controlled timeouts. TeachChat does not currently send student messages to an artificial intelligence provider. If TeachChat proposes an AI-assisted moderation feature, TeachChat will not activate it for student data until it has completed legal and security review, identified the provider, updated applicable school agreements and notices, obtained any required authorization or consent, and contractually prohibited the provider from training on, retaining for unrelated purposes, selling, or redisclosing student data. Any future AI feature will flag content for teacher review and will not independently punish a student or make a final disciplinary decision.

Where information is maintained

Class data retained by TeachChat is hosted through Cloudflare Workers and D1 in North America. Cloudflare encrypts stored data at rest. TeachChat additionally encrypts Google authorization tokens at the application level. Files exported by a teacher or written to the teacher's Google Drive are controlled by the teacher or school under their own Google settings and retention practices.

Disclosures and service providers

TeachChat does not sell or rent personal information, disclose student information for targeted advertising, or disclose it to data brokers. TeachChat uses the following service providers only as needed to operate the service: Cloudflare for hosting, database, security, delivery, and email routing; Google for teacher sign-in, teacher-requested Drive files, and the mailbox that receives safety and support reports; and Stripe for paid teacher subscriptions. Service providers may process information only to provide contracted services, must protect it, and may not use student information for their own advertising or unrelated purposes.

TeachChat may also disclose information when a school directs or authorizes the disclosure for an educational purpose; when required by valid legal process; when reasonably necessary to protect students, users, or the security of the service; or as part of a business transfer subject to the protections below. TeachChat will notify the affected school before a legally compelled disclosure of student data unless law prohibits notice.

Security

TeachChat maintains administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards appropriate to the information and the size and nature of the service. These include data minimization, restricted access, salted PIN hashing, encryption at rest through the hosting provider, application-level encryption of Google authorization tokens, audit logging for identity reveals and exports, security testing, and an incident-response process. No Internet service can guarantee absolute security. If TeachChat confirms unauthorized access that requires notice, TeachChat will notify affected schools and other persons as required by law and applicable school agreements.

Retention and deletion

TeachChat retains student information only while reasonably necessary for the school-authorized educational purpose. A teacher may delete a class at any time. Deletion removes the class's messages, notes, screenname roster, points, and moderation records from TeachChat's active systems. TeachChat may retain limited audit-log metadata showing the date and type of an identity reveal or export, together with the responsible teacher account and class identifier, for up to 24 months after class deletion for security, misuse investigation, and legal-compliance purposes. This retained metadata does not contain a student's real name or message content and will be deleted sooner if required by an applicable school agreement. A school may request deletion at any time. TeachChat will complete a verified school deletion request within 30 days unless the school requests a shorter period that TeachChat can reasonably meet.

As a backstop, TeachChat automatically deletes a class and its student data no later than 12 months after the class's last activity, unless the school documents a continuing educational need before that date or directs an earlier deletion. This runs on a daily schedule, not on request. Deletion takes effect immediately in TeachChat's live database. TeachChat also keeps encrypted backups on a rolling schedule for disaster recovery, and a deleted class ages out of those backups within 180 days. Backups are encrypted, are restored only to recover from data loss, and are never used to repopulate deleted classes. TeachChat does not retain student information indefinitely. Copies in a teacher's Google Drive or downloaded by the teacher are not deleted by deleting the TeachChat class and remain under the teacher's or school's control.

A teacher may delete the teacher account. TeachChat then deletes all associated class data, subject to the limited audit-metadata period above and any preservation required by law, revokes the Google authorization token, and retains only a limited administrative record of the adult account and subscription for up to three years as reasonably necessary for tax, payment, fraud-prevention, and legal-compliance purposes. TeachChat may preserve particular records for a longer period when required by a valid legal hold, court order, or statutory reporting and preservation duty. For other deletion requests, contact dalton@daltonjfowler.com.

Cookies and local storage

TeachChat uses a first-party cookie to keep teachers signed in. For students, TeachChat uses browser local storage to retain a class-session token on the device. TeachChat does not use advertising, analytics, or third-party tracking cookies.

Business transfers

If TeachChat is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, or transfer of assets, information may be transferred only to a successor that is bound to use student information for the same school-authorized educational purposes and to provide protections no less protective than this Policy and any applicable school agreement. Where practicable and legally permitted, TeachChat will notify affected schools before transfer so they may export or delete class data.

Changes to this Policy

TeachChat will revise the date above when this Policy changes. TeachChat will provide signed-in teachers and participating schools advance notice of a material change. If a material change would expand the collection, use, or disclosure of student information beyond an existing authorization, TeachChat will obtain new school authorization or parental consent as required before applying the change to affected students.

Contact and privacy requests

TeachChat, LLC; 14 Mill Street, Medford, New Jersey 08055; (609) 535-2725; dalton@daltonjfowler.com. Please identify the school and class when submitting a student-data request, but do not send a student's full name or other sensitive information by ordinary email.