A Fresh Approach to Education

School Food Institute Terms of Use

Last Modified: March 23, 2018

Acceptance of the Terms of Use

These terms of use are entered into by and between you and the Chef Ann Foundation (the “Foundation”, “we” or “us”). The following terms and conditions, together with any documents they expressly incorporate by reference (collectively, these “Terms of Use”), govern your access to and use of the School Food Institute website, SCHOOLFOODINSTITUTE.ORG (the “Website”), and any content, functionality and services offered on or through the Website (collectively, the “Services”).

Please read these Terms of Use carefully before you start to use the Services. By using the Services or by clicking to accept or agree to the Terms of Use when this option is made available to you, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by these Terms of Use, our Acceptable Use Policy and our Privacy Policy, each incorporated herein by reference. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, the Acceptable Use Policy or the Privacy Policy, you must not access or use the Services. Certain areas within the Services may be governed by additional terms (“Additional Terms”), incorporated herein by reference. By using those areas of the Services, you agree to the Additional Terms.

The Services are offered and available to users who are 13 years of age or older and reside in the United States or any of its territories or possessions.

Courses and Certification

The School Food Institute’s purpose is to provide educational courses in a wide range of subjects relating to school food programs (each, a “Course”). In order to allow for a variety of Courses, each Course will only be available for a specific term (“Term”), during which time Course content (“Content”) will be made available to students who have paid for access. The Term for each Course will be noted on the webpage for the Course, and you will be able to purchase access to a Course up to two weeks prior to the end of the then-current Term. At the end of the Term, the Course will no longer be available for completion. You are responsible for ensuring that you will be able to complete the Course within the allotted Term.

Our Courses align with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) standards, although the USDA does not provide certification for these Courses. The School Food Institute may offer its own certification programs (“Certification Programs”) that will require the completion of a number of Courses in specific subject matters. These Certification Programs do not signify certification under the USDA or any other agency, but rather demonstrate the knowledge and understanding of the School Food Institute’s curriculum.

Continuing Education

You may desire to use these Courses to fulfill your USDA professional standards training requirements or other continuing education requirements. Please note that your compliance with any continuing educational requirements is your responsibility. We will provide you with confirmation of your completion of a Course or Program, but you are responsible for tracking your education hours and maintaining and submitting all documentation necessary for your continuing education requirements.

Payment and Scholarships

All payments are handled through our third-party vendor, Stripe, Inc. If you wish to register for any Courses (each such purchase, a “Transaction”), you may be asked to supply certain information relevant to your Transaction including, without limitation, your credit card number, the expiration date of your credit card, your billing address, and your shipping information. By submitting such information, you grant to our third-party payment processor the right to process such information for purposes of facilitating the completion of any Transaction initiated by you or on your behalf.

We may be able to provide scholarships if resources are available. Please see our Scholarship webpage for scholarship availability and to apply for such scholarships, if any. By applying for a scholarship, you agree to be bound by our Privacy Policy in connection with your provision of personal information connected with any scholarship application.

Refunds

The Foundation does not offer refunds for cancellations once you have accessed the Content. If, within two weeks of purchasing access to a Course and prior to accessing the Content, you would like to cancel an order for a Course, the Foundation will provide you a full refund of the amount that you paid for the Course.

As noted below, we reserve the right to update, change, and remove content from the Services, including Courses, at our sole discretion. In the event that we remove a Course so that you are unable to complete the Course before the end of the applicable Term, we will provide a full refund of the amount you paid for the Course. If you have any questions about our refund policy, you may send an email to sfi@chefannfoundation.org. Please note that if we believe you are abusing our refund policy, we reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse or restrict any and all current or future use of the Services, without any liability to you.

Accessing the Services and Account Security

We reserve the right to modify or terminate the Services, and any service or material we provide in connection with the Services, in our sole discretion without notice. We will not be liable if, for any reason, all or any part of the Services are unavailable at any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict access to some or all of the Services.

You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Services.

To access the Services, you may be asked to provide certain registration details or other information. It is a condition of your use of the Services that all the information you provide on the Services is correct, current and complete. You agree that all information you provide through the Services is governed by our Privacy Policy.

We have the right to disable any registered accounts, whether chosen by you or provided by us, at any time in our sole discretion if, in our opinion, you have violated any provision of these Terms of Use.

Intellectual Property Rights

The Services, including but not limited to all information, software, text, displays, images, video and audio, and the design, selection and arrangement thereof, are owned by the Foundation, its licensors or other providers of such material and are protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws.

Subject to these Terms of Use, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable license to use the Services. You may download Content from the Services only for your personal, non-commercial use, unless you obtain the Foundation’s written permission to otherwise use the content. You also agree that you will create, access and/or use only one user account, and you will not share your account or account access information with anyone else. Except for the license granted herein, all right, title and interest in and to the Services or any content on the Services are owned by the Foundation.

We welcome your suggestions, comments, and other feedback regarding the Services (“Feedback”). By submitting any Feedback, you grant us the right to use the Feedback without any restriction or any compensation to you. By accepting your Feedback, we do not waive any rights to use similar or related Feedback previously known to us, developed by our employees or contractors, or obtained from other sources.

Trademarks

The Foundation name, the School Food Institute, and all related names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans are trademarks of the Foundation or its affiliates or licensors. You may not use such marks without the prior written permission of the Foundation. All other names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans on these Services are the trademarks of their respective owners.

User Contributions

The Services may contain message boards, chat rooms, personal web pages or profiles, forums, Course discussion boards and other interactive features (collectively, “Interactive Services”) that allow users to post, submit, publish, display or transmit to other users or other persons (hereinafter, “post”) content or materials (collectively, “User Contributions”) on or through the Services.

All User Contributions must comply with the Content Standards set forth in our Acceptable Use Policy.

Any User Contribution you post to the Website, as well as all Feedback, will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. By providing any User Contribution on the Services, you grant us and our affiliates and service providers, and each of their and our respective licensees, successors and assigns the right to use, reproduce, modify, perform, display, distribute and otherwise disclose to third parties any such material for any purpose.

You represent and warrant that:

  •  You own or have obtained all rights in and to the User Contributions and have the right to grant the license granted above to us and our affiliates and service providers, and each of their and our respective licensees, successors and assigns.
  • All of your User Contributions do and will comply with these Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policy.

You understand and acknowledge that you are responsible for any User Contributions you submit or contribute, and you, not the Foundation, have sole responsibility for such content, including its legality, reliability, accuracy and appropriateness.

We are not responsible, or liable to any third party, for the content or accuracy of any User Contributions posted by you or any other user of the Services.

Monitoring and Enforcement; Termination

We have the right to:

  • Remove or refuse to post any User Contributions for any or no reason in our sole discretion.
  • Take any action with respect to any User Contribution that we deem necessary or appropriate in our sole discretion, including if we believe that such User Contribution violates these Terms of Use, including the Content Standards, infringes any intellectual property right or other right of any person or entity, threatens the personal safety of users of the Services or the public, or could create liability for the Foundation.
  • Disclose your identity or other information about you to any third party who claims that material posted by you violates their rights, including their intellectual property rights or their right to privacy.
  • Take appropriate legal action, including without limitation, referral to law enforcement, for any illegal or unauthorized use of the Services.
  • Terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Services for any violation of these Terms of Use.

Without limiting the foregoing, we have the right to cooperate with law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity or other information of anyone posting any materials on or through the Services.

We do not undertake to review all material before it is posted on the Services, and cannot ensure prompt removal of objectionable material after it has been posted. Accordingly, we assume no liability for any action or inaction regarding transmissions, communications or content provided by any user or third party. We have no liability or responsibility to anyone for performance or nonperformance of the activities described in this section.

Copyright Infringement Policy

If you believe your copyright or the copyright of a person on whose behalf you are authorized to act has been infringed, you may notify our copyright agent:

Chef Ann Foundation
Attn: Copyright Agent
5445 Conestoga Court
Boulder, CO 80301
Email: info@chefannfoundation.org

To be effective, your notification must (i) be in writing and signed, (ii) be provided to our copyright agent, and (iii) include substantially the following:

  • Identify specifically the copyrighted work(s) believed to have been infringed (for example, “My copyrighted work is the picture that appears at [list location where material is located].”);
  • Identify the content that a copyright owner claims is infringing upon copyrighted work. The copyright owner must provide information reasonably sufficient to enable us to locate the item on the Website or Services. The copyright owner should provide clear screenshots of the allegedly infringing materials for identification purposes only. The information provided should be as detailed as possible;
  • Provide information sufficient to permit us to contact the copyright owner directly: name, street address, telephone number, and email (if available);
  • If available, provide information sufficient to permit us to notify the alleged infringer (email address preferred);
  • A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  • A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

The Foundation has the right to remove any Content, User Contributions, or other material from the Website or Services at any time.

Reliance on Information Posted

These Services may include content provided by third parties, including materials provided by other users and third-party licensors, syndicators, aggregators and/or reporting services. All statements and/or opinions expressed in the materials, and all articles and responses to questions and other content, other than the content provided by the Foundation, are solely the opinions and the responsibility of the person or entity providing the materials. The materials do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Foundation. We are not responsible, or liable to you or any third party, for the content or accuracy of any materials provided by any third parties.

Changes to the Services

We may update the content on or through the Services from time to time, but the content is not necessarily complete or up-to-date. Any of the material on the Services, including Content, may be out of date at any given time, for example, due to changes in school food regulation or policy at the federal or state level, and while we make a good faith effort to keep the Content up-to-date, we cannot guarantee that it will be.

Information About You and Your Use of the Services

All information we collect on or through the Services is subject to our Privacy Policy.

Links from the Services

If the Services contain links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your convenience only. This includes links contained in advertisements, including banner advertisements and sponsored links. Linking to a website does not constitute endorsement by the Foundation, or any of our employees, of the sponsors of the site or the products presented on the site. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. If you decide to access any of the third party websites linked to these Services, you do so entirely at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use and privacy policies for such websites.

Geographic Restrictions

The Services are intended for use only by persons located in the United States. We make no claims that the Services or any content is accessible or appropriate outside of the United States. Access to the Services may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access the Services from outside the United States, you do so on your own initiative, at your sole risk, and you are responsible for compliance with local laws.

Disclaimer of Warranties

You understand that we cannot and do not guarantee or warrant that files available for downloading from the Services will be free of viruses or other destructive code. You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and checkpoints to satisfy your particular requirements for anti-virus protection and accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to our site for any reconstruction of any lost data. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY A DISTRIBUTED DENIAL-OF-SERVICE ATTACK, VIRUSES OR OTHER TECHNOLOGICALLY HARMFUL MATERIAL THAT MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, COMPUTER PROGRAMS, DATA OR OTHER PROPRIETARY MATERIAL DUE TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICES OR TO YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON THE SERVICES, OR ON ANY WEBSITE LINKED TO OR FROM THE SERVICES.

YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES, THE CONTENT AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICES IS AT YOUR OWN RISK, AND THE SERVICES, THEIR CONTENT AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. UNLESS OTHERWISE SET FORTH IN THESE TERMS OF USE, NEITHER THE FOUNDATION NOR ANY PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH THE FOUNDATION MAKES ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPLETENESS, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ACCURACY OR AVAILABILITY OF THE SERVICES. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER THE FOUNDATION NOR ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE FOUNDATION REPRESENTS OR WARRANTS THAT THE SERVICES, THEIR CONTENT OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICES WILL BE ACCURATE, RELIABLE, ERROR-FREE OR UNINTERRUPTED, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, THAT OUR WEBSITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS OR THAT THE SERVICES OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICES WILL OTHERWISE MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS.

THE FOUNDATION HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY WARRANTIES WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Limitation on Liability

IN NO EVENT WILL THE FOUNDATION, ITS AFFILIATES OR THEIR LICENSORS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OFFICERS OR DIRECTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PERSONAL INJURY, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS, LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF GOODWILL, LOSS OF DATA, AND WHETHER CAUSED BY TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), BREACH OF CONTRACT OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF FORESEEABLE) UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SERVICES, ANY CONTENT ON THE SERVICES OR SUCH OTHER WEBSITES OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICES OR SUCH OTHER WEBSITES. YOUR SOLE REMEDY FOR DISSATISFACTION WITH THE SERVICES, MATERIALS, INCLUDING ANY PRODUCTS OR SERVICES AVAILABLE THROUGH ANY THIRD PARTY PLATFORM, SUBMISSIONS OR ANY LINKED WEBSITES, IS TO STOP USING THE SERVICES, CONTENT, MATERIALS, SUBMISSIONS, PRODUCTS, OR LINKED WEBSITES, AS APPLICABLE. THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE MAXIMUM LIABILITY TO THE FOUNDATION FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES AND CAUSES OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, NEGLIGENCE) OR OTHERWISE, SHALL BE THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO THE FOUNDATION IN THE PRECEDING TWELVE (12) MONTHS, IF ANY, TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICES.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY LIABILITY WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Foundation, its affiliates, licensors and service providers, and its and their respective officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, licensors, suppliers, successors and assigns from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses or fees (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to your violation of these Terms of Use or your use of the Services, including, but not limited to, your User Contributions, any use of the Content, services and products other than as expressly authorized in these Terms of Use or your use of any information obtained from the Services.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

All matters relating to the Services and these Terms of Use and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto (including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of Colorado without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the State of Colorado or any other jurisdiction).

Any legal suit, action or proceeding arising out of, or related to, these Terms of Use or the Services shall be instituted exclusively in the appropriate court in the State of Colorado in each case located in the City of Boulder and County of Boulder. You waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts and to venue in such courts.

Limitation on Time to File Claims

ANY CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM YOU MAY HAVE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OF USE OR THE WEBSITE MUST BE COMMENCED WITHIN EIGHTEEN (18) MONTHS AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES, OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.

Waiver and Severability

No waiver by the Foundation of any term or condition set forth in these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of the Foundation to assert a right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.

Changes to the Terms of Use

We may revise and update these Terms of Use from time to time. We will notify you of such changes by posting the modified version on our Website and indicating the date it was last modified, and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice (including by email in certain instances). The date these Terms of Use were last modified is at the top of this page. We encourage you to visit our Website periodically to view the latest version of these Terms of Use. All changes are effective immediately when we post them, and apply to all access to and use of the Services thereafter. Your continued use of the Services following the posting of revised Terms of Use means that you accept and agree to the changes and updated Terms of Use.

Entire Agreement

The Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and the Acceptable Use Policy constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and the Foundation with respect to the Services and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations and warranties, both written and oral, with respect to the Services.

Contact Us

These Services and website are provided by the Chef Ann Foundation, 5445 Conestoga Court, Boulder, CO 80301.

All other feedback, comments, requests for technical support and other communications relating to the Services should be directed to: sfi@chefannfoundation.org, mailed to the address above, Attention: School Food Institute, or by phone at 303-330-6484.