Healthy Hearts is committed to protecting the privacy and security of its online visitors. This policy statement provides our visitors (e.g., parents, teachers and children) with an overview of the measures we have taken to provide a safe environment for everyone.

Healthy Hearts is a web-based instructional module for intermediate age children to help them better understand the importance of cardiovascular health and the effects of personal choices related to physical activity, diet intake, and tobacco usage on CVH. The Healthy Hearts  module is designed to be used by teachers and students primarily as a part of the school curriculum. The instructional module allows students to participate in interactive activities, some which require them to submit personal information in order to receive feedback and earn prizes.

The student personal information obtained in Healthy Hearts is limited to that information which is necessary for the activities of the instructional unit, information which  is necessary for teachers to have to assess student progress, and information that operators of Healthy Hearts will use to determine the effectiveness of the module.

PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION

Personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 will be used solely by Healthy Hearts or its agents for internal purposes and will not be sold or otherwise transferred to third parties. Information collected from users may be reported in aggregate form.

The personal information collected in Healthy Hearts includes:

• students' first and last name (teachers enter this information and may use bogus names, if desired; names are only collected for teachers' use in identifying student progress and prize winners; Healthy Hearts operators do not use any student information by student name)

• age, gender, race (this information is submitted by the teacher and is optional; the information, if submitted, aids the Healthy Hearts researchers in determining the effectiveness of the instructional module for particular groups of children)

• student self-reports of daily physical activity and daily diet intake (this information is used as an instructional tool to give students feedback on their behavior patterns of physical activity and diet intake; name of student is not correlated with information submitted)

• Pre/post quizzes on students' knowledge, attitude, and behaviors related to the content of Healthy Hearts (this information will be used by teachers to assess student progress, and by Healthy Hearts researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of the instructional module).

Children will never be identified individually, except when prizes are earned and prize winners are announced on the website for students to view. The prize winners will be identified by first name and last initial, and students will only see prize winners in their own class. No other personal information will be revealed by student name except at the request of the student's teacher or parent.

It is Healthy Hearts policy never to post on its site, more than a child's first name, last initial, state, and school. The classroom teacher must review and approve any information submitted for posting on the Healthy Hearts website.

FOR TEACHERS
According to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, a parent or teacher must give consent for any website to collect personal information from children under 13 years of age. Teachers may give consent in lieu of parental consent if the website is being used for educational purposes as part of the school curriculum (see How to Protect Kids' Privacy Online: A Guide for Teachers).

There are many activities on the Healthy Hearts instructional module that are for teachers, which enable teachers to add another dimension to their classroom and students' activities. In order to create such online classroom activities, we will collect personally identifiable information from teachers and have teachers provide a password to their students so that students can publish materials online and do other activities online in connection with their class through the use of such password. We will only enable such passwords with the verifiable consent provided by teachers acting on behalf of parents. With respect to the teacher's personally identifiable information that we collect, we may use such information to provide teachers with information about materials, activities or other things which may be of interest to them.

If at any time, a teacher wishes to see any information submitted by a student that is not readily available to them through the Teacher Tools section of the Healthy Hearts module, he should send e-mail requesting the information to: info@healthyhearts4kids.org. A teacher may also at any time refuse to allow students to participate in any part of Healthy Hearts, or refuse to allow Healthy Hearts to collect any information that the child submits. To request such action, the teacher should e-mail info@healtlhyhearts4kids.org outlining the request. Healthy Hearts will respond to a request for disclosure within 5 business days.

Healthy Hearts operators will inform teachers if new activities are added to the instructional module that may change personal information collected in a significant way. In the event that changes such as these are made, Healthy Hearts will notify teachers that a new consent is required.

FOR PARENTS/GUARDIANS
Parents/guardians can request to review or have deleted their child's personally identifiable information from Healthy Hearts records. Parents/guardians may refuse to permit further use of a child's information by contacting their child's teacher who is implementing Healthy Hearts as part of the classroom curriculum, and by e-mailing Healthy Hearts at: info@healthyhearts4kids.org.

For parent/guardian requests for disclosure, Healthy Hearts will ask the teacher to verify the parent/guardian's name. That request from Healthy Hearts to the teacher will be sent via e-mail to the teacher's e-mail address listed on the registration form. Healthy Hearts will then disclose any personal information of a child to his parent/guardian.

FOR KIDS
Remember to be smart online. Do not give out your full name, email address, home address, telephone number or any other personal information that would enable someone to contact you either online or offline, without first asking your parent or guardian for permission. Sometimes on the site we ask you to indicate how much physical activity you have had and what you ate during the previous day. If you choose to complete this information, it will never be made available to any person in a way that you can be identified, except to your teacher, and to your parent/guardian if they so request.

SECURITY
Healthy Hearts ensures that all information, personally and non-personally identifiable information, that it receives via the Internet is secure against unauthorized access. This information is kept in a safe and secure system isolated from direct connection to the Internet. This means that no eyes but ours will ever see the information that our visitors send to us, unless we indicate otherwise.

LINKS TO OTHER SITES
Teachers will find links from Healthy Hearts to independently owned, controlled and/or managed World Wide Web or Internet sites whose content we have found of possible interest to teachers using Healthy Hearts. While we initially visit these sites to which we directly link, please note that we do not control the content that appears on these sites and such content may be constantly changing.

SUBSEQUENT USE OF HEALTHY HEARTS DATA
An analysis of student data will be used to evaluate Healthy Hearts, and could be used in scholarly publications and presentations by Healthy Hearts researchers. At no time will identifiable information be revealed (e.g. students' names, teachers' names, school names, etc). Healthy Hearts will protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of personal information (including that of student, teacher, and school) at all times and to the fullest extent. No information will be shared with third parties with the exception of those students participating in the West Virginia CARDIAC Project. However, the participants of CARDIAC will be identified only by ID number.

NOTE: Healthy Hearts will revise this policy as the content on our site continue to change.

Healthy Hearts is a non-profit organization whose goal is to provide quality interdisciplinary educational experiences for students and teachers to use as part of regular school activities. To contact Healthy Hearts, send an email to info@healthyhearts4kids.org.