Good morning Parents and Staff,
On the afternoon of January 7, Washington County School District, along with hundreds of other school districts nationally and internationally, was notified of a widespread cybersecurity breach on their systems that occurred in December. This breach involves PowerSchool’s systems and platforms, and is not the result of Washington County School District’s systems and security procedures.
PowerSchool has assured us that the incident is contained. In addition, the District has restricted PowerSchool’s access to our systems until we can ensure that all PowerSchool’s systems are secure. Our technology director and I.T. department are actively investigating the situation to thoroughly evaluate its impact on both staff and student data within our District.
This news, along with PowerSchool’s delay in reporting it to us, is deeply concerning. Affected data may include sensitive personal information such as names, addresses, date of birth and email addresses. Social security numbers were not involved and the District does not store any Social security numbers in PowerSchool.
PowerSchool has informed us that they are in the process of preparing a statement to provide reasonable restitution and assistance to those affected. Additionally, they are implementing enhanced security measures to prevent future incidents of this nature.
Please know that we are actively monitoring the situation and will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available.
Thank you for your continued support.
Washington County School District
