Who We Are
Guardian Layers LLC ("Guardian Layers") is a K-12 education technology advisor and reseller. Scout (guardianlayers.ai) is our AI-assisted procurement copilot, built for school district technology teams researching web filtering, student safety, classroom management, and related products. This policy describes what information Scout collects, how we use it, and the choices you have.
No Student Data
Scout is used by district staff, not students. We do not collect, store, or process student education records or personal information about students. Figures such as student enrollment and device counts are aggregate numbers about a district, not information about any individual. Scout is not directed at children, and no one under 18 is authorized to use it.
Information We Collect
We collect information you provide directly and information generated by your use of Scout:
- Sign-in information. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, work email address, and profile image from your Google account. If you use an access code, we collect the work email you enter. We also maintain standard session records (a session cookie, IP address, and browser type).
- Contact and district information. Details you provide at intake or during conversations: your name, work email, phone, job role, district name and location, enrollment and device counts, and the products your district currently uses.
- Conversations.Your chat messages with Scout and Scout's responses are stored so your sessions have continuity and Scout can give better guidance over time.
- Derived district profile. From your conversations, Scout summarizes procurement-relevant facts about your district — such as current vendors, network environment, priorities, and renewal timing — to inform its recommendations.
- Usage analytics. We measure how Scout is used (feature usage, timing, response quality signals, and your thumbs-up/down ratings). Our analytics are deliberately content-free: chat text and form inputs are masked or never sent to our analytics provider. We record what happens, not what was said.
- Environment scan submissions. If you use the free Quick Environment Scan, we collect the technology details you enter (such as device types, identity platform, and network configuration), a hashed network identifier, and browser type. An email address is collected only if you ask us to send you a copy of your results.
How We Use Information
- To provide Scout's research, comparisons, and recommendations.
- To maintain continuity across your sessions so you don't repeat yourself.
- To manage our relationship with your district, including registering opportunities with vendors and following up on quotes or purchases.
- To improve Scout's accuracy, coverage, and reliability.
- To produce your environment scan results and improve aggregate, non-identifying market insight.
- To secure the service, enforce usage limits, and prevent abuse.
AI Processing
Scout is powered by commercial large language model APIs (Anthropic) and search-embedding APIs (OpenAI). Your conversation content is processed by these providers solely to generate Scout's responses. Under our agreements with them, they do not use your data to train their models.
How We Share Information
We do not sell your information, and we do not use it for advertising. We share it only in these cases:
- Service providers. We use a small set of subprocessors to run Scout: Vercel (hosting), Neon (database, hosted in US regions), Anthropic and OpenAI (AI processing), PostHog (content-free analytics), HubSpot (our CRM), Google (sign-in), and Resend (email delivery). Each processes data only to provide its service to us.
- Vendors. We never send vendors your conversations with Scout. When we begin working an opportunity for your district, we register it with the vendors under consideration — see Vendor Deal Registration below for exactly what that shares, and how to tell us not to.
- Legal requirements. If required by law or to protect the rights, safety, or security of Guardian Layers, our users, or others.
Vendor Deal Registration
Guardian Layers is a reseller. When Scout identifies vendors that look like a strong fit and your district is actively evaluating alternatives, we may register the opportunity with those vendors on your behalf. Registering is how reseller pricing gets unlocked — it's what lets us negotiate the best discount for you, and it's standard practice in K-12 purchasing.
Vendors run their own registration forms. They ask for your district's name, website and address; the size of the opportunity and your expected timeline; the products under consideration and what you use today; our read on the fit; and a contact at your district — name, job title, email address and phone number.
We usually register with more than one vendor, so each of them will know your district is evaluating. Because the opportunity is registered to us, they'll normally work through Guardian Layers rather than contacting you — and if anyone does reach out and you'd rather they didn't, tell us and we'll stop it.
We don't hand vendors your conversations with Scout. What we do before a demo is brief them, so they show you what's actually relevant instead of a generic pitch — that briefing reflects what you told us matters: your priorities, your constraints, and what you need to see. Ask and we'll show you exactly what we sent.
We'll tell you before we register. If you'd rather we didn't, say so and nothing goes out. If you change your mind later, we can cancel the registration and tell the vendors you're no longer in market.
Cookies
Scout sets an essential, httpOnly session cookie to keep you signed in. It also sets one analytics cookie, from PostHog, which recognises a returning browser so repeat visits aren't counted as new ones. That cookie is set when the page loads. We do not use advertising cookies, and we do not sell or share what these cookies record.
Our marketing site at guardianlayers.com works differently: it asks before it sets anything, and places no cookies at all unless you accept.
Product Analytics and Session Replay
We use PostHog to understand how Scout is actually used — which pages get opened, where people get stuck, and which features go untouched. That includes session replay: a reconstruction of the clicks and navigation in your session, which we watch when something looks broken or confusing.
What replay deliberately cannot see: everything you type is masked — the replay shows that a field was filled in, never what was entered — and your conversations with Scout are blocked from the recording entirely, questions and answers alike, including any links or images inside an answer. Replay shows that messages happened and when. It does not show what they said.
Snapshot report pages are kept out of in-browser analytics and out of session replay. We do record on our server that a report was opened — a bare count, under a fresh anonymous identifier each time. The link, the report it points to, and the district it belongs to are all barred from that record.
If you'd rather not be recorded, tell us and we'll exclude you.
Security
All traffic to Scout is encrypted in transit (TLS), and our database encrypts data at rest. Our infrastructure is hosted in United States regions. Access to production data is limited to Guardian Layers personnel who need it to operate the service.
Retention and Deletion
We retain your information while your district's relationship with Guardian Layers is active. You or your district may request deletion of your contact information, conversations, and district profile at any time by emailing us, and we will honor verified requests within 30 days. You may also request a copy of the information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it.
Changes to This Policy
If we make material changes to this policy, we will update this page and revise the date at the top. Continued use of Scout after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
Contact Us
Questions about this policy, or a data request? Contact us at privacy@guardianlayers.com.
Guardian Layers LLC
2600 Lynbridge Dr
Charlotte, NC 28226