John Tafelski, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, sent a letter to members of the school community on Sunday stating that the school district recently discovered a cybersecurity incident that affected some of its systems.
"This incident required us to shut down portions of our network as we work to fix the issue," Tafelski said. "Upon learning of this issue, we immediately engaged independent third-party cybersecurity professionals to assist in our review and remediation efforts, but it may be a few days before full functionality can be restored."
He announced that school would be canceled on Oct. 23, but assured families and staff that the district is focusing on safely restoring its systems so that classes can resume as soon as possible.
On the positive side, Tafelski said that most of the data and systems on which the school district relies are hosted offsite at Wayne RESA (student information and payroll/finance) and on Google (email and most documents).
"These systems were never down and there is no indication that they were impacted as a result of the incident," he said.
In a frequently asked questions sheet, the school district said it was too early in its investigation to know for certain what information could be at risk for students, teachers and administrators.
"We will provide you with further information, if warranted, as the investigation and restoration process continues," the district said.
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