1. Agreement to these terms
These Terms of Use govern your use of K12PhoneSystems.com, including its pages, research papers, worksheets, illustrations and other content (together, the "Website"). By using the Website you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Website.
These terms apply only to using the Website. They are not a contract for services. If you later enter into a separate written agreement with any provider, that agreement governs the services it covers.
2. About the Website and SPARK VoIP
K12PhoneSystems.com is a free information resource for K–12 school districts. It is managed by Greg Steinig, who works for SPARK VoIP (sparkvoip.net), a separate commercial provider of managed phone services.
We tell you this so you can weigh what you read. SPARK VoIP has a commercial interest in district phone system projects. The research on this Website is written to help districts compare options using documented requirements and verified costs, and it states where figures come from. It is nonetheless published by someone connected to a provider, and you should read it with that in mind and check anything important against independent sources.
The Website does not sell services, accept orders or make offers. Information about SPARK VoIP's services, pricing and terms is on its own website and in any written proposal it gives you.
3. Information only, not professional advice
The Website provides general educational information. It is not legal, regulatory, compliance, engineering, cybersecurity, procurement, accounting, tax, financial or other professional advice, and it is not a substitute for a qualified professional who knows your district's facts, contracts and local requirements.
Read the Disclaimer, which forms part of these terms, for the full explanation, including the limits of what we say about emergency calling and compliance.
4. No compliance or performance guarantee
Nothing on the Website determines whether your district complies with any law or standard, including Kari's Law, RAY BAUM'S Act, FCC rules on Next Generation 911, state school-safety laws, E-Rate rules, procurement rules, privacy laws or accessibility requirements. Nothing on the Website promises that any product, design or provider will meet a requirement, produce a particular result, save money or keep working during an outage.
5. No professional or customer relationship
Using the Website, downloading a resource, sending a message or speaking with us does not create a customer, client, vendor, consulting, attorney-client, engineering, fiduciary or agency relationship, and does not create any obligation to provide services, advice, follow-up or confidentiality beyond what the Privacy Policy says about personal information.
Unless a written agreement says otherwise, a conversation with us is a general discussion, and anything we say in it is an opinion and not a recommendation you should rely on without independent verification.
6. Messages you send us
You may contact us through the contact form, by email or by telephone. When you do, you agree that:
- The information you give is accurate and you have the right to share it.
- You will not send student records, student personal information, health or disciplinary information, Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, passwords or other sensitive or confidential information.
- You will not send material that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, malicious or that infringes someone else's rights.
- Your message is not confidential unless we agree otherwise in writing, though we will handle personal information as described in the Privacy Policy.
- We may use the substance of your question, without identifying you, to improve the Website.
We may decline to respond to a message and may block senders who misuse the form.
7. Acceptable use
You agree not to:
- Use the Website in a way that is unlawful or that violates these terms.
- Interfere with or disrupt the Website or the systems that deliver it, including by sending automated or excessive requests, attempting to bypass security, or introducing malicious code.
- Submit the contact form using automated tools, or submit false or misleading information.
- Scrape or copy the Website at a volume or in a way that harms its operation.
- Present yourself as us, or suggest that we endorse you, your organization or your products.
- Use the Website to find the personal information of others for unsolicited marketing.
8. Intellectual property and permitted use of our content
The Website's text, research papers, worksheets, illustrations, graphics, layout and design are protected by copyright and other laws and belong to K12PhoneSystems.com or its licensors, except for third-party material, which belongs to its owners.
You may, without asking:
- View, print and download Website content for your own non-commercial use.
- Share links to Website pages.
- Quote short excerpts with a clear credit to K12PhoneSystems.com and a link to the original.
- Use the downloadable worksheet inside your own district for its intended planning purpose, and share it unaltered with colleagues, keeping its notices intact.
You may not, without our written permission:
- Republish a research paper, a substantial part of one, or the illustrations on another website or in a commercial product.
- Sell, license or charge for our content.
- Remove notices, alter content, or present our content as your own.
We reserve all rights not expressly granted. Where a paper quotes or summarizes public documents, manufacturer documentation or legal texts, those sources keep their own rights and terms.
9. Trademarks and third-party products
Product and company names mentioned on the Website, including 3CX, Cisco, Microsoft, Mitel, Bandwidth, CyberData and others, belong to their owners. Mentioning them describes what the research covers. It does not mean that those companies sponsor, endorse or are affiliated with the Website, and it is not a recommendation to buy a particular product. We apply the same questions to every platform.
10. Third-party links and sources
The Website links to other websites and documents, including government, standards and vendor pages. We do not control them, do not endorse their content, and are not responsible for their accuracy, availability, privacy practices or terms. You use them at your own risk, under their own terms.
11. Accuracy, currency and availability
We work to make the Website accurate, but laws, regulations, vendor products, licensing and prices change, and some content describes situations as they stood on the date given. Examples in the research are labeled as either hypothetical or drawn from anonymized customer records. A figure from one district does not predict the result for another. We do not promise that the Website is complete, current or free of errors, or that it will be available without interruption. We may change or remove content, or suspend the Website, at any time without notice.
12. Downloadable resources
The worksheet and any other downloads are general planning aids. They do not produce a legal, engineering or financial conclusion, and a completed worksheet is not a certification or a compliance review. Review results with qualified professionals before you rely on them. Downloads are provided as is.
13. Accessibility
We want the Website to be usable by everyone. See the Accessibility Statement for our approach and for how to ask for help or report a problem.
14. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy explain how we handle personal information and cookies. They are part of these terms.
15. Disclaimer of warranties
To the fullest extent the law allows, the Website and everything on it are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of accuracy, completeness, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, uninterrupted or error-free operation, and the absence of viruses or other harmful components. Some places do not allow certain exclusions, so some of these may not apply to you.
16. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent the law allows, K12PhoneSystems.com, its operator and the people who write and manage it will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, savings, funding or opportunity, arising out of or related to your use of, or inability to use, the Website or reliance on its content, even if we have been told such damages are possible. This includes harm arising from an emergency calling failure, a compliance finding, a purchasing decision, a contract or a project that you based on information from the Website.
Where the law does not allow a complete exclusion, our total liability for all claims about the Website is limited to the greatest extent the law permits. Because the Website is free, you agree that this limit is reasonable.
17. Indemnification
To the extent the law allows, you agree to defend and hold harmless K12PhoneSystems.com, its operator and its contributors from claims, losses and costs, including reasonable legal fees, arising from your misuse of the Website, your violation of these terms, or your violation of someone else's rights. Government and public-school entities may be subject to limits on their ability to give this undertaking; to that extent, it applies only as permitted by law.
18. Copyright complaints
If you believe content on the Website infringes your copyright, send a written notice to [webmaster@k12phonesystems.com](mailto:webmaster@k12phonesystems.com) that identifies the work, identifies the material and where it appears, gives your contact details, states your good-faith belief that the use is not authorized, and states, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act for the owner. We will review notices and respond as the law requires.
19. Changes to these terms
We may change these terms. When we do, we will update the effective date at the top. If you keep using the Website after a change, you accept the revised terms. If you do not accept them, stop using the Website.
20. Suspension and termination
We may suspend or end your access to the Website, including by blocking your connection or form submissions, at any time and without notice, if we believe you have violated these terms or if we need to protect the Website or others. Sections that by their nature should survive, including those on intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability and indemnification, continue to apply.
21. Governing law and venue
These terms, and any dispute about the Website or its content, are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any legal action about the Website must be brought in the state or federal courts located in Florida, and you and we consent to their jurisdiction. If you are a public school district or other government body, nothing in this section waives any immunity, or requires you to do anything, that the law of your state does not allow.
22. General
If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Our not enforcing a right is not a waiver of it. You may not transfer your rights under these terms, and we may transfer ours. These terms, together with the policies they refer to, are the entire agreement between you and us about using the Website, and replace earlier versions.
23. Contact
Questions about these terms:
K12PhoneSystems.com
Email: [webmaster@k12phonesystems.com](mailto:webmaster@k12phonesystems.com)
Telephone: 908-923-8241
Online: the contact form
Related policies
Privacy Policy · Disclaimer · Cookie Policy · Privacy Choices · Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information · Accessibility Statement