1. Introduction
Cien Rios LLC, doing business as K-12Buddy ("K-12Buddy," "Cien Rios," "we," "our," or "us"), is committed to protecting the privacy and security of students, parents, guardians, educators, and other users of the K-12Buddy educational platform.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect personal information when individuals use K-12Buddy, including our websites, applications, educational tools, artificial intelligence features, parent dashboards, and related services (collectively, the "Service").
Because K-12Buddy may be used by children and students, we take additional precautions when handling children's personal information.
Where applicable to our activities, we seek to comply with privacy and student-data requirements including:
- Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA")
- Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA"), where applicable
- California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act ("CCPA/CPRA"), where applicable
- General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"), where applicable
- Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA"), where applicable
- Other applicable student privacy and data protection laws
2. Information We Collect
Information You Provide
Depending on how the Service is used, we may collect:
Parent or Guardian Information
- Name
- Email address
- Telephone number
- Account and communication preferences
Student Information
- First name or account identifier
- Age or age range
- Grade level
- Educational interests and learning goals
- Information necessary to provide educational services
We seek to minimize the collection of identifying information from children, particularly children under 13.
Educational and Learning Information
- Subjects studied
- Learning goals
- Questions submitted
- Quiz and assessment responses
- Progress information
- AI tutoring interactions
- Educational content created or submitted through the Service
Account Information
- Username
- Email address where applicable
- Authentication credentials
- Account settings
Passwords are not intended to be stored in readable plaintext form.
Payment Information
Paid services may be processed through third-party payment processors. Cien Rios LLC does not intend to directly store complete payment-card numbers or card security codes when payments are processed by an authorized payment provider.
Information Collected Automatically
We may automatically collect limited technical information necessary to operate, secure, and improve the Service, including:
- Pages or screens viewed
- Features used
- Session duration and activity
- Browser type
- Operating system
- General device characteristics
- IP address
- Security and diagnostic logs
- Essential cookies and similar technologies
For child-directed portions of the Service, we seek to limit automatic collection to information reasonably necessary to provide and protect the Service.
Children Under 13
Where COPPA applies, K-12Buddy will obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from a child under 13 unless an applicable legal exception permits the collection.
We seek to collect only information reasonably necessary for the child to participate in the educational activity or Service.
3. How We Use Information
We may use information to:
- Provide educational and personalized learning experiences
- Deliver AI-assisted educational support
- Answer educational questions
- Track learning progress
- Generate reports for authorized parents, guardians, students, or educators
- Operate parent and guardian controls
- Authenticate users
- Process subscriptions and payments
- Provide customer support
- Send account, security, safety, and service notifications
- Improve educational content and Service functionality
- Detect fraud, abuse, unauthorized access, or security threats
- Maintain and troubleshoot the Service
- Comply with applicable legal obligations
- Protect students, users, Cien Rios LLC, and others
Student Data Commitments
K-12Buddy does not sell children's personal information.
We do not use children's personal information for targeted or behavioral advertising.
We do not create advertising profiles of children based on their educational activity.
We do not disclose student information to third parties for their own independent advertising purposes.
4. Artificial Intelligence and Educational Content
K-12Buddy may use artificial intelligence technologies to provide tutoring, explanations, educational feedback, study assistance, and other learning features.
Information submitted to AI-powered features may be processed by Cien Rios LLC and authorized technology service providers solely as necessary to provide, secure, maintain, and improve the Service, subject to applicable contractual and legal requirements.
Users should avoid entering unnecessary sensitive personal information into AI prompts.
Parents and guardians should supervise children's use of AI features as appropriate for the child's age.
AI-generated information can contain errors. Students should use K-12Buddy as a learning aid and verify important educational information with teachers, parents, guardians, or authoritative educational materials.
5. Data Sharing and Disclosure
We may disclose information only where reasonably necessary, including:
Parents and Guardians
Authorized parents or guardians may access information associated with their child's account, subject to applicable law and account permissions.
Schools and Educational Institutions
Where K-12Buddy is provided through a school or educational institution, information may be provided to authorized school personnel in accordance with applicable agreements and law.
Service Providers
We may use vendors that provide services such as:
- Cloud hosting
- Authentication
- Payment processing
- Email delivery
- Customer support
- Security and fraud prevention
- Analytics
- Artificial intelligence infrastructure
Service providers are permitted to process information only for authorized purposes and subject to applicable contractual obligations.
Legal and Safety Requirements
We may disclose information where reasonably necessary to:
- Comply with law, regulation, subpoena, court order, or lawful governmental request
- Protect the safety of a child or another person
- Investigate fraud, abuse, or security incidents
- Protect the legal rights and property of Cien Rios LLC and its users
Business Transactions
Information may be transferred as part of a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, sale of assets, or similar transaction, subject to applicable privacy protections.
With Consent
We may disclose information when an authorized user, parent, or guardian has provided appropriate consent.
6. Data Security
Cien Rios LLC uses administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure.
These measures may include, as appropriate:
- Encryption in transit
- Encryption of sensitive stored information where appropriate
- Authentication and authorization controls
- Role-based access controls
- Multi-factor authentication for privileged systems where appropriate
- Logging and monitoring
- Secure development practices
- Data minimization
- Backup and recovery procedures
- Vendor security reviews
- Periodic security assessments
No internet-based system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security.
7. Children's Privacy and COPPA
Protecting children's privacy is a core requirement of K-12Buddy.
Where COPPA applies, we:
- Obtain verifiable parental consent when required
- Provide parents with notice regarding information practices
- Limit collection to information reasonably necessary to provide the Service
- Allow parents to review their child's personal information
- Allow parents to request correction or deletion
- Allow parents to withdraw consent to further collection
- Do not condition participation on disclosure of more information than reasonably necessary
- Do not use children's personal information for behavioral advertising
- Maintain reasonable procedures designed to protect children's information
Parents or guardians may contact privacy@cienrios.com to exercise applicable parental rights.
8. School and FERPA-Related Data
When K-12Buddy provides services to a school or educational institution subject to FERPA, Cien Rios LLC will handle applicable education records according to the institution's instructions, contractual requirements, and applicable law.
The educational institution remains responsible for determining its own FERPA obligations and obtaining any permissions or consents required for its use of K-12Buddy.
Where Cien Rios LLC acts as a service provider or school official under an applicable agreement, education records will be used only for authorized educational purposes.
9. Your Privacy Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights regarding your personal information.
These may include the right to:
- Request access to personal information
- Correct inaccurate information
- Request deletion
- Obtain a copy of certain information
- Restrict certain processing
- Object to certain processing
- Withdraw consent where processing relies on consent
- Opt out of certain uses where required by law
- Lodge a complaint with an applicable regulatory authority
California Residents
California residents may have additional rights under applicable California privacy law, including rights to know, correct, or delete certain personal information and to opt out of certain sales or sharing.
K-12Buddy does not sell children's personal information.
We will not unlawfully discriminate against users for exercising applicable privacy rights.
European Economic Area and United Kingdom
Where GDPR or equivalent UK requirements apply, users may have rights including access, correction, deletion, restriction, objection, portability, and withdrawal of consent.
Where required, international transfers will use an appropriate legal transfer mechanism.
10. Data Retention
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, to provide the Service, meet contractual requirements, protect users, resolve disputes, and satisfy applicable legal obligations.
Retention periods may vary depending on:
- Type of information
- Account status
- School or institutional requirements
- Parental requests
- Security requirements
- Legal obligations
When information is no longer reasonably necessary, we will delete, de-identify, or otherwise securely dispose of it in accordance with applicable requirements.
Parents and guardians may request deletion of a child's personal information, subject to applicable legal or contractual retention requirements.
12. International Users
Cien Rios LLC is based in the United States.
If you access K-12Buddy from outside the United States, your information may be processed in the United States or other jurisdictions where our authorized service providers operate.
Where required by applicable law, we use appropriate safeguards for international transfers of personal information.
13. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy as K-12Buddy changes or as legal requirements evolve.
When we make changes, we may:
- Post the updated Privacy Policy
- Update the "Last Updated" date
- Provide additional notice where legally required
- Notify parents or guardians of material changes affecting children's personal information
- Obtain new parental consent when required by law
14. Contact Us
K-12Buddy is operated and owned by:
Cien Rios LLCK-12Buddy Privacy Team
17113 Miramar Pkwy #1027
Miramar, FL 33027
United States
Privacy: privacy@cienrios.com
Support: support@cienrios.com
Website: k-12buddy.com
Privacy requests will be handled within the time required by applicable law.
© 2026 Cien Rios LLC. K-12Buddy is a product and service of Cien Rios LLC. All rights reserved.