Website Terms of Use
Welcome to the swampschool.org (“Site”). Our mission is to provide the best wetland training on the planet. By visiting and using the Site, and the services which we provide through the Site (“Services”), you agree to accept these Terms of Use (“TOU”). Please read them carefully, and if you disagree with the TOU in any way, then do not use this Site or any of the Services which it provides. The Swamp School, LLC reserves the right to post changes to the TOU on this Site at any time. If we make any material changes to this TOU, we will post the updated TOU here, along with its effective date, and notify you by email or by means of a notice on the Site. If any TOU changes are not acceptable, you must stop your use of this Site.
The terms “Swamp School” and “we” hereinafter refer to The Swamp School LLC, a North Carolina Limited Liability Company. “User” or “you” refer to each visitor to this Site.
“Student” refers to any individual enrolled in any live or online course or program offered by Swamp School, whether the Service was purchased personally or on a student’s behalf.
“Services” refers to all educational content provided by Swamp School directly or indirectly through this site. Services include, but are not limited to certification programs; courses (either online on in-person); field workshops; or webinars.
If you purchase any Services offered through the Site, you may also be subject to additional terms and conditions applicable to the purchase and use of such Services. These terms and conditions are contained in the Consumer and Student Information Guide posted below.
The Site
We do not guarantee that access to or use of this Site or any Services will be uninterrupted or error free, and Swamp School shall not be liable for any feature not being accessible or for any unavailability of its Site and Services. The Site and its features may be expanded, limited or modified at any time by Swamp School to meet the needs of its Users, or for technical or other reasons, without advance notice or reason. We may also in our sole discretion, and at any time, discontinue providing, temporarily or permanently, any or all of the Site or Services, without notice. To access some of the content or features of the Site or its Services, you may need to enhance or update the hardware or software in your computer systems. Swamp School has no responsibility for any failure to access the Site or any Services, partially or fully, whether due to your system, the Internet network or any other cause.
Third Party Content
Swamp School does not warrant, endorse, guarantee, or assume responsibility for any product or service advertised or offered by a third party through the Swamp School service or any hyperlinked website or service, and Swamp School will not be a party to or in any way monitor any transaction between you and third-party providers of products or services.
If you are dissatisfied with the training material or this web site, or any portion thereof, your exclusive remedy will be to cease using the Site.
License to Use Site Content
We grant you a limited personal use license to access, display, download, format and print portions of this Site content solely for your own personal non-commercial use, provided that the content is not modified, and all proprietary notices are kept intact. You may not reproduce, publish, translate, merge, sell, rent, distribute the content, or create a derivative work of the content on any other website or as part of any educational, training or reference materials. You may not frame or utilize framing techniques to enclose any content on this Site.
Please note that, if you purchase Services, including courses, that purchase may be subject to specific license rights provided for in the Consumer and Student Guide posted below.
Minors
We do not provide information or Services to minors, and if you are under 18, and at least 13 years of age, you may only use this Site and Services with the active involvement of a parent, guardian or other supervising adult. You may not use this Site if you are under 13 years of age.
No Legal Advice
Site content and Services are intended for general educational purposes. Nothing contained on the Site or Services shall be deemed to constitute legal, engineering or other professional advice.
Proprietary Rights
The Site and its content are protected by copyright, trademark, and other proprietary laws. See our Copyright Notice.
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES
The Site and Service are to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, provided without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained by you from The Swamp School, LLC or through the service will create any warranty not expressly stated herein. Without limiting the foregoing, Swamp School, and its licensors do not warrant that the content is accurate, reliable or correct; that the service will meet your requirements; that the service will be available at any particular time or location, uninterrupted or secure; that any defects or errors will be corrected; or that the service is free of viruses or other harmful components. Any content downloaded or otherwise obtained through the use of the service is downloaded at your own risk and you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or mobile device or loss of data that results from such download or your use of the service.
EXCLUSION OF CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall Swamp School, its affiliates, agents, directors, employees, suppliers or licensors be liable for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages, including without limitation damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses, that result from the use of, or inability to use, this service.
Under no circumstances will Swamp School be responsible for any damage, loss or injury resulting from hacking, tampering or other unauthorized access or use of the service or your account or the information contained therein.
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Swamp School assumes no liability or responsibility for any (i) errors, mistakes, or inaccuracies of content; (ii) personal injury or property damage, of any nature whatsoever, resulting from your access to or use of our service; (iii) any unauthorized access to or use of our secure servers and/or any and all personal information stored therein; (iv) any interruption or cessation of transmission to or from the service; (v) any bugs, viruses, trojan horses, or the like that may be transmitted to or through our service by any third party; (vi) any errors or omissions in any content or for any loss or damage incurred as a result of the use of any content posted, emailed, transmitted, or otherwise made available through the service; and/or (vii) user content or the defamatory, offensive, or illegal conduct of any third party. In no event shall Swamp School, its affiliates, agents, directors, employees, suppliers, or licensors be liable to you for any claims, proceedings, liabilities, obligations, damages, losses or costs in an amount exceeding the amount you paid to Swamp School hereunder.
This limitation of liability section applies whether the alleged liability is based on contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or any other basis, even if The Swamp School, LLC has been advised of the possibility of such damage. The foregoing limitation of liability shall apply to the fullest extent permitted by law in the applicable jurisdiction.
EXCLUSION OF LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS
BECAUSE SOME JURISDICTIONS, SUCH AS NEW JERSEY, RESTRICT OR DO NOT ALLOW THE DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES, OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, IN SUCH JURISDICTIONS, Swamp school’s LIABILITY IS LIMITED TO THE GREATEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
Assignment
This Agreement, and any rights and licenses granted hereunder, may not be transferred or assigned by you, but may be assigned by Swamp School without restriction and without notice to you. Any attempted transfer or assignment in violation hereof shall be null and void.
Governing Law
Governing Law. You agree that: (i) the Site and Services shall be deemed solely based in North Carolina; and (ii) the Service shall be deemed a passive one that does not give rise to personal jurisdiction over The Swamp School, LLC, either specific or general, in jurisdictions other than North Carolina. This Agreement shall be governed by the internal substantive laws of the State of North Carolina, without respect to its conflict of laws principles. The application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is expressly excluded.
Jurisdiction
You agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of a state court located in Wake County, North Carolina or the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina for any actions for which we retain the right to seek injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent the actual or threatened infringement, misappropriation or violation of our copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents, or other intellectual property or proprietary rights, as set forth in the Arbitration provision below.
Alternate Dispute Resolution
In the unlikely event that Swamp School has not been able to resolve a dispute it has with you after attempting to do so informally, we each agree to resolve any claim, dispute, or controversy (excluding any Swamp School claim for injunctive or other equitable relief) arising out of or in connection with or relating to this Agreement, or the breach or alleged breach thereof (collectively, Claims), by binding arbitration by the American Arbitration Association (AAA), or any other alternative dispute resolution service mutually agreed upon by the parties, in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina under the commercial rules then in effect for the AAA, except as provided herein. The award rendered by the arbitrator shall include costs of arbitration, reasonable attorney’s fees and reasonable costs for expert and other witnesses, and any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. Nothing in this Section shall be deemed as preventing The Swamp School, LLC from seeking injunctive or other equitable relief from the courts as necessary to protect any of The Swamp School, LLCs proprietary interests. ALL CLAIMS MUST BE BROUGHT IN THE PARTIES INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. YOU AGREE THAT, BY ENTERING INTO THIS AGREEMENT, YOU AND THE SWAMP SCHOOL, LLC ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY OR TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION.
Notices
Swamp School may provide notifications, whether such notifications are required by law or are for marketing or other business-related purposes, to you via email notice, written or hard copy notice, or through posting of such notice on our website, as determined by Swamp School in our sole discretion. Swamp School reserves the right to determine the form and means of providing notifications to our Users, provided that you may opt out of certain means of notification as described in this Agreement. Swamp School is not responsible for any automatic filtering you or your network provider may apply to email notifications we send to the email address you provide us. We recommend that you add support@swampschool.org to your email address book to help ensure you receive email notifications from us.
Entire Agreement/Severability
These TOU, together with any amendments and any additional agreements you may enter into with Swamp School in connection with any Services, shall constitute the entire agreement between you and Swamp School. If any provision of this Agreement is deemed invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this Agreement, which shall remain in full force and effect.
No Waiver
No waiver of any term of this Agreement shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or any other term, and The Swamp School, LLC’s failure to assert any right or provision under this Agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
Consumer and Student Information Guide
This section provides you with important information and Swamp School’s policies concerning our Services and courses. The purchase of any Services are in consideration of, and subject to, the following terms and conditions, which are in addition to the TOU posted above.
Payment
Payment for class is due prior to enrollment in a class.
Purchase Orders
The Swamp School does not accept Purchase Orders. Swamp School will work with your purchasing department to reserve a seat in one of our classes. However, payment for the class must be received prior to the start of class in order to allow the student into the class. If payment is not made within five (5) days of the scheduled start of the class, the seat reservation will be canceled and opened up to other students to enroll. The Swamp School cannot guarantee that space will remain available in that class once the seat reservation is canceled, and the class will be filled on a first come first served basis.
Refunds
The Swamp School expends significant financial resources to ensure that the purchased class will be of high quality and available for the student on the selected start date. Consequently, refunds are not available in the event that the student wishes to cancel their enrolment or does not attend the class. However, reasonable accommodations may be made, at the Swamp School’s sole discretion, to move the student to another class section or transfer the student’s enrollment and apply the tuition to another individual. An enrolled student must notify the Swamp School at least 14 business days prior to the start of class if a transfer is desired.
There are no refunds for students who have enrolled in any of our online programs once the student has been given access to the online material. This includes the establishment of a student account. This is regardless of whether the student has logged-in to the program or not.
In the event that Swamp School cancels a class or webinar a full refund will be issued. No student travel expense reimbursement will be provided by the Swamp School.
Class Transfers
If a student wishes to transfer to another class section and the student notifies The Swamp School before the class starts, The Swamp School will make every effort to add the student to another class without additional cost. Classes with room and board fees may require additional costs. If after rescheduling the class the student does not attend or cancels, no refund will be issued. This applies to all classes including contract classes.
If a student wishes to transfer to another section of a class after the class has already started a transfer fee would be required. The transfer fee will vary based upon the tuition paid. Transfers into another section of the same class beyond one year of the original class registration date would require full tuition payment.
Distribution
All refunds will be disbursed using the same credit card as the purchaser used to make the original purchase. If the credit card used to make the purchase is no longer valid, the Swamp School will send a check subject to the terms below and is subject to a 10% processing fee which will be deducted from the refund.
No refunds will be made to a different credit card account. Credit card refunds will be processed within two (2) business days of the first day of the class scheduled start date. If the refund request was made in writing more than 10 business days before the class start date, the refund will be processed within two (2) business days of the request.
If the purchase was made by check, the Swamp School will send a refund payable to the individual, company or organization that made the original purchase. If the purchase was made using a company check, the refund check will be made payable to that same company and not to the student. Check refunds will take approximately 30 days to process.
Advance Class Purchases are Final
An “Advance Class Purchase” is defined as any purchase of an in-person Swamp School class or online workshop scheduled to start more than 45 days from the date of a customer’s purchase. An Advance Class Purchase is often made by a customer to guarantee a seat in a popular upcoming class; to secure current pricing ahead of tuition increases or; to negotiate an individual or group tuition discount.
The Swamp School expends significant financial resources to ensure that the purchased class will be of high quality and available for the student on the selected start date. Consequently, refunds are not available for an Advance Class Purchase in the event that the student wishes to cancel their enrolment or does not attend the class. However, reasonable accommodations may be made, at the Swamp School’s sole discretion, to move the student to another class section or transfer the student’s enrollment and apply the tuition to another individual. An enrolled student must notify the Swamp School at least 14 business days prior to the start of class if a transfer is desired.
In the event that the Swamp School must cancel or reschedule a class a full refund of the purchase price of the class will be offered.
Student Information and Course Requirements
No Academic Credit:
Swamp School is not an accredited educational institution of higher learning. Your participation in, or completion of, any Course does not confer any academic credit. Nothing in the TOU or otherwise, enrolls you in any educational institution or in any course offered by any such institution.
Swamp School offers its Certified Wetland Delineator (CWD) program awarded to Students who successfully complete a program of courses, becoming competent and highly-skilled in all aspects of wetland delineation. A Certified Wetland Delineator is able to accurately identify and depict land that would be subject to the federal Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act and regulations, as administered [enacted, promulgated?] by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Environmental Protection Agency. The CWD certification enables clients of a certified delineator to make informed decisions when choosing to engage these individuals for wetland delineator services.
Professional Development Hours
Swamp School offers classes which have been approved by various entities to meet requirements for [continuing education or] professional development hours for their certifications and programs. In addition, the Swamp School basic Wetland Delineation Program has been pre-approved by the Society of Wetland Scientists Professional Certification Program (SWSPCP) as meeting standards for content and instruction and, upon successful completion, have been judged to be immediately eligible to receive credits and/or points toward SWSPCP Professional Certification or SWSPCP Professional Certification Renewal. The number of professional development hours, points or credits for which a class has been pre-approved will be stated in the class syllabus.
The Writing Process:
Swamp School expects that all student submissions will be proofread for proper spelling, usage, grammar, and mechanics. Instructors may deduct points for any incorrect use of spelling, usage, grammar, or mechanics.
Plagiarism Statement of Policy:
Swamp School requires that all student submissions be original work, including text and images. We will not accept work from students that is taken with or without permission from third party resources. This also includes work prepared by other individuals of the same firm that a student may be working for.
In limited circumstances, cited work may be provided at the discretion of the instructor but is not meant to take the place of original work. Citations should be attached and follow American Psychological Association (APA) or similar guidelines.
Student work will be submitted online using our similarity-check system. A color-coded score that represents the degree to which the student work matches other student submissions stored in our repository, as well as Internet and other sources will be assigned to the submission. The score represents a relative match to these sources.
It takes about five minutes for the system to review each student assignment and the score will be posted within 5 to 10 minutes after the initial submission. The student will have an opportunity to review the similarity score along with a detailed analysis of the sources identified as having comparable text. The student has the option of making changes to the assignment and resubmitting before the instructor grades the work.
If a significant portion of a student submission is deemed to be similar to other works, a grade of zero will be issued for that assignment. The student may appeal this grade only after they resubmit an assignment that results in a more acceptable similarity score.
There is no threshold similarity score that is deemed acceptable by Swamp School. Commonly used phrases and expressions can result in an artificially high score. The instructor will review the similarity score report and will make the final determination as to the extent of plagiarism associated with the submission.
Images, drawings and photographs are also expected to be original work generated by the student. There is no automated similarity check for this type of work. The instructor will review the graphical submissions against previous student submissions and an Internet image review. If a match is found the assignment will receive a score of zero. The student may appeal this grade only after they resubmit an assignment that is original work.
Swamp School requires original work for all assignments. If you have used copy/paste, there is a good chance it will be found.
Restrictions on Participation:
Swamp School field workshops do not normally entail physically strenuous activity. If the activity level is intended to be high, this will be disclosed in the tour itinerary. Students may be required, in the sole discretion of Swamp School, to sign a release and waiver of liability before participating in any outdoor activity. Nevertheless, participants must be able to complete moderate walks/hikes with their required field gear sometimes on uneven or slippery surfaces, to meet the schedule of all of our workshops. If you have any health problems or physical limitations, you are required to advise Swamp School prior to booking. Depending upon the itinerary of the workshop, we can usually arrange for a half or a full day’s rest for those who wish to opt out of the field workshop at any time. We will do our best to make our workshops work for you.
Weather Delays:
Swamp School field workshops may be impacted by inclement weather. Workshops will be postponed when the building in which the training site is located closes due to weather related conditions. Field workshop sessions will also be postponed due to poor weather conditions, public health or safety emergencies or other unforeseen conditions. Students will be notified as soon as possible of any scheduled changes.
In the event that the workshop needs to be rescheduled, Swamp School will coordinate with the enrolled students to arrange an alternative workshop date.
There shall be NO REFUND for weather delays or cancellations because of weather before arrival or during the scheduled workshop. The Swamp School is not responsible for any additional costs that may be incurred by weather delays or cancellations due to weather, flight delays, or otherwise.
To protect yourself against, weather delays or other unforeseen circumstances that may arise for you – Third Party Travel Insurance is essential and recommended.
Students Tips: What to Expect:
These are additional tips about our online programs and also some recommendations for success:
It requires work:
Although the pace of Swamp School courses can be intense, more than 1,000 students have successfully made it through. You can too! Take each course one day at a time, break large projects down into small tasks, and seek support when you need it.
Your syllabus:
Once you log-in on to the Site you will see the course syllabus. Read it carefully as it will help guide you through your coursework. Each week is listed with details of what is expected to be submitted that week.
A busy schedule:
Effective time management will help you submit assignments on time. Remember, you may lose points for submitting work after the due date. Please consult your instructor’s policies for details.
Plenty of coursework
Stay on top of course readings and presentations, which are usually available electronically. Consider completing any reading or lecture assignments by Wednesday of each week. Finding a personal workspace that allows you to study and read best may help.
Supportive faculty:
Your instructors will be involved in class discussions five (5) days each week (M-F) and will provide feedback on your assignments. Remember, different faculty members sometimes have different policies regarding course requirements like discussions.
Specific software requirements:
A standard web browser is all that is required to participate in our courses. However, you may need to update your browser plug-ins like Adobe Flash and Java for some of the course features to work. Ensure you have access to these programs.
Other Questions
Students: If you are unsure about the requirements for a course in which you enrolled, don’t hesitate to ask your instructor for clarification.
All users and students are encouraged to contact us at support@swampschool.org with any questions regarding these TOU governing the use of the Site and our Services.
The Swamp School, LLC
315 S. Salem St., Suite 310, Apex, NC 27502
support@swampschool.org
1-877-479-2673
© 2024 The Swamp School, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Last updated and Effective, May 21, 2021