Why we publish this
A school discovery platform that does not publicly own its mistakes is a school discovery platform that is hiding them. We are not interested in being that platform. This page describes our correction policy, the SLA we hold ourselves to, and where the log lives.
The flow
Step 1: Receipt
A factual-error report arrives via the "Flag this" button on any school listing or article, or via editorial@meetschools.com. The reporter can be a parent, a school, an editorial-team member, or a journalist. We log every report with a timestamp.
Step 2: Triage (within 2 business days)
An editor classifies the report:
- Factual: the disputed claim is verifiable against a primary source.
- Interpretive: the disputed claim is opinion or analysis, not a falsifiable fact.
- Out of scope: the report does not relate to a fact we have published.
Factual reports continue to step 3. Interpretive reports get a written explanation; we do not change interpretation pieces under pressure (only with new evidence). Out-of-scope reports get a polite note.
Step 3: Verification (within 5 business days)
The editor cross-checks the disputed claim against primary sources — the school's own website, board affiliation registries, address records, fee documents. If the original publication was factually wrong, we move to step 4.
Step 4: Correction (within 7 business days of original receipt)
We update the published page. The page now shows:
- The corrected text in the body.
- An "Updated [date]" timestamp at the top of the page.
- A "What changed" footer noting the correction in 1-3 sentences.
For substantive corrections (changes to a school's board, fee, address, or aggregate rating), we also email the original report submitter and send a notification to anyone who shortlisted that school.
The public log
Every correction since launch is logged at /editorial/corrections with: the corrected page URL, the date of the original publication, the date of the correction, the nature of the correction, and the source we verified against. No silent edits.
What we do not correct
- Parent reviews. Reviews are the parent's voice and we do not edit them. If a review contains a factual error, we work with the reviewer or the school through our review-moderation appeals process — separate from this corrections process. See our review moderation policy for details.
- Opinion pieces. Editorial analysis is opinion-grade. New evidence can update analysis; pressure cannot.
- Aggregate statistics that are correctly computed. If 80% of reviews of a school mention X, and the school disputes the percentage, we re-run the calculation. If the calculation is correct, we do not adjust the published number.
The standard we hold ourselves to
If you find a factual error and do not get a response within 7 business days, email editor@meetschools.com directly. The editor responds personally within 24 hours. If that fails, the public log will eventually flag the gap — and we treat that as a P0.