Terms of Service

These Terms of Service govern access to and use of the Griot Academy LLC website, platform, programs, communications, materials, and related services.

Effective Date: July 24, 2026 • Last Updated: July 24, 2026

1. About Griot Academy LLC

These Terms govern use of Griot Academy LLC's website, programs, and platform.

Griot Academy LLC is a Pre-K through Grade 8 enrichment academy and learning platform built on more than 20 years of teaching, coaching, school, camp, library, recreation, online, and community-based enrichment experience.

Chess was Griot Academy LLC's first enrichment program. Griot Academy LLC has expanded into broader enrichment, including academic, STEM, technology, language and culture, creative, strategic-thinking, after-school, summer, and community-based programs.

Programs may be offered:

Online
In person
Directly to families
Through schools
Through school districts
Through camps
Through libraries
Through recreation programs
Through community organizations
Through other approved education partners

Important Clarification

Unless expressly stated otherwise, Griot Academy LLC is not a full-time school, childcare center, medical provider, mental-health provider, therapeutic provider, or replacement for a child's regular education.

2. Adult Agreement and Authority

A person creating an account or enrolling a child represents that the person:

Is legally able to accept these Terms
Has provided accurate information
Is the child's parent or legal guardian, or otherwise has authority to enroll the child
Has authority to provide required permissions and consents
Will comply with program and platform rules

Authority Requirement

A parent or guardian accepts these Terms for a minor where required.

A person may not create a child profile, enroll a child, obtain child information, or make decisions for a child without proper authority.

3. Parent and Guardian Responsibilities

Parents and guardians are responsible for:

Creating and maintaining the parent account
Providing accurate information
Managing authorized child profiles
Reviewing program descriptions and eligibility
Selecting suitable programs
Paying applicable fees
Reviewing schedules and communications
Providing required permissions
Protecting account credentials
Supervising age-appropriate use
Providing suitable technology for online programs
Following arrival, pickup, and dismissal procedures
Informing Griot Academy LLC of relevant safety or accessibility needs
Ensuring that the child follows participation rules

4. Accounts and Authentication

Some services require an account.

Some features require email verification, enrollment, or an access code.

Users agree to:

Provide accurate and current information
Use only their assigned account
Keep login credentials private
Avoid sharing access with unauthorized people
Notify Griot Academy LLC of suspected unauthorized access
Use only the permissions assigned to their role
Avoid attempting to enter restricted areas

Authentication Methods

Griot Academy LLC may require identity, email, passkey, magic-link, or other authentication measures.

Griot Academy LLC may suspend or restrict an account when it reasonably believes that the account:

Has been compromised
Contains false information
Is being misused
Is being accessed without authorization
Violates these Terms
Creates a privacy, security, safety, or legal concern

5. Student Access

Student access may be provided through:

A parent-managed account or session
A student passkey or approved access method
An authorized school or organization
An instructor-managed class process
Another Griot Academy LLC-approved method

Access Limits

Students may access only the programs, materials, records, and features authorized for them.

Student accounts or sessions may not be transferred, sold, or shared.

6. Program Information

Program pages may include:

Program title
Category
Age or grade range
Format
General description
Learning goals
Instructor
Schedule
Number of sessions
Duration
Capacity
Location
Price
Materials
Enrollment status
Waitlist status

Program Changes

Program descriptions are intended to provide a reasonable summary. Griot Academy LLC may make reasonable changes to content, activities, schedules, instructors, materials, or delivery methods.

7. Enrollment

Enrollment is not complete until:

Required information has been provided
Eligibility has been confirmed
Required consent has been received
Payment has been completed, where applicable
Griot Academy LLC has issued confirmation

When Enrollment May Be Declined

Griot Academy LLC may decline, postpone, or cancel an enrollment when:

A program is full
The child does not meet stated eligibility requirements
Required information is missing
Payment is unsuccessful
Required permission is not received
The program is cancelled
A partner organization limits participation
Participation presents a material safety or operational concern
The enrollment violates these Terms

8. Waitlists

Joining a waitlist does not guarantee admission.

Waitlist placement and admission may depend on:

Program capacity
Age or grade eligibility
Registration date
Schedule availability
Partner requirements
Instructor availability
Location
Payment completion
Program-specific priorities

Open Space Deadlines

When a space becomes available, Griot Academy LLC may provide a limited time to accept the place and complete enrollment.

If the family does not respond by the deadline, the space may be offered to another family.

9. Trial Classes and Promotional Offers

A trial class or promotional offer:

May be limited to one per child, family, program, or household
May require advance registration
May have limited capacity
May not be transferable
May be changed or discontinued
Does not guarantee admission to a future program
May be subject to separate stated conditions

Improper Trial Use

Griot Academy LLC may refuse or cancel duplicate, fraudulent, or improperly obtained trial registrations.

10. Prices and Payments

Program prices will be displayed or communicated before payment.

By submitting a payment, the adult user authorizes Griot Academy LLC and its payment processor to charge the selected payment method for the stated amount.

Payment terms, taxes, refunds, cancellations, and receipts are described at checkout and in the applicable program policies.

Prices may vary based on:

Program type
Duration
Number of sessions
Materials
Location
Partner agreement
Discounts
Promotions
Scholarships
Payment plan

Payment Review

The user is responsible for reviewing the final amount before completing checkout.

Payment processing may be provided by a third-party processor under its own terms and privacy practices.

11. Refunds, Credits, Transfers, and Cancellations

The following section is a temporary testing policy and must be replaced or approved before accepting production payments.

Temporary Development Refund Policy

A family may request cancellation before the first scheduled session.

Refund eligibility depends on the date of the request, the type of program, materials already purchased, payment-processing costs, and any stated program-specific policy.

Cancellation requests submitted at least seven days before the first scheduled session are ordinarily eligible for a full account credit or a refund to the original payment method, minus any nonrecoverable payment-processing fees.

Cancellation requests submitted fewer than seven days before the first scheduled session, or after a class has started, are ordinarily nonrefundable unless Griot Academy LLC cancels the program, approves a documented exception, or expressly offers late-enrollment flexibility.

Missed classes generally do not automatically create a right to a refund.

Griot Academy LLC may offer a makeup session, transfer, credit, or partial refund when a documented operational issue materially affects program delivery.

If Griot Academy LLC cancels an entire paid program and does not provide a reasonable replacement, affected families may receive a prorated refund or account credit for the cancelled portion.

Programs delivered through schools, camps, districts, libraries, recreation programs, or community partners may be subject to the partner's separate cancellation and refund terms.

Digital materials already accessed or downloaded may be nonrefundable where permitted.

Approved refunds will generally be returned through the original payment method.

12. Online Classes

Participants in online programs agree to:

Use the authorized class link
Use an appropriate name
Join only the assigned class
Follow instructor directions
Treat participants respectfully
Avoid sharing class links
Avoid unauthorized screenshots or recordings
Avoid disclosing another participant's private information
Use chat, microphone, camera, and file-sharing tools appropriately
Avoid disrupting the session
Avoid displaying inappropriate material
Participate from a reasonably suitable environment

Online Class Limits

Parents and guardians are responsible for age-appropriate supervision.

Griot Academy LLC cannot guarantee uninterrupted internet, device, video, audio, electricity, or third-party platform performance.

13. In-Person Programs

Participants in in-person programs must:

Follow program and facility rules
Follow reasonable safety directions
Treat staff and participants respectfully
Remain in authorized areas
Use materials and equipment properly
Follow arrival and dismissal procedures
Avoid dangerous or materially disruptive conduct
Follow school, camp, library, recreation, or partner-site requirements

Pickup Responsibility

Parents and guardians are responsible for timely pickup and for identifying people authorized to collect a child where applicable.

14. Attendance and Missed Sessions

Families are responsible for reviewing the schedule and attending sessions on time.

Griot Academy LLC may record attendance, lateness, early departure, missed sessions, and participation.

Unless a separate policy states otherwise:

Missed sessions are not automatically refundable
Makeup sessions are not guaranteed
Recordings are not guaranteed
Another cohort may not be available
Repeated absence may affect participation or progress
Griot Academy LLC may contact the parent regarding repeated absence

15. Student Conduct

Students must:

Treat others respectfully
Follow age-appropriate instructions
Participate without materially disrupting others
Protect other participants' privacy
Use technology and materials appropriately
Submit their own work unless collaboration is permitted
Avoid harmful, threatening, discriminatory, or sexually inappropriate content
Avoid sharing passwords or access links
Avoid attempting unauthorized access

16. Prohibited Conduct

Users may not:

Harass, bully, threaten, intimidate, or impersonate another person
Discriminate against or demean another participant
Publish another person's private information
Record a session without authorization
Share private class links
Upload malware or harmful code
Attempt to bypass security controls
Scrape or systematically extract platform content
Interfere with platform operation
Use automated accounts without permission
Commit fraud
Use another person's payment method without authorization
Copy or distribute protected materials
Use Griot Academy LLC content to create a competing product
Use the platform for an unlawful purpose

17. Communications and Messaging

Griot Academy LLC may provide messages, notifications, or communication tools.

Users must not use communication features to:

Exchange unnecessary personal contact information
Arrange unauthorized contact with a child
Send commercial solicitations
Harass another person
Distribute inappropriate content
Circumvent parent or administrator visibility
Share passwords, payment information, or highly sensitive data

Messaging Controls

Griot Academy LLC may monitor, review, restrict, retain, or remove communications when reasonably necessary for safety, privacy, moderation, security, support, or legal compliance.

Student direct messaging should not be enabled unless Griot Academy LLC has approved the permissions, moderation, retention, and parent-visibility design.

18. Accessibility and Accommodation Requests

Griot Academy LLC aims to make its website, platform, and programs usable by people with a range of abilities.

A parent, guardian, participant, educator, or partner may contact Griot Academy LLC to report an accessibility barrier or request reasonable assistance.

Not every requested modification will be available in every program, location, activity, or third-party platform. Griot Academy LLC will review requests in good faith and explain available options.

Requests may be sent to:

Accessibility Email: support@griotacademy.com

19. Griot Academy LLC Intellectual Property

Griot Academy LLC owns or controls its original intellectual property, including:

Curriculum
Lesson plans
Course structures
Teaching sequences
Instructor guides
Teaching scripts
Worksheets
Assignments
Assessments
Quizzes
Activities
Puzzles
Presentations
Videos
Audio
Graphics
Photographs
Written content
Learning materials
Teacher notes
Training materials
Program descriptions
Website content
Platform content
Logos
Brand names
Designs
Downloads
Original educational resources

Limited License

Access to a program does not transfer ownership of Griot Academy LLC's content.

Griot Academy LLC grants an enrolled user a limited, personal, nonexclusive, nontransferable, revocable right to use assigned materials for participation in the applicable program.

20. Restrictions on Course Content

Without prior written permission, users may not:

Copy substantial portions of course materials
Reproduce or republish materials
Record classes
Resell materials
Redistribute downloads
Upload materials to public websites
Share instructor-only resources
Sell access to an account
Create derivative commercial courses
Create a competing academy or product using Griot Academy LLC materials
Use materials to train an external commercial system
Remove copyright, trademark, or ownership notices
Scrape course content
Provide protected content to unauthorized people

Permitted Retention

Parents may ordinarily retain their child's completed student work for personal family use unless a specific material states otherwise.

Partner organizations may use materials only as allowed by their written agreement.

21. Contractor and Engineer Rights

Engineers, designers, instructors, contractors, and service providers do not receive ownership of Griot Academy LLC's curriculum, brand, content, code, data, or business materials merely because they are given access.

Contractor rights and obligations must be governed by written agreements.

Contractors may not:

Reuse Griot Academy LLC curriculum for another client
Publish private materials
Create competing products from protected information
Retain unauthorized copies after an engagement
Transfer materials to unauthorized people
Use confidential information for personal benefit
Move information into unapproved repositories or systems

22. User-Submitted Content

Users may submit:

Assignments
Projects
Quiz responses
Messages
Feedback
Reviews
Student work
Questions
Other authorized content

Use of Submitted Content

Users retain the ownership rights they otherwise possess.

Users give Griot Academy LLC permission to host, store, process, display, reproduce, and use submitted content only as reasonably necessary to:

Provide the service
Deliver instruction
Give feedback
Maintain participation records
Operate the platform
Support safety and security
Comply with law
Resolve disputes
Improve services using de-identified or aggregated information where appropriate

Content Restrictions

Users must not submit content that:

Violates another person's rights
Contains malicious software
Reveals another person's private information
Is unlawful
Is threatening or abusive
Is sexually inappropriate
Is materially disruptive
Was copied without permission

23. Photographs, Recordings, and Marketing

Griot Academy LLC may request separate permission to use:

Photographs
Video
Audio
Student work
Testimonials
Reviews
Success stories

Marketing Consent

Enrollment alone does not automatically authorize public marketing use of an identifiable child's name, photograph, voice, school, or work.

A parent or guardian may decline optional marketing permission without losing access to the core program, unless a specific activity inherently requires a different arrangement disclosed in advance.

24. Reviews and Testimonials

Reviews must reflect genuine experiences.

Griot Academy LLC will not knowingly publish invented customer reviews as genuine reviews.

Permission should be obtained before publicly using:

A child's name
A parent's full name
A photograph
A video
A school name
A staff title
A partner logo
An identifiable success story

No Outcome Guarantee

Testimonials describe individual experiences and do not guarantee that another student will achieve the same result.

25. Third-Party Services

Griot Academy LLC may use third-party services for:

Payments
Hosting
Authentication
Video sessions
Scheduling
Email
File storage
Analytics
Customer support
Learning tools

Third-Party Limits

Third-party services may have separate terms and privacy policies.

Griot Academy LLC is not responsible for every independent act, policy, interruption, or failure of a third party beyond Griot Academy LLC's reasonable control.

26. Program Changes

Griot Academy LLC may reasonably:

Change an instructor
Adjust a schedule
Change a location
Modify activities
Substitute materials
Combine or separate groups
Reschedule a session
Change a third-party platform
Cancel a program
Limit or discontinue a feature
Correct website errors

Notice of Material Change

Griot Academy LLC will aim to provide reasonable notice when a material change affects an enrolled participant.

27. Suspension or Termination

Griot Academy LLC may warn, restrict, suspend, remove, or terminate a user or enrollment when the user:

Violates these Terms
Creates a safety concern
Repeatedly disrupts a program
Misuses personal information
Fails to complete payment
Engages in fraud
Infringes intellectual-property rights
Attempts unauthorized access
Threatens another person
Uses the service unlawfully

Immediate Action

Where appropriate, Griot Academy LLC may first provide notice and an opportunity to correct the problem.

Immediate action may be taken when reasonably necessary for safety, child protection, privacy, security, legal reasons, or operational need.

28. Educational Disclaimer

Griot Academy LLC provides enrichment.

Griot Academy LLC does not guarantee:

A particular school grade
A specific test score
Admission to a school
Tournament placement
Competition success
Certification
Academic advancement
Mastery within a particular period
Identical outcomes for all children

Outcome Factors

Results depend on factors such as:

Attendance
Participation
Practice
Age
Readiness
Prior experience
Individual learning needs
Program duration
Family support

Advice Disclaimer

Griot Academy LLC content is educational and is not medical, psychological, legal, financial, or therapeutic advice.

29. Service Availability

Griot Academy LLC aims to provide reliable services but does not guarantee that:

Every feature will always be available
Every session will be uninterrupted
Every third-party service will operate without error
Every program will remain available
Every device will be compatible
Every child will find every program suitable

Availability Limits

Maintenance, outages, emergencies, internet issues, instructor availability, facility closures, or circumstances beyond reasonable control may affect services.

30. Disclaimer of Warranties

To the extent permitted by law, the website, platform, materials, and programs are provided on an "as available" basis.

Nothing in these Terms excludes a warranty, protection, or right that cannot legally be excluded.

This provision must receive legal review before public launch.

31. Limitation of Liability

To the extent permitted by law, Griot Academy LLC's liability will be limited according to the final attorney-approved version of these Terms.

Nothing in these Terms limits rights that cannot legally be limited.

The final provision must address:

Paid programs
Free services
Direct damages
Indirect damages
Third-party systems
Partner programs
Personal injury and other nonwaivable rights
Applicable consumer-protection laws
Griot Academy LLC's insurance coverage

Launch Blocker

Final attorney language required before launch.

32. Indemnification

The final Terms may require adult users and organizational partners to accept responsibility for claims resulting from:

Their unlawful conduct
Their unauthorized use
Their violation of these Terms
Their infringement of another person's rights
Content they submit without permission

Child Limitation

No final indemnification language should impose inappropriate contractual obligations directly on a child.

Final attorney language required before launch.

33. Governing Law

These Terms will be governed by the laws of:

The District of Columbia, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

34. Dispute Resolution

Before filing a formal claim, the parties should first attempt to resolve the dispute by contacting support@griotacademy.com and allowing a reasonable opportunity to respond.

If a dispute cannot be resolved informally, it must be brought in the state or federal courts located in the District of Columbia, except that either party may pursue an eligible claim in small-claims court.

Nothing in this section limits a party's right to seek emergency injunctive relief for misuse of intellectual property, confidential information, platform security, or child-safety protections.

35. Changes to These Terms

Griot Academy LLC may update these Terms when its programs, services, technology, policies, or legal responsibilities change.

The updated version will display a revised date.

When appropriate or legally required, Griot Academy LLC may provide additional notice or ask users to accept revised Terms.

36. Contact Information

Questions concerning these Terms may be sent to:

Griot Academy LLC
Washington, DC Metro Area, United States
Support Email: support@griotacademy.com
Legal Email: legal@griotacademy.com
Telephone: +12024157906

Questions About This Page?

For questions about this page or the policies described here, contact the Griot Academy LLC team.