Terms & Conditions

These Terms & Conditions ("Terms") govern access to and use of the Kuro platform, websites, applications, and related services (the "Services"), provided by Independent Learners, LLC, d/b/a Kuro ("Kuro," "we," "us"). By accessing or using the Services, or by authorizing use of the Services on your behalf, you agree to these Terms. If you use the Services for a learning center ("Center"), you represent that you are authorized to bind that Center.

1. The Services

Kuro provides software that Centers use to manage their programs — including scheduling, check-in, records, payments, and communications with families — and to send account, scheduling, and notification messages. We may add, change, suspend, or discontinue features at any time.

2. Accounts and responsibilities

• You are responsible for your account, credentials, and all activity under it, and for the accuracy and legality of the information you submit.
• You must obtain and maintain all consents, permissions, and disclosures required for the information you provide and the messages you send — including consent from parents/guardians and, where required, from students, and including valid opt-in for text messaging.
• Before registering any student for face check-in, you must obtain consent from the student's parent or guardian and keep a record of it. Kuro records the staff member's attestation; a Center may also require a current signed consent form before registration, and you must use that requirement where applicable law requires it. You must stop using a student's face registration when consent is withdrawn or the student leaves your Center, honor a parent or guardian's deletion request, and comply with biometric-information law where you operate. Kuro withholds expired and inactive registrations from face matching while retaining them encrypted unless they are deleted.
• You will use the Services in compliance with all applicable laws and these Terms.

3. Your data and the license you grant us

As between you and Kuro, you retain ownership of the data you submit ("Customer Data"). You grant Kuro a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, process, transmit, analyze, modify, display, and create derivative works from Customer Data in order to provide, secure, support, improve, and develop the Services and our products, and to perform our obligations and exercise our rights under these Terms.

Face check-in data is excluded from this license, except as needed to host, store, transmit, and process it to provide check-in and check-out for your Center. Kuro does not analyze it, create derivative works from it, include it in aggregated or de-identified data, use it to train or improve artificial intelligence models, or use it to improve or develop the Services or our products. See section 7 of our Privacy Policy.

Our handling of personal information is described in our Privacy Policy. Where Customer Data includes student information, you authorize and instruct us to process it to provide the Services, and you are responsible for having the authority to provide it.

4. Acceptable use

You will not: use the Services unlawfully or to send unlawful, harassing, deceptive, or unsolicited messages; message recipients who have not consented or who have opted out; infringe others' rights; interfere with or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Services; or reverse engineer or resell the Services except as permitted.

5. Text messaging program

• Program. Kuro text notifications, sent on behalf of your learning center ("the Center"). Messages come from the Center via Kuro and begin with "Kuro - [Center name]:".
• What is sent. Centers use Kuro to send parents and guardians who opt in recurring automated text messages about their own child and the Center: pickup-ready alerts; check-in and check-out notices; a monthly progress summary, sometimes with a link to a short progress video; Level Up and certificate messages when the child completes a level, with a link to the certificate; Center announcements, closures, meeting reminders and occasional parent feedback survey links; and replies from Center staff to messages the parent sends the Center. No marketing or promotional messages are sent under this program.
• Optional. Texting is optional. Every message type starts off for a parent who has not saved text consent. A parent opts in by checking types, separately agreeing to the disclosure, and submitting the Parent Orientation form's "Text messages (optional)" section, or by turning on and saving a switch under Text notifications in the Kuro Parent Portal. Choices saved during Parent Orientation carry into the activated Portal account. Consent is not a condition of enrollment, purchase, account creation or any service, and a parent who leaves every box unchecked can finish enrollment and use the Parent Portal with no texts. See how the opt-in looks on our text-message opt-in page.
• Confirmation. The parent receives one confirmation text per mobile number for that Center after the number's first effective opt-in. Moving valid consent to a new number sends that new number its own confirmation. It names the program, the frequency, the rates, and how to get help or stop.
• Frequency and cost. Message frequency varies (pickup and check-in alerts per visit, a monthly progress summary, Level Up and certificate messages when the child earns one, occasional announcements). Message and data rates may apply.
• STOP and HELP. Recipients may reply STOP to cancel at any time and will receive one confirmation and no further messages; reply START to resume. Reply HELP for help. You can also change which texts you get at any time in the Parent Portal.
• Support. Contact the Center, or Kuro support at kuro.solutions.llc@gmail.com (kuro.solutions.llc at gmail dot com).
• Carriers. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages, and delivery is not guaranteed.
• No sharing of mobile information. Mobile numbers and text-messaging opt-in data and consent are not shared with, sold, or rented to third parties or affiliates for their marketing or promotional purposes. See our Privacy Policy, section 4.
• You are solely responsible for the content of your messages and for maintaining valid consent for every recipient.

6. Intellectual property

The Services, software, and all related intellectual property are and remain the exclusive property of Kuro and its licensors. Except for the limited right to use the Services under these Terms, no rights are granted to you. Feedback you provide may be used by us without restriction or obligation.

7. Fees

Fees, if any, are as agreed in an order or plan. Except as required by law or expressly stated, fees are non-refundable.

8. Disclaimers

THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE, OR THAT MESSAGES WILL BE DELIVERED.

9. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, KURO AND ITS AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND SUPPLIERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, OR GOODWILL. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICES WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID US FOR THE SERVICES IN THE THREE (3) MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100).

10. Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Kuro and its affiliates from and against any claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to your Customer Data, your messages, your use of the Services, or your breach of these Terms or of applicable law (including consent, privacy, and messaging laws).

11. Term and termination

We may suspend or terminate access to the Services at any time, including for violation of these Terms or to protect the Services or others. Upon termination, your right to use the Services ends. Sections that by their nature should survive will survive.

12. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. The state and federal courts located in Maryland will have exclusive jurisdiction, and you consent to venue there, except that either party may seek injunctive relief in any court of competent jurisdiction.

13. Changes

We may update these Terms from time to time. The "Last updated" date reflects the latest version; your continued use after changes constitutes acceptance.

14. Affiliate links and the Amazon Associates Program

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Parts of the Services — for example the Library feature's recommended-reading lists — show "Buy" links to Amazon.com. When an Amazon Associates tracking tag is configured, those links carry it and a qualifying purchase made after following one may earn a referral commission for the operator of this installation of Kuro. When no tag is configured, the links are untagged and no commission is earned. You never pay more because of an affiliate link, and the price you see on Amazon is the same either way.

A book appearing in a reading list is not a paid placement. The lists come from the published Kumon recommended-reading charts, and the affiliate tag is applied to links that already existed; it does not influence which books are listed or in what order. Not every link is tagged — where no Associates tag is configured, no tag is applied and no commission is earned.

Following one of these links takes you to Amazon.com, a site we do not operate or control. What happens there is governed by Amazon's own conditions of use and privacy notice, not by these Terms. We are not responsible for Amazon's products, prices, availability, content, or handling of your information. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

15. Contact

Independent Learners, LLC (Kuro) — kuro.solutions.llc@gmail.com (kuro.solutions.llc at gmail dot com).