The terms for districts and schools.

Who these terms are for

These terms are between Gigahertz Company LLC of Plainfield, Illinois ("Backpack", "we") and the school district or school that uses Backpack Education ("the district"). They also bind the district's staff who use Backpack, and anyone who opens a demo district.

Children use Backpack on a classroom tablet their teacher opens, and parents use it through a connection the school approves. Children and parents do not enter into these terms; the district is responsible for their use of Backpack in its schools, and our privacy policy covers their information.

Which document governs

A district's use of Backpack Education is governed by, in this order:

• the student data privacy agreement signed with the district (in Illinois, the Illinois Student Data Privacy Agreement, NDPA Standard Version 1.0, with its exhibits), for anything about student data;
• the order form signed with the district, for price, term, scope, pilots and any service levels;
• these terms, for everything the two documents above do not cover.

If these terms conflict with a signed agreement or order form, the signed document wins. No real student data goes into Backpack until the student data privacy agreement is signed. Our standard version is published as the Data Processing Agreement.

The service

Backpack Education today includes:

• a district-approved video catalog and approval routing for requests, set by each school;
• class backpacks packed by teachers from that catalog;
• a classroom tablet mode, opened by a teacher, where children pick their own tile;
• a view of what each child watched, for the teacher and for the child's connected parent;
• family connection by printed family code, approved by the school;
• roster upload by CSV file with a preview before anything is written;
• staff invitations and sign-in by one-time email link, and domain verification by DNS record;
• an audit area for district and school admins with CSV export.

We may improve and change the service, but we will not remove a core function listed above during a paid term without telling the district in advance.

Videos in Backpack are YouTube videos played in YouTube's embedded player. YouTube's terms apply to that player: by using Backpack, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. YouTube or a channel owner can remove or restrict a video at any time; we cannot guarantee that a particular video stays available.

Demo districts and pilots

Demo districts. A demo district is filled with fictional schools, staff and children so a team can try every role. It is for evaluation only: do not enter real student or family information in it. It is free, lasts 14 days unless we extend it, and is deleted with everything in it when it expires. We may end a demo district early if it is misused.

Pilots. A pilot starts with one school, after the student data privacy agreement is signed. The pilot's length, scope and any fee are set in the order form. At the end of a pilot the district decides whether to continue. If it does not, its data is exported on request and deleted as the student data privacy agreement directs.

What the district is responsible for

• Having the authority to share its roster and staff information with us, and sending its own notice to families (the console provides a starting draft).
• Obtaining any consent its policies or state law require, including acting for parents under COPPA where it authorizes use for an educational purpose.
• Keeping its roster accurate. Backpack never writes to the district's roster; corrections are made in the district's own systems and uploaded again.
• Deciding which videos are approved, who approves requests, and which staff have which role.
• Removing access promptly for staff who leave, and approving family connections only for a child's parent or guardian.

Acceptable use for staff

Anyone using Backpack for a district agrees:

• to keep sign-in links, invitations and family codes to the person they were meant for;
• not to put more about a child into Backpack than its fields ask for, and never a photo;
• to use what they see about children only for their work with those children;
• not to add or request videos that are inappropriate for the children in their care or that break YouTube's terms;
• not to try to reach another district's or school's data, get around sign-in or rate limits, scrape the service, or test its security without our written permission (report vulnerabilities to security@ghz.company);
• not to use Backpack to advertise to, profile or sell information about students.

We may suspend an individual user who breaks these rules or puts children or data at risk. We will tell the district what happened and why.

Data and ownership

The district owns its data, including all student records. It gives us permission to use that data only to provide Backpack Education to it, as described in the student data privacy agreement and our privacy policy. We do not sell it, advertise with it, profile students with it or train models on it.

We own Backpack and everything we build into it. The district may use it for its schools during its term. If the district sends us suggestions, we may use them without obligation.

Support and service levels

Support is by email at support@education.backpack.kids. The service runs on Vercel (hosting) and Neon (database); its availability depends on theirs.

We do not publish an uptime percentage or support response time. If a district needs one, it is written into the order form, and that order form is the only place a service level applies.

Exports, deletion certificates and shorter retention periods are handled by our staff on request to support@education.backpack.kids.

Fees

Fees, invoicing and payment terms are set in the order form. Demo districts are free. We do not charge parents or students for anything in Backpack Education, and nothing in it offers them a purchase.

Term, suspension and ending

The term is set in the order form. Either party may end it as the order form allows, or on written notice if the other party materially breaches these terms, the order form or the student data privacy agreement and does not fix the breach within 30 days of notice.

We may suspend a district's access only if it is needed to stop a security threat or serious harm to children or data, or as the order form allows for non-payment. We tell the district first where we can, and otherwise as soon as we can. While suspended, sign-ins stop and data stays in place.

When a district's use ends, we give it an export of its data on request, then delete the data as the student data privacy agreement directs. Sign-ins stop when closing begins.

Our commitments and disclaimers

We will provide the service with reasonable skill and care, substantially as described in the section on The service, and keep the commitments in the student data privacy agreement.

Beyond that, and to the extent the law allows, the service is provided as it is, without other warranties, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or uninterrupted operation. We do not review every YouTube video for suitability; the district and its schools decide what is approved.

Limitation of liability

To the extent the law allows:

• neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for lost profits or revenue;
• each party's total liability arising from the service in any 12-month period is limited to the fees paid or payable by the district under the order form in that period, unless the order form sets a different amount.

These limits do not apply to our obligations under the student data privacy agreement, whose own terms on liability and indemnity govern; to our indemnity below; to a party's gross negligence, wilful misconduct or fraud; or to any liability the law does not allow to be limited. Nothing here requires a public district to accept a liability or indemnity its governing law forbids.

Our indemnity

We will defend the district against a third-party claim that the Backpack software, as we provide it, infringes that party's intellectual property rights, or that arises from our breach of the student data privacy agreement, and pay the resulting damages and costs finally awarded or agreed in settlement. The district tells us promptly about the claim and lets us control the defence, and we do not settle in a way that admits fault for the district without its consent. This does not cover YouTube videos or other content the district approves.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Disputes go to the state or federal courts located in Illinois. If the district is a public body whose own state's law must govern its contracts, the order form may name that law instead, and it then governs.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. We tell each district's administrators at least 30 days before a material change takes effect. A change never alters a signed order form or student data privacy agreement; those change only when both parties sign.

Contact

Product help and requests: support@education.backpack.kids.

Privacy questions: privacy@backpack.kids.

Legal notices: Gigahertz Company LLC, Plainfield, Illinois, at support@education.backpack.kids. Postal address on request.