Student privacy and safety

Student data

Pondra collects only what it needs to help students and report to schools: the name, school email and grade that come from your school’s sign-in, and what students type to Pondra and its replies. We don’t ask students for home addresses, phone numbers, photos or location.

• Your school controls it. Staff your school chooses can see usage and safety reports. Your school can export or delete its data at any time, and we complete those requests within 10 business days.
• Kept only as long as needed. Chat history is kept for 12 months by default, or less if your school chooses. When your agreement ends we delete student data within 60 days, after offering you an export.
• Never used for anything else. No selling, no ads, no profiles for non-school purposes and no AI model training.

The full details are in our privacy policy and our Student Data Privacy Addendum.

Laws we follow

• FERPA. We receive education records as a school official with a legitimate educational interest, use them only for the purposes your school authorizes and never redisclose them except as FERPA allows.
• COPPA. For students under 13, we rely on your school’s consent for educational use only, as the FTC allows. Parents can review or delete their child’s information through the school. We follow the FTC’s amended COPPA Rule, including a written information security program and a published data retention policy.
• State student privacy laws. We meet the vendor duties in state laws such as California’s SOPIPA and Education Code 49073.1, New York Education Law 2-d, Illinois SOPPA, Connecticut’s student data privacy law and Colorado’s Student Data Transparency and Security Act, as well as California’s AB 1159 ban on training AI with student data. We sign the Student Data Privacy Consortium’s National Data Privacy Agreement and state-specific agreements.
• Accessibility laws. We build to WCAG 2.1 AA to support schools’ duties under ADA Title II, Section 504 and Section 508. See our accessibility statement.
• AI chatbot laws. We design Pondra to meet state laws on AI chatbots and young people, such as California’s SB 243 and New York’s AI companion law: it discloses that it is an AI and is built as a tutor, not a companion.
• CIPA. Pondra’s content filters support, but don’t replace, the internet safety policy your school keeps under the Children’s Internet Protection Act.

AI safety and transparency

Pondra runs on large language models from established AI providers. Our contracts with them forbid training on Pondra data and limit how long they can keep it.

• No answers. Pondra guides with questions, hints and similar examples and never hands over the final answer, on any setting.
• Safety filters. Requests involving violence, sexual content, hate, drugs or bullying are declined and redirected to learning.
• Not a crisis service. Pondra doesn’t replace counselors or mandated reporters. In an emergency, call 911, or call or text 988.
• People stay in charge. Your school sets the safety settings and decides which staff see reports. Pondra staff read student conversations only for support or safety at your school’s request, or when the law requires.
• Always clear it’s an AI. Pondra tells students they are talking to an AI, not a person, at the start of every conversation and reminds them at least once an hour.
• A tutor, not a companion. Pondra doesn’t claim to have feelings, doesn’t flatter students to keep them chatting and doesn’t ask about their feelings unprompted. It isn’t therapy or counseling.
• Tested before release. Every change to Pondra’s AI is tested against our safety and no-answers checks before it reaches students.
• Honest about limits. AI can be wrong. Pondra encourages students to check their thinking with their teacher.

Security

• Data encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2 or higher) and at rest (AES-256), and stored in the United States.
• Students and staff sign in through your school’s existing accounts.
• Multi-factor authentication and least-privilege access for every Pondra team member, reviewed every quarter.
• Background checks and yearly privacy and security training for anyone who can access student data.
• A written information security program aligned to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, with a risk assessment and penetration test before launch and every year after.
• If a security incident affects student data, we notify your school within 72 hours of confirming it, and never more than 7 days after discovering it.

Found a vulnerability? Email security@pondra.ai. We respond within 3 business days and won’t take legal action against good-faith research that avoids student data and service disruption. Our security.txt has the details.

Subprocessors

These companies process personal information for Pondra today. Each is bound by written terms at least as protective as ours. We will list every service that handles student data here, and give schools 30 days’ notice before a new one does.

Documents

• Privacy policy
• Terms of service
• Student Data Privacy Addendum
• Accessibility statement

On request we also send our security overview, completed security questionnaires, our Accessibility Conformance Report (VPAT) and a signed National Data Privacy Agreement or your state’s agreement. Email privacy@pondra.ai.

Contact

Privacy: privacy@pondra.ai
Security: security@pondra.ai
Everything else: hello@pondra.ai