LEGAL COMPLIANCE

FERPA Notice

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act — Last updated: July 1, 2025

1. What Is FERPA?

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. FERPA gives parents and eligible students (students who are 18 or older or attending a post-secondary institution) certain rights with respect to the student's education records.

2. Our Role Under FERPA

EMO Pulse (operated by SynergySEL) enters into a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with each school or district that uses our platform. Under this agreement, we operate as a school official with a legitimate educational interest as permitted under FERPA (34 CFR § 99.31(a)(1)).

This means:

• We only access student data to perform services outlined in our agreement with your school or district
• We do not disclose student education records to third parties without prior written consent from the school, parent, or eligible student
• We are subject to the same FERPA requirements as the educational institution itself

3. What Student Data We Collect

As part of our wellness platform services, we may collect and process the following types of student data:

• Directory Information: Name, grade level, classroom assignment
• Wellness Check-In Data: Emotional zone selections, intensity ratings, and optional notes submitted by the student
• Engagement Data: App usage patterns, check-in frequency, and feature interactions
• Assessment Results: EMO Profile scores and regulation style indicators (where applicable)

We do not collect Social Security numbers, financial information, health records outside of our platform's wellness scope, or disciplinary records.

4. How We Use Student Data

Student data collected through EMO Pulse is used exclusively for:

• Delivering personalized emotional wellness support to the student
• Providing teachers, counselors, and administrators with aggregated and individual wellness insights
• Generating reports for school administrators and authorized guardians
• Improving the platform's educational effectiveness (only with anonymized, aggregated data)

We never sell student data, use it for targeted advertising, or share it with third parties for commercial purposes.

5. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We disclose student education records only in the following circumstances:

• To school officials: Teachers, counselors, administrators, and other authorized staff at the student's school with a legitimate educational interest
• To parents/guardians: When a guardian account is linked to a student's profile and access has been granted
• Crisis situations: In cases where a student's check-in indicates a potential safety concern, authorized school staff are immediately notified per the school's crisis protocol settings
• Legal requirements: When required by law, such as a valid court order or subpoena, we will notify the school prior to disclosure where legally permitted
• Service providers: We use limited third-party sub-processors (such as cloud hosting and email delivery services) strictly for platform operations under confidentiality agreements that prohibit independent use of student data

6. Parent and Eligible Student Rights

Under FERPA, parents and eligible students have the right to:

• Inspect and review education records maintained about the student
• Request correction of records they believe are inaccurate or misleading
• Consent to disclosure of personally identifiable information, except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent
• File a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures to comply with FERPA

To exercise these rights, parents and eligible students should first contact their school or district administrator. You may also contact us directly at hello@myemopulse.com.

7. Data Retention

Student data is retained for the duration of the school's active subscription plus a 90-day grace period. Upon contract termination, we will delete or return all student education records in accordance with our DPA with the school within 30 days of the termination date.

Schools and districts may request early deletion of student records at any time by contacting us at hello@myemopulse.com.

8. Security Safeguards

We implement administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect student data, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256)
• Role-based access controls limiting data access to authorized personnel only
• Audit logging of all access to student records
• Regular security reviews and vulnerability assessments
• Incident response procedures with school notification requirements

9. COPPA Compliance

For students under the age of 13, EMO Pulse operates under the school's COPPA consent authorization. Schools that deploy EMO Pulse to students under 13 provide consent on behalf of parents, as permitted under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Schools must ensure they have obtained appropriate parental consent or have the authority to do so under applicable law before enabling EMO Pulse for students under 13.

10. Data Processing Agreements

Every school or district using EMO Pulse executes a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) prior to deployment. The DPA outlines the specific terms governing the collection, use, retention, and deletion of student education records.

To request a copy of our standard DPA, contact us at hello@myemopulse.com.

11. Filing a Complaint

If you believe your FERPA rights have been violated, you may file a complaint with the Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education: