Privacy Policy

Updated August 2009

Policy Summary

The Menands School PTA does not sell or rent member information to anyone. Member information is given to the New York State PTA as required by our bylaws. The Menands School PTA uses state-of-the-art technologies and processes to protect and secure any information it collects.

Information Collected

When you apply for membership, the Menands School PTA asks for basic information, such as your name, street address, and e-mail address. As explained in the Questions and Answers below, the Menands School PTA may ask for additional information when you visit http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/. All of this information helps the Menands School PTA better serve members and improve programs.

Information Sharing

The Menands School PTA does not sell or rent member information to telemarketers, mailing list brokers, or other companies. The Menands School PTA does provide member information to the New York State PTA, as required by our bylaws. The Menands School PTA may also disclose member information when required to do so by law or when such action is necessary or appropriate to comply with legal process served on the national organization, to protect and defend the rights or property of the Menands School PTA, or to protect the personal safety of users of the the Menands School PTA website. The Menands School PTA reserves the right to contact the appropriate authorities when visitors' activities appear to be illegal or inconsistent with Menands School PTA policies.

Finally, the Menands School PTA may sometimes share aggregate statistics and non-personal information with the members, and other third parties. For example, the Menands School PTA may publish statistics on the number of members, or the number of visitors to http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/. These aggregate statistics do not identify member names or other personal information.

Secure Transactions

In order to protect your personal information, PTA uses technologies and processes, such as access control procedures, firewalls, physical security, and other safety measures. 

Send questions and comments to the Menands School PTA via mail at Menands School PTA, 19 Wards Lane, Menands, NY 12204

Privacy and the Menands School PTA: Questions and Answers

1. Do I have to submit any personal information in order to use http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/?

No. You do not need to give the Menands School PTA any information about yourself in order to access most of http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/. You can visit most web pages, read our newsletters, and learn about our member services on a completely anonymous basis. Certain content and member benefits do require a user account that you can create for free.

If you want to take advantage of optional services available on http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/, the Menands School PTA may request information to identify you. For example, if you use the online form to signup for our newsletter, certain information is required to process your application, such as your e-mail address. The Menands School PTA may also ask for personal information when you participate in other activities or services on http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/, such as surveys, polls, bulletin boards, and participatory programs.

The Menands School PTA may also have relationships with certain providers and vendors to offer services and benefits to you on linked websites. On any of these sites, you may be asked to enter personal information in order to take advantage of their services or programs. If you decide to purchase services on the website of a Menands School PTA service provider, the provider offering the services may ask for information in order to deliver the services requested or contact you about the services.

These related sites may also have their own unique privacy policies that you should review.

2. Does http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/ collect non-personal information, using "cookies" or otherwise?

Yes. The Menands School PTA does collect "non-personal information" that does not identify your name, e-mail address, or other personal characteristics. Non-personal information includes the number assigned to your computer whenever you access the Internet ("IP address"), and the type of browser you use. None of this non-personal information allows PTA to identify or contact you. By gathering this information, the Menands School PTA learns, among other things, how many people visit http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/, popular web pages, and where visitors were on other websites before arriving at http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/.

The Menands School PTA may also assign a "cookie" to your computer in some situations. Like an IP address, a cookie allows the Menands School PTA to recognize your computer each time you visit http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/.

Unless you have already provided the Menands School PTA with personal information on http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/ or an affiliated site, cookies do not identify you by name, e-mail address, or other personal characteristics. The Menands School PTA uses cookies primarily to identify return visitors and make your http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/ experience convenient and valuable. 

The Menands School PTA uses Google Analytics to collect aggregate information about http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/ usage, such as the most visited pages and features. Non-personal information, such as listed above, is shared with Google to provide this service,

3. How is my information used?

The Menands School PTA collects personal and non-personal information to serve members. The Menands School PTA uses member information to evaluate and improve services and offerings. The Menands School PTA asks for information to process your membership application, send you valuable resources and timely news and information about your membership and the organization, and provide you with discounts and other member benefits. 

The Menands School PTA may also review demographic information, survey results, and statistical analyses of http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/ usage to help evaluate, modify, and develop services of interest to PTA members. 

4. Is any information shared with other companies or organizations?

The Menands School PTA does not sell or rent our membership lists. 

Additionally, the Menands School PTA may also disclose personal information when required to do so by law or when such action is necessary or appropriate to comply with legal process served on the national organization, to protect and defend the rights or property of the Menands School PTA, or to protect the personal safety of users of the Menands School PTA website. The Menands School PTA reserves the right to contact the appropriate authorities when visitors' activities appear to be illegal or inconsistent with our policies.

Finally, PTA may sometimes share aggregate statistics and non-personal information with the members, and other third parties. For example, the Menands School PTA may publish statistics on the number of members, or the number of visitors to http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/. These aggregate statistics will not allow anyone to identify member names or other personal information.

5. How do I stop or "opt out" of receiving mailings or services?

When you join the Menands School PTA, you become part of a powerful nationwide organization comprised of millions of members who help children succeed in education and life. Your Menands School PTA membership automatically provides you with valuable resources, news, information, and valuable discounts and offers. You will receive newsletters, publications, and special e-mails sent on behalf of PTA national sponsors. The Menands School PTA offers these resources to help you take full advantage of your membership. However, you do have a choice to continue subscriptions to any PTA newsletter, publication, e-mails, service or offer. You may unsubscribe or “opt out” at any time. Please use the guide below.

If you do not want to receive electronic communications or mailings from National PTA, please see their privacy policy at http://pta.org/pta_privacy_policy.asp

If you do not want to receive a PTA e-newsletter or an e-mail sent on behalf of a PTA national sponsor, follow the instructions at the bottom of that particular electronic document sent to you.

If you do not want to receive electronic communications or mailings from the Menands School PTA, please follow the instructions at the bottom of the e-mail or mailing, or write us at Menands School PTA, 19 Wards Lane, Menands NY 12204.

Again, these notices are designed to help you take full advantage of the benefits of Menands School PTA membership, but we do not want to send them to you if you are not interested in receiving them. 

6. Do privacy protections exist on Menands School PTA website comments? 

It is important to understand that the information you submit in public comments, discussion groups, bulletin boards, and chat rooms is publicly displayed. (Communications sent using the "Contact Us" page are private.) People will see your messages and organizations not related to the Menands School PTA, and may be used by these third parties to contact you. As a result, you should be very careful about the information that you include in these messages. Because these unrelated parties will also see your "User Name" on any postings that you make in the discussion groups, you may not want to use your full name. You can use your first name only, or use an assumed name, if you like. 

7. How does http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/ protect security and confidentiality? 

In order to protect your personal information, the Menands School PTA uses different technologies and processes, such as access control procedures, firewalls, physical security, and other protection measures. These measures increase the security and privacy of information traveling to, from, and within http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/. Only the Menands School PTA authorizedindividuals carrying out permitted business functions are allowed to access personal information.

In order to receive some services, the Menands School PTA may require you to use a password to protect your account from unauthorized access by others. If you do allow others, including family or household members, to access the Menands School PTA services through your personal password or to use your membership account number, understand that you are responsible for the actions of those individuals.

8. Will this privacy policy ever change?

Because protecting members' privacy is very important to the Menands School PTA, we do not expect major changes in policy. However, the Menands School PTA will announce changes on the the Menands School PTA website to notify members and customers.

This privacy policy describes the types of information the Menands School PTA currently collects, and the ways the Menands School PTA uses and protects that information.

From time to time,the Menands School PTA may collect different types of information and use that information in different ways, for example, when new features or services are added to http://www.menandsschoolpta.org/. In these cases, the Menands School PTA may edit this policy to explain the new practices.