Terms of Service

These terms

These terms govern your access to and use of Owl Train’s app at app.owltrain.com, including each school’s parent pages, and the owltrain.com website (together, the “Service”). “Owl Train,” “we,” “us” and “our” mean the operator of the Service. By creating an account, accepting an invite or otherwise using Owl Train, you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy.

If you sign up a school, you agree to these terms on the school’s behalf and confirm you’re authorized to do so.

The service

Owl Train is school activity software. It covers sign-ups and waitlists for programs such as after-care, field trips, athletics, classes, hot lunch, the school store, fees and fundraisers; payments by card and bank (ACH) through PaidYET; permission slips and school forms; check-in and drop-in care; announcements; a parent portal; reports and exports; and school branding.

A school starts in setup mode, where it can build in draft. Owl Train reviews each school before approving it to publish programs and take payments, and may decline or suspend a school that doesn’t meet these terms. We may add, change or discontinue parts of the Service, and we’ll give reasonable notice of material changes.

Accounts and sign-in

Owl Train accounts are for adults: school staff and parents or guardians. You must be at least 18 to hold an account. Students don’t hold accounts.

Owl Train has no passwords. You sign in with a one-time code sent to your email or a single-use invite link, so keep access to your email account secure and don’t forward codes or invite links. You’re responsible for activity under your account. Schools are responsible for the staff they invite and the access levels they give them, and for removing staff who leave.

Provide accurate information and keep it current.

Schools’ responsibilities

A school using Owl Train is responsible for:

• Having the right to collect and use the student and family information it puts into Owl Train, and giving any notices and getting any consents the law requires, including under FERPA and COPPA where they apply
• The accuracy of its records, and answering parents’ requests to review or correct them
• Its programs, prices, policies and communications with families, including its refund policy
• Deciding which staff can see which records

Student data and your data

A school’s data is the school’s: its families, students, programs, sign-ups, forms, attendance and payment records. The school grants Owl Train a limited license to host, process and display that data only to provide the Service to the school and to keep it working, as described in our Privacy Policy.

Where FERPA applies, Owl Train acts as a school official with a legitimate educational interest, under the school’s direct control with respect to the use and maintenance of education records. We don’t sell student information, use it for targeted advertising, or build profiles of students for anything other than the school’s purposes.

A school can export all of its records at any time. When its use of Owl Train ends, we return its records on request and then delete them as described in the Privacy Policy.

Pricing and fees

Owl Train software is free: every feature, for every school, with no subscriptions, tiers, per-student fees, setup fees or contracts. When a school accepts an online payment (card or bank) through Owl Train, it’s processed by our partner PaidYET, and a flat fee of 5¢ per payment applies to the school, as published on our pricing page. Cash and check payments are recorded free.

Payments run on the school’s own merchant account and settle directly to the school’s bank account. Owl Train is not a bank and never holds a school’s funds. Charges from the school’s processor under its merchant agreement are the school’s own processing costs and are not set or marked up by Owl Train. The school is responsible for its refunds, chargebacks, returned bank payments and any taxes on what it sells.

The tech platform fee

Owl Train includes an optional tech platform fee that each school controls. It’s off unless the school turns it on. A school that uses it chooses a percentage, a flat amount, or both, within the limits the app allows, and can set a different amount for an individual program.

• It applies only to card payments. Bank (ACH) payments, payments from a family balance and donations never carry it.
• The parent paying by card sees the exact amount before paying.
• It belongs to the school. It is collected with the payment on the school’s merchant account, and Owl Train keeps none of it.
• Reports keep it separate from program revenue.

Whether and how to charge it is the school’s decision, and the school is responsible for making sure its fee follows card-network rules and the laws that apply to it, including any disclosure requirements and state limits on card fees.

For parents and guardians

Sign-ups, purchases, donations and payments you make in Owl Train are between you and your school. The school sets its prices, decides on refunds under its own policy and runs its programs; Owl Train is not a party to those transactions. Questions about a charge or a refund go to your school.

When you sign a permission slip or form in Owl Train, you agree that your electronic signature counts as your signature, and the school receives it with the time you signed. When you pay from a bank account, you authorize the school to debit that account for the amount shown. If a bank payment is returned, the amount goes back on your family balance as owed.

Acceptable use

Don’t misuse Owl Train. You agree not to:

• Break the law or infringe anyone’s rights
• Access records you’re not authorized to see, or use student or family information for anything other than the school’s purposes
• Upload malware, or probe, scrape or try to gain unauthorized access to the Service or its data
• Interfere with how the Service runs
• Use Owl Train to send spam or misleading messages

We may remove content or suspend access that violates these terms.

Third parties

Owl Train works with third-party services, including PaidYET for payments. Your use of those services may be subject to their own terms, and we’re not responsible for them.

Intellectual property

Owl Train owns the Service, including its software, design and logos, but not your data. You may not copy, modify or reverse-engineer the Service without our written consent. If you send us feedback, we may use it without obligation to you.

Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We don’t warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free or completely secure.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Owl Train and its officers, directors, employees and agents will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, revenue, data or goodwill. Our total liability for any claim relating to the Service will not exceed the greater of the amounts you paid us in the twelve months before the claim or USD $100.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Owl Train from claims, damages and expenses arising out of your use of the Service, your data, your violation of these terms, or your dealings with families, schools or third parties.

Leaving and termination

You can stop using Owl Train at any time, with no contract and no cancellation fee. A school can download a full export of its records first. To close a school’s account, email [email protected].

We may suspend or terminate access for a breach of these terms. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination, including data ownership, disclaimers, limitation of liability and indemnification, will survive.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Los Angeles County, California. You agree to first try to resolve any dispute informally by contacting us and allowing 30 days for a response.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. For material changes, we’ll give notice by email or in the Service at least 14 days before they take effect. Continuing to use the Service after that means you accept the updated terms.

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