About the Course
What This Course Is
Safe & Smart Online is a free, six-mission digital safety course for children in grades 3–5 (ages 8–11). It was developed by the Appalachian Hope Academy Foundation and The Proudfoot Group (TPG) to meet the digital literacy requirements of NC House Bill 959 (SL 2025-38) and to address specific online safety needs in the High Country region of Western North Carolina.
The course follows Sissy Ann, a 10-year-old from Boone, NC, and her dog Daisy through six real-world digital safety scenarios. It covers private information, safe vs. unsafe secrets, online strangers, digital footprints, screen time, and building a personal Safety Team of trusted adults. Each mission takes approximately 8 minutes. No registration, login, or personal information is required to access or complete the course.
Designed to be used in class or at home. A teacher or parent reviewing the course before a child begins is always encouraged. The course is intended as a conversation-starter, not a replacement for ongoing family and classroom discussion about online safety.
Data & Privacy
What This Course Collects From Your Child
Nothing. This course is architected from the ground up to collect zero personal information from children. Here is exactly what that means:
- Quiz scores and course progress are saved only in your child's browser using localStorage — a standard browser feature that stores data on your child's device only. This data is never transmitted to us, never leaves the device, and is automatically cleared when browser data is cleared.
- The certificate name field is used only to fill in the printable certificate on-screen. That name is never sent to any server.
- No account is created. No email address is collected. No name is stored on our servers.
What This Course Does NOT Do
- Does not collect names, email addresses, phone numbers, or any identifying information
- Does not use cookies to track children
- Does not use advertising networks or tracking pixels
- Does not use Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, Hotjar, or any behavioral analytics tools
- Does not share any data with third parties for any purpose
- Does not monetize the course in any way — no ads, no sponsored content, no data sales
- Does not embed social media widgets or "share" buttons
- Does not know what your child answered, how long they spent on any activity, or whether they completed the course
Technology Transparency
The Technologies Behind This Course
We believe in full transparency about every technology involved in delivering this course to your child. Here is an honest accounting of each:
Web Hosting
Netlify
This course is hosted on Netlify, a standard web hosting platform. Like all web servers, Netlify's infrastructure generates standard server access logs when a browser requests a page. These logs may include your IP address, browser type, and the page requested. This is functionally identical to any website your child visits. Netlify does not use these logs for advertising and does not sell user data. Netlify's full privacy policy is available at
netlify.com/privacy.
Fonts (Self-Hosted)
Nunito & Pinyon Script — served from this site
All fonts used in this course are downloaded and served directly from this website. No request is made to Google Fonts, Adobe Fonts, or any other external font service when your child loads this course. This eliminates a common source of third-party data collection on child-directed sites.
AI Video Generation (Production Tool — Not User-Facing)
Runway AI
The animated videos in this course (Sissy Ann waving, Daisy the puppy, module hero videos) were created using Runway AI during production. These videos are now static MP4 files embedded in the course — Runway has no interaction with your child at any point during the course. Your child's device plays a video file; no data is sent to Runway.
AI Image Generation (Production Tool — Not User-Facing)
Google Gemini
The illustrations of Sissy Ann and Daisy were generated using Google Gemini during production. These images are static PNG files embedded in the course — Gemini has no interaction with your child during the course. Your child's device displays an image file; no data is sent to Google via the image.
Course Platform
Custom HTML/CSS/JavaScript — No Framework, No Third Parties
This course is built in plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with no third-party frameworks, libraries loaded from external CDNs, or analytics tools. Every script that runs when your child uses this course is code we wrote and host ourselves. There are no hidden dependencies calling home to external services.
One honest note about browser storage: We use localStorage to save your child's progress. If multiple children share a device and browser, their progress data will overwrite each other. To clear a child's saved progress, clear the browser's site data for this URL in your browser settings. No data is transmitted — clearing browser data is the only step needed.
School & Classroom Use
Using This Course in Schools
This course was designed to support NC HB 959 compliance for elementary school digital literacy instruction. Because no personal information is collected from students, school deployment does not require individual parental consent forms for data collection purposes — there is no data being collected to consent to.
Schools and districts wishing to formally adopt this course as part of their HB 959 curriculum may contact us to receive a letter of educational partnership. This letter documents the school's authorization of the course and can be kept on file as part of the school's digital literacy curriculum records.
Contact: info@theproudfootgroup.com · Subject: "Safe & Smart Online — School Partnership"
Questions & Contact
We Welcome Your Questions
If you have any questions about this course, its content, or its privacy practices, please contact us directly. We are a small team and we respond personally.
The Proudfoot Group (TPG)
Blowing Rock, NC 28605
info@theproudfootgroup.com
theproudfootgroup.com
Appalachian Hope Academy Foundation
Watauga County, NC
appalachianhope.net