Childcare Data
Privacy Policy
Last updated: August 26, 2026
Who we are
Childcare Data is operated by the Santa Cruz County Office of Education (“SCCOE,” “we,” “us”). It is an internal staff application, not a consumer service. Accounts are created for authorized SCCOE staff and partner program staff only.
What this app is for
Childcare Data is a staff tool from the Santa Cruz County Office of Education for managing early childhood program rosters and Student Identifier (SSID) requests. Staff use it to view and update the roster of children enrolled in each program, to keep those rosters synchronized with the program’s Google Sheet, and to send SSID request emails to the appropriate district contacts.
Google sign-in and Google API data
Signing in uses Google OAuth through Firebase Authentication. The app
requests only the standard sign-in scopes —
openid, email, and profile.
From those we receive your name, email address, profile picture URL,
and Google account identifier. We use them solely to identify you, to
show who made a change to a record, and to determine which programs you
are authorized to view.
The app does not request access to your Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, or any other Google service, and it does not store a Google access token or act on your behalf against any Google API.
Roster spreadsheets are read and written by a county-owned service account that SCCOE controls, using the Google Sheets API. That access belongs to SCCOE’s own service account and is never derived from your personal Google account.
Childcare Data’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Information we collect
| Category | What it includes | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Staff account information | Name, email address, profile picture URL, Google account identifier, assigned role and programs, last sign-in time | Your Google account at sign-in; SCCOE administrators |
| Child roster records | First and last name, date of birth, Statewide Student Identifier (SSID), gender, hospital of birth, program, site, and enrollment status | Entered by program staff in this app or in the program’s Google Sheet |
| Guardian contact information | Guardian first and last names, email addresses, and phone numbers | Entered by program staff in this app or in the program’s Google Sheet |
| Record history | Which staff account created or last edited a record, when, and whether the change came from the app or the spreadsheet | Generated by the app |
| SSID request emails | Recipient addresses, subject, and message body, which may include a child’s name, date of birth, and program | Composed by staff in the app |
| Usage analytics | App and page usage events, device and browser type, approximate location derived from IP address, and a Google Analytics identifier stored in your browser | Google Analytics for Firebase |
How we use information
- To authenticate you and enforce which programs you may access.
- To maintain accurate child roster records for early childhood programs and to keep them synchronized with each program’s Google Sheet.
- To prepare and send SSID request emails to the district contacts who issue Statewide Student Identifiers.
- To keep an audit trail of who changed a record and when.
- To understand how the app is used so we can fix problems and improve it.
We do not sell personal information, we do not use it for advertising, and we do not use it to train machine learning or artificial intelligence models.
Analytics and cookies
This app uses Google Analytics for Firebase. It sets identifiers in your browser’s local storage and, where applicable, cookies, and it sends usage events to Google. This is analytics measurement, not advertising, and we do not use it for cross-site tracking or remarketing. Firebase Authentication also stores your signed-in session in your browser’s local storage so you are not asked to sign in on every page load.
You can learn more about how Google handles this data at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Where information is stored
Information is stored in Google Cloud services operated for SCCOE
— Firebase Authentication for sign-in, Cloud Firestore for roster
and account records, and Google Sheets for the per-program roster
spreadsheets. Data is stored and processed in Google Cloud’s
us-west regions, in the United States. It is not stored
outside the United States.
Who we share information with
We share personal information only with service providers acting on our behalf and with the school districts and agencies that need it to issue a Statewide Student Identifier:
- Google LLC — Firebase Authentication, Cloud Firestore, Cloud Functions, Google Sheets, Google Analytics for Firebase, and Gmail, which delivers SSID request emails over SMTP from an SCCOE-operated account rather than from your own mailbox.
- School districts and county programs — receive the child information contained in an SSID request that staff send to them.
We do not otherwise disclose personal information except where required by law or as directed by the educational agency responsible for the records.
Retention and deletion
Child roster records are education records maintained on behalf of the programs that collect them, and are retained for as long as those programs require. Staff account records are retained while the account is active.
There is no self-service deletion inside the app. To request access to, correction of, or deletion of information held in Childcare Data, email cbengisu@santacruzcoe.org. We will act on the request or route it to the educational agency that owns the record. Deleting your Google account does not by itself remove records stored in Childcare Data.
Security
Access requires a Google sign-in and an explicit role assignment made by an SCCOE administrator; a signed-in account with no assignment sees no roster data. Access to roster records is further restricted, per account, to the programs that account is assigned to, and is enforced by server-side Firestore security rules rather than by the browser. Signed-in sessions are short-lived and expire automatically, requiring you to sign in again. Data is transmitted over HTTPS and encrypted at rest by Google Cloud.
Student records
Childcare Data holds information about children enrolled in early childhood programs. Those records are maintained by and on behalf of the educational agencies that collect them, and are handled subject to the federal and California laws governing student records.
All Google services used by Childcare Data run under SCCOE’s Google Workspace and Google Cloud accounts, which are covered by agreements with Google that include FERPA commitments for the data held in them.
Parents and guardians with questions about a child’s record should contact the program the child is enrolled in.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy we will update the “Last updated” date above. Material changes will be communicated to staff who use the app.
Contact
Questions about this policy:
cbengisu@santacruzcoe.org
Santa Cruz County Office of Education