Terms of Use

Draft — pending review

Gary D. Soto Consulting, Inc.
Effective date: [PLACEHOLDER — set upon attorney approval and publication]
Last updated: [PLACEHOLDER]

Welcome. This website, garydsoto.com (the "Site"), is operated by Gary D. Soto Consulting, Inc., a California corporation ("GDS," "we," "us," or "our"). These Terms of Use (the "Terms") explain the rules for using the Site and the materials on it. We have written them in plain language because our readers are district leaders and educators, not lawyers — but they are still a binding agreement.

If you have questions about anything here, contact us at info@garydsoto.com.

1. Acceptance of These Terms

By visiting the Site, viewing or downloading materials, creating an account, or otherwise using any part of the Site, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site.

If you use the Site on behalf of a school district, county office of education, or other organization, you confirm that you are authorized to accept these Terms for that organization, and "you" includes both you and the organization.

2. Who May Use the Site

The Site is intended for education professionals — superintendents, district and site administrators, teachers, instructional coaches, and others working in or with K-12 education — and for members of the public interested in our work. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account or submit information through the Site. The Site is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

3. Accounts (Portal and Planning Areas)

Parts of the Site — including the district portal and the educator planning area — require an account. When those features are available, the following applies:

Accurate information. You agree to provide accurate, current information when you register and to keep it up to date. Accounts registered with false information (for example, misrepresenting your role or district affiliation) may be suspended or closed.
Credentials. You are responsible for keeping your login credentials confidential and for activity that occurs under your account. Do not share your credentials. Notify us at info@garydsoto.com promptly if you believe your account has been accessed without authorization.
District-affiliated accounts. Some accounts may be created in connection with a district engagement. Access tied to an engagement may end when the engagement ends.
Our termination rights. We may suspend or terminate accounts, or restrict access to any part of the Site, at our discretion — including for violation of these Terms, misuse of materials, or security concerns. You may close your account at any time by contacting us.

[ATTORNEY — REVISIT AT LAUNCH: This section is written generically ahead of the portal and planning-area launches. Before each launch, review it against the actual registration flow, any district-level (multi-seat) account structure, and any data-handling commitments made to districts.]

4. Intellectual Property

All content on the Site — including text, articles, presentation decks, frameworks, rubrics, graphics, logos, videos, and downloadable materials — and the books Crimes Against Learning and related GDS materials are the property of Gary D. Soto Consulting, Inc. or its licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.

What you may do: You may view, and where downloading is offered, download and print materials for your own personal and professional use — for example, reading an article, reviewing a deck after a presentation, or sharing a link to a Site page with colleagues.

What requires written permission: You may not, without our prior written permission:

republish, post, or redistribute Site materials (in whole or substantial part) on other websites, platforms, or publications;
use our materials to create derivative training materials, professional development content, courses, or consulting deliverables;
remove copyright notices, attributions, or branding from any materials; or
use the GDS name, logo, or materials in a way that suggests endorsement or affiliation.

To request permission, write to info@garydsoto.com. We routinely grant reasonable requests from educators and districts; we simply want to know how our work is being used.

5. Deck Downloads and Free Materials

Presentation decks and other materials made available for viewing or download (including via QR code at events) are provided for your personal professional use only — your own reference, learning, and internal discussion. They may not be republished, resold, or repurposed into training materials without written permission, as described in Section 4. If a specific download comes with its own stated license or terms, those govern for that item.

[ATTORNEY — REVISIT AT LAUNCH: When email-gated downloads go live, confirm this section and the Privacy Statement together cover the email collection step.]

6. Purchases and the Storefront

The Site may offer books and other items for purchase. Payment processing is handled by third-party providers (for example, Stripe-hosted checkout), and purchases of the books through retailers are governed by those retailers' terms. Prices, availability, and product descriptions may change without notice. Additional terms presented at checkout apply to the applicable purchase.

[ATTORNEY — REVISIT AT LAUNCH: Before the storefront launches, add refund/return policy, sales tax treatment, and any digital-goods delivery terms. Confirm whether public-agency purchase orders will be accepted through the Site or handled offline.]

7. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

scrape, harvest, or bulk-download Site content or user information, whether manually or with automated tools (including bots, crawlers, or AI training pipelines), except as permitted by a published robots.txt or with our written permission;
reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site, its accounts, or its underlying systems;
interfere with the Site's operation or security, or test its vulnerabilities without authorization;
impersonate any person, district, or organization, or misrepresent your affiliation;
use the Site for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable law or regulation; or
upload or transmit malicious code or content that infringes others' rights.

We may investigate violations and cooperate with law enforcement where appropriate.

8. Information You Submit; Privacy

Information you submit through the Site — contact forms, account registration, portal inputs, email addresses provided for downloads — is handled as described in our Privacy Statement, available on the Site. The Privacy Statement is a separate document and is not restated here; please read it. By using the Site, you acknowledge that your information will be handled as it describes.

If you submit ideas, feedback, or suggestions about our services or materials, you agree we may use them without obligation to you. Do not submit confidential student records or other legally protected personal information through general Site forms; district engagements involving such data are governed by the applicable signed contract, not these Terms.

9. No Warranties

The Site and its materials are provided "as is" and "as available." We work hard to keep our content accurate and current, but we make no warranties or guarantees of any kind, express or implied — including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, or uninterrupted or error-free operation — to the fullest extent permitted by law. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of these exclusions may not apply to you.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Gary D. Soto Consulting, Inc. and its officers, employees, and contractors will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages — including lost profits, lost data, or business interruption — arising out of or relating to your use of (or inability to use) the Site or its materials, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the Site or these Terms will not exceed the greater of (a) the amount you paid us through the Site in the twelve months before the claim arose, or (b) one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law. These limits apply to the Site and its content only; liability under a signed consulting contract is governed by that contract.

11. Not Consulting Services or Professional Advice

Content on the Site — articles, decks, frameworks, tools, and portal outputs (including any automatically generated service proposals or planning materials) — is general information. It is not consulting services, educational advice tailored to your district, or legal advice, and viewing or using it does not create a consulting or advisory relationship with GDS.

A consulting engagement with Gary D. Soto Consulting, Inc. is formed only by a written contract signed by both parties. Until such a contract is signed, no proposal, portal output, conversation, or Site material commits either party to an engagement. Decisions about your district's programs, personnel, or compliance obligations should be made with your own advisors and counsel.

12. Third-Party Links and Services

The Site may link to third-party websites and services (for example, book retailers, payment processors, or research sources). We do not control them and are not responsible for their content, terms, or privacy practices. Your use of third-party sites is at your own risk and subject to their terms.

13. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time — for example, when we launch new Site features such as the district portal, planning area, or storefront. When we make material changes, we will post the updated Terms on this page with a new "Last updated" date and, where reasonably practicable, provide notice on the Site or by email to account holders. Continued use of the Site after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree to updated Terms, discontinue use of the Site and, if applicable, close your account.

14. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Site will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in [PLACEHOLDER — county/venue to be confirmed by attorney], California, and you consent to their jurisdiction.

[ATTORNEY — DECIDE: whether to include an arbitration clause and/or class-action waiver, and the appropriate venue county.]

15. General

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Statement and any additional terms presented for specific features or purchases, are the entire agreement between you and GDS regarding the Site. Signed consulting contracts are separate and control their own subject matter.
Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest remain in effect.
No waiver. Our not enforcing a provision is not a waiver of it.
Assignment. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them in connection with a corporate reorganization or sale.

16. Contact

Questions about these Terms, permission requests, and account matters:

Gary D. Soto Consulting, Inc.
Email: info@garydsoto.com
Address: [PLACEHOLDER — corporate mailing address]

DRAFT — pending attorney review