Privacy Policy

AskElira (“AskElira,” “we,” “us”) provides AI assistant, enrollment-automation, and communication tools to businesses and schools (our “Clients”). This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. For some services we act as a service provider/processor on behalf of a Client (for example, a school that uses AskElira to communicate with families); in those cases the Client’s own privacy notice also applies.

• Account & billing: name, email, and payment details (processed by Stripe; we do not store full card numbers).
• Content you provide: business or school configuration, website content we index, and messages exchanged with the assistant.
• Contact & opt-in data: phone numbers, email addresses, names submitted through enrollment or contact forms, and your consent to receive messages.
• Usage data: log data, device/browser information, and IP address.

If you provide a phone number and opt in, you may receive text messages related to the service you requested (for example, enrollment updates from a school using AskElira).

How you opt in: guardians check an optional, unchecked-by-default consent box on the school’s enrollment application — the online enrollment form (web form) or the paper enrollment form — agreeing to enrollment- and attendance-related text messages (including automated/AI-assisted). That box covers text messages only — consent to receive phone calls is a separate, standalone checkbox with its own disclosure, and checking one does not check the other. Checking the text-message box is the complete opt-in; no reply or confirmation step is required. Opting in cannot be done by text message: a guardian who texts the school’s enrollment number is sent a link to the same consent form, and nothing is recorded until they complete it. Opting in is voluntary and is not a condition of enrollment, admission, or any school service; the application can be submitted without opting in. The messages are enrollment-related only (seat offers, registration steps, document reminders, and deadlines); we do not send marketing texts.

We do not sell or share mobile opt-in information, phone numbers, or SMS consent data with third parties or affiliates for their own marketing or promotional purposes. No mobile information is shared with third parties for marketing.

Mobile data is used only to deliver the messages you opted into. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. You can opt out at any time by replying STOP, or HELP for help. See our SMS Terms & Privacy.

• Provide, operate, and improve the service.
• Send messages you opted into and respond to inquiries.
• Process payments and manage subscriptions.
• Maintain security, prevent abuse, and comply with law.

We share information only with providers that help us run the service, under contracts that limit their use of the data: Turso (database hosting), Vercel (application hosting), Stripe (payments), Twilio (SMS, outbound keypad IVR voice delivery, and — where a school uses the Voice Receptionist Add-On — the inbound call and its live audio stream, with call recording not switched on), OpenAI (the AI model provider for the Voice Receptionist Add-On; its live voice model also makes the fixed opening audio from the School name and script only, without caller or Student Data in that request; it receives live call audio and the transcript after consent, is not reached on a US processing endpoint, and keeps audio, prompts and replies for up to 30 days to check for misuse of its service), Railway (hosting the relay that carries that add-on’s audio and writes the transcript), Google (Gemini AI, the Sheets API, and — where a school connects its Google Calendar — the Calendar API, which places each visit or appointment a family books on that school’s own calendar), AgentMail (email delivery), SchoolMint (school-authorized enrollment integration), and eSignatures.com (contract signing). The complete, current list is the published subprocessor schedule at /legal/subprocessors, which controls. Schools receive at least 30 days’ notice before we add or replace a subprocessor with access to student data. We do not sell personal information.

For school Clients, AskElira acts as a service provider and follows data minimization. We process the enrollment information needed to run the school’s outreach, and only that: guardian name, phone, email, and preferred language; student name; seat and application status, including the school system’s own record identifiers for the student and application; grade level and campus; waitlist position; the status of the school’s registration-paperwork checklist (which required documents are in or missing — never the documents themselves); an IEP yes/no flag (never IEP content); enrollment notes school staff choose to share with the service; and the outcome and a brief summary of each outbound enrollment call and message — the calls we place are a keypad IVR and text-to-speech announcements, and they are not recorded or transcribed. Where a school uses the Voice Receptionist Add-On, and only then, we also process a call to the school’s own published number that the school chooses to forward when its office is closed, no one answers after its chosen number of rings, or the line is busy: the caller’s telephone number, the name the caller speaks, a written transcript, any tour booked, any question Elira could not answer or message requested, and each question Elira answered with the answer given and relevant transcript excerpt for office review. The call opens with a short spoken notice: which School answered and whether its office is closed or its staff cannot answer; that Elira is an AI assistant operated by AskElira; and that by continuing the call the caller agrees to its being transcribed and processed as described on this page (askelira.com/privacy). The providers that handle the call are named in this section and in the published subprocessor schedule, and are not read aloud. The carrier plays a recording of the fixed opening made by OpenAI’s voice model from the school name and script, or speaks the same text with carrier text-to-speech if the recording is unavailable. Until AskElira records written counsel confirmation for the spoken alternative, the carrier finishes the notice before accepting a key, then offers English, Spanish and Arabic by key; the caller presses 1 to continue after hearing the notice in the chosen language, and no caller audio reaches the AI model provider and no Call Transcript begins before that press. After that confirmation the AI speaks the same notice, then asks how it can help, and continuing the call is the agreement; the notice is restated first if the caller switches to Spanish or Arabic, and a School may require the key press permanently. We keep no recording of the caller’s voice: we create no stored call-audio file, carrier call recording is not switched on, and the transcript is the record. If a caller asks for a person, Elira offers to answer or takes a message for the office; it does not transfer the call. Staff can review answered phone questions and answers in the dashboard and office email digest, confirm or correct them through the normal teach path; an unconfirmed answer is not used as knowledge. We do not ask for or collect an email address on such a call. We do not store student academic records or report-card grades, and we never store Social Security numbers — SSN-shaped text in any note, question, or call summary is automatically redacted before storage. The school remains responsible for its obligations under applicable education-privacy laws (e.g., FERPA).

For New York charter schools specifically, AskElira acts as a FERPA processor / “school official” under a Data Processing Agreement and a NY Education Law §2-d Addendum (8 NYCRR Part 121). The school is the data controller and owner; we never sell student data or use it to train AI models beyond delivering the service. Full documents: schools.askelira.com/legal.

We retain guardian and student personal information only for as long as it is needed for the enrollment cycle, and we delete it within 90 days after it is no longer active. Records we are legally required to keep — proof of SMS/text consent and opt-out (do-not-contact) requests — are retained as evidence for as long as the law requires. When a school’s contract ends, all Customer Data is deleted or returned under our Data Processing Agreement.

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect information, including encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access controls, and automated security monitoring that runs on a scheduled cadence (hourly, as a cloud-scheduled job on our production hosting platform) over the systems that store school and family data.

Breach notification: if we discover a security breach affecting a school’s data, we notify that school promptly — our operational standard is within 48 hours of detection — so it can meet its own notification obligations to families and regulators (including NY Education Law §2-d for New York charter schools). No method of transmission or storage is completely secure.

• Opt out of texts anytime by replying STOP.
• Request access, correction, or deletion of your personal information by contacting us.
• Stop enrollment/attendance emails via the unsubscribe link included in every such email (this also stops texts and calls).

The service is directed to businesses and schools, not to children. Where a school uses AskElira, communications are directed to parents/guardians.

We may update this policy; we will revise the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, provide additional notice.

Questions: support@askelira.com.