Overview
Outschool strives to provide a safe, secure, welcoming, and inclusive environment for all its users.
While there are instances of egregious behavior that may also result in immediate removal from the Outschool platform, Outschool’s Trust & Safety Team aims to partner with educators to maintain a safe and secure platform. We understand that even the best educators may make mistakes or lose focus momentarily. In moderation, none of those situations will likely raise significant concerns.
They will merely result in a first "Educational Reminder" with a gentle warning or reminder to re-review our policies to ensure adherence to safety standards. The goal is to educate and work with educators to help them understand the best practices and policies to keep the platform safe.
However, repeated instances or regular disregard of safety policies after that warning may result in removal from Outschool, as detailed below.
Remember: Outschool educators play a crucial role in maintaining a safe and trusted learning environment. Outschool’s Trust & Safety Team is dedicated to collaborating with educators to maintain the security of the site and its resources.
STRIKE Violations Leading Toward Removal
A permanent "STRIKE 1" will appear on an educator’s account. The Trust & Safety Team will always notify educators when a strike is issued. The notice will outline the educator’s acts or omissions that resulted in the strike, as well as the applicable violation of Outschool policy.
After a permanent "STRIKE 2" is issued because of a safety issue violation, an educator will be issued a written "Final Warning." At that time, they will be provided with a comprehensive list of suggested Outschool Trust & Safety guidelines and resource articles to help them prevent further violations that could lead to removal.
If another safety incident occurs, a final "STRIKE 3" will result in immediate removal from the Outschool platform without further notice.
Educator Behaviors That Violate Community Standards
A. Violations of community standards
Misleading or Fraudulent behavior, such as deceiving or trying to deceive parents or Outschool
Treating learners or families with disrespect by using offensive, discriminatory, belittling, hateful, lewd, or profane language.
Using discriminatory or inappropriate language or prohibited content
Failure to be easily identified on-camera for the entire class duration.
Review issues: Gaming the Outschool review system in any way, such as (but not limited to) artificially inflating reviews by having family members or your own children leave reviews for your classes, strong-arming/guilting parents to change reviews, suggesting parents leave 5-star reviews in return for refunds/discounts, etc., or recreating/relisting classes for archiving reviews.
Non-adherence to “Mandatory Reporting” Standards and Processes.
Failure to report dangerous situations or concerns for the well-being of a learner on the platform.
Threats against or demeaning language used towards members of Outschool staff; failing to maintain a respectful relationship with the Outschool team
Breach of decorum for social media interactions or violating communications standards on Outschool forums.
B. Failure to maintain proper classroom security
Failure to secure classrooms properly by not following Outschool’s verification process
Failing to uphold recording and privacy policies: downloading or sharing class videos, or jeopardizing the privacy and/or identity of a learner.
Not reporting suspicious or irregular activity of learners in the classroom in terms of multiple accounts, overage/underage learners, entrance not through the Outschool system, etc.
Misuse of the “BLOCK” button (which is only to be used to remove “adults posing as learners.”)
Not properly securing an Outschool Account by granting access or sharing the password to one’s teaching account with someone not officially permitted to do so by Outschool.
Attempting to circumvent our process by using unapproved third-party tools and using a non-compliant resource.
Sharing non-COPPA-compliant websites directly with learners under 13+ without appropriate notice or parental consent.
Sharing of any type of ZOOM links, including (but not limited to) Outschool classroom sites, personal ZOOM links, or other video conferencing sites.
Not keeping classes on Outschool. Using a personal Zoom account to teach live classes rather than going through the Outschool platform.
Leaving learners alone or unsupervised in class.
C. Unauthorized content sharing, moderation, or personal information
Sharing or encouraging the exchange of Personal Information between learners or educators and other learners.
Failing to moderate or report inappropriate or concerning content.
Improper hosting of a third-party server or failure to monitor learners on private servers that are open without an educator host.
D. Off-platform contact, financial disintermediation, or unauthorized self-promotion
Combining Outschool classes with other 3rd-party off-platform classes.
Using Outschool platform resources or contacts to conduct unauthorized activities, such as personal business outside of the Outschool platform.
Requesting enrollment fees from families or refunds for classes to be paid outside the Outschool platform.
Directing Outschool users off the platform to conduct business.
Violation of the educator referral program.
Other violations of our community standards, recording policy, or safety policies.
Outschool wants educators to succeed and remain on the platform. When we believe a policy has been violated, the Trust & Safety Team will notify the educator directly about the applicable policy that has been violated to help prevent future STRIKES.
Major Incident – Immediate Removals
Specific serious security or safety incidents require the educator’s access to the platform to be restricted immediately and removed entirely. Outschool reserves the right to take immediate action as necessary, including removing educators without warning, particularly in cases of egregious breaches of Trust and Safety standards. Once an educator is removed from the platform for violating our Terms of Service, agreements in our Teacher Addendum, and/or Community Standards, they are not eligible to reapply.
Educator Incidents Resulting in Immediate Removal
In most cases, educators will receive educational warnings and a series of documented STRIKES before removal. However, some egregious violations may warrant immediate removal and may include (but are not limited to):
Failing to report “adult learners” (adults posing or enrolling as learners themselves) on the platform and/or remove them from class
Failure to renew or pass a background check
Participating in fraudulent or misleading financial activity including (but not limited to) gaming of teacher or parent referral systems, abuse of Learning Experience Pledge, misuse of coupons, exploiting the Outschool financial assistance program, monetization of any Outschool financial perks (referral, coupon, or financial assistance) by enrolling your learner in your class to secure payments, misleading or deceptive creation of family/learner accounts ownership/usage for financial gain, falsification of learner enrollment data, or failure to report suspicious financial activity or multiple accounts by repeated users, etc.
Not adhering to Outschool Social Media Standards.
Using deliberate or severely offensive, harassing, profane, or derogatory language not in the spirit of Outschool’s Community Standards
Displaying violent, erratic, lewd, or inebriated behaviors in the classroom or other communications
Engaging in inappropriate relationship building or contact with a learner or parent on or off of the Outschool platform
Providing inappropriate or offensive materials or links to learners
Breaking Outschool’s zero-tolerance standards regarding the use of weapons, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, or pornographic materials in class.
As outlined in our Terms of Service, Outschool has sole discretion to remove educators or classes from the platform, with or without prior notice to you.
Trust & Safety STRIKES Summary
STRIKES are not removable and are not subject to appeal
STRIKES can be issued for repeated infractions if not corrected within one week of the initial strike
A single STRIKE may bundle multiple violations for a significant incident
STRIKES can be issued after an educational warning or without warning for extremely unprofessional conduct
Teachers will be notified when STRIKES are issued, along with the violated policies
After STRIKE 2, educators are informed that one more violation will lead to removal
After STRIKE 3, educators will be removed from the platform
Educators can also be removed without STRIKES for egregious behaviors
Helpful Resources
Please find additional information about Outschool standards set in place to keep the Outschool site secure:
It may also be helpful for educators to review the following documents: