Privacy
Policy.

Pennsylvania DECA is the chartered state association of DECA Inc. for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We are a Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) supporting more than 8,600 members across 116 chartered chapters in 12 districts. This Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information collected through MyPADECA.org and the programs and events we run.

For questions about this policy or your information, contact us at Josh@MyPADECA.org.

We collect personal information in the following ways:

Information you provide directly

• Contact inquiries: name, email address, phone number, and the subject and body of your message.
• Sponsorship inquiries: contact name and title, organization name and website, email, phone number, area of interest, budget range, and any message you include.
• Alumni network signups: first and last name, email, phone, chapter and graduation year, whether you served as a state officer, current employer and role, professional industries, volunteer interests, and email consent preferences.
• Chapter inquiries: contact name and title, email, phone, school name and district, city and state, estimated student enrollment, CTE program status, and any message you include.

Information collected automatically

Our hosting and analytics providers may automatically collect technical information when you visit the site — including IP address, browser type and version, device type, pages visited, referring URLs, and approximate location. This information is used for site analytics, security, and performance.

Information from third parties

Membership data — including rosters of students enrolled in PA DECA chapters — flows through DECA Inc.'s national membership system. We receive and process this data to administer state-level events, communications, and competitions.

We use personal information to:

• Respond to your inquiries and provide requested information.
• Administer membership, events (including SCDC, the Chapter Officer Summit, district competitions, and career days), and competitive programs.
• Communicate with chapter advisors, members, alumni, and sponsors about programs, deadlines, and opportunities.
• Process membership renewals and chapter charters in coordination with DECA Inc.
• Improve the website and our programs through analytics and feedback.
• Comply with legal obligations, including reporting to DECA Inc. as our chartering organization.
• Protect the security and integrity of our systems and participants.

We do not sell personal information. We share information only as follows:

• DECA Inc. — our chartering national organization, for membership administration, competitive event registration, national conferences, and reporting.
• Service providers — vendors who process information on our behalf under contractual confidentiality obligations, including our website host (Vercel), database provider (Neon), registration platforms (Jotform), email infrastructure (Google Workspace), and analytics providers.
• Event partners — for conferences and career days, we may share attendee lists with venues, sponsors hosting the event, and competitive event judges to the extent needed to run the event.
• Legal compliance — when required by law, subpoena, court order, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of PA DECA, members, or others.
• Business transfers — in the unlikely event of a merger, consolidation, or reorganization of the association.

PA DECA's programs primarily serve high school and collegiate students. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent, in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

If you believe we have collected information from a child under 13 without proper consent, please contact us at Josh@MyPADECA.org and we will promptly delete it.

For members who are minors (under 18), participation in PA DECA programs and information submission is intended to occur with the involvement of a parent, guardian, or school-appointed chapter advisor.

Pennsylvania DECA is a student organization, not an educational institution. Educational records as defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) are maintained by member schools, not PA DECA. If your chapter is sponsored by a school, that school's FERPA policies govern your educational records.

We use a small number of cookies and similar technologies:

• Strictly necessary — an encrypted session cookie for the admin dashboard (administrators only). No public visitor sessions are created.
• Analytics — if and when we deploy analytics, cookies and similar identifiers may be used to measure site usage in aggregate.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Blocking the admin session cookie will prevent the admin dashboard from functioning but will not affect public site browsing.

You have the following choices about your information:

• Access and correction — request a copy of personal information we hold about you and ask us to correct inaccuracies.
• Deletion — ask us to delete information we have collected, subject to legitimate operational and legal retention requirements (for example, membership records required by DECA Inc.).
• Email preferences — unsubscribe from non-essential emails via the link in any message, or contact us directly. Essential communications related to your membership, registered events, or chapter administration cannot be opted out of without ending your participation.
• Marketing — alumni who provided email consent may withdraw it at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, email Josh@MyPADECA.org with the subject "Privacy Request." We will respond within 30 days.

We use commercially reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect personal information, including encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS), encrypted database storage, hashed passwords (bcrypt) for any administrative accounts, and access controls limiting administrative access to authorized personnel.

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security but work continuously to strengthen our protections.

In accordance with Pennsylvania's Personal Information Notification Act (as amended by Act 94 of 2024), if we experience a breach of unencrypted personal information affecting Pennsylvania residents, we will notify affected individuals without unreasonable delay — and within the timeframes the Act requires for our size of organization, generally not exceeding 60 days after determination of the breach. Notifications will describe the nature of the breach, the categories of information involved, and steps you can take to protect yourself.

If the breach involves more than 500 Pennsylvania residents, we will notify the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General as required by law.

We retain personal information for as long as needed to provide our programs, meet legal and contractual obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce agreements. Retention periods vary by data type:

• Form inquiries (contact, sponsor, chapter): retained for up to seven years from the date of last interaction.
• Alumni records: retained while your alumni network membership is active and for up to seven years after.
• Membership and chapter records: retained per DECA Inc. requirements, generally indefinitely for historical recognition.
• Analytics and log data: retained for up to 26 months.

Our website links to third-party sites — including DECA Inc., Jotform registration forms, social media platforms, and event partner sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third parties; review their policies before submitting information.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The effective date at the top will reflect the most recent revision. Material changes will be highlighted on this page and, where appropriate, communicated by email.

Pennsylvania DECA
1316 Abington Way
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Email: Josh@MyPADECA.org