PowerSchool breach, resignations mark Lovell school board meeting

Resignations and concerns about a PowerSchool data breach were the major items of interest handled by the Lovell school board Monday night.

During his monthly report to the board, Supt. Doug Hazen noted a recent data breach that struck the PowerSchool, the software system used by the district for many years as a method of communication and reporting among parents, students and the schools.

Hazen said PowerSchool was hit by a cyberattack on about December 22, and PowerSchool discovered the data breach on December 28. The school district was notified last week, he said.

“We’re working through it,” he told the board Monday. “There’s not a whole lot (else) I know. This is a big deal. I hoped they would provide more help and guidance.”

During an interview earlier Monday, Hazen said there was nothing the district could have done to prevent the breach, noting that it is a national issue for districts using the system. Depending how far back the data was accessed, the breach could have exposed certain information for thousands of students and hundreds of staff members. PowerSchool has been used by School District Two since 1999, Hazen said.

Most of the data is demographic, he said, but there could have been exposure to social security numbers used on the platform in the past.

In a letter posted on the district website, Hazen wrote, “PowerSchool confirmed it suffered a cybersecurity incident that allowed a threat actor to steal the personal information of students and staff from school districts using its PowerSchool SIS platform. They have confirmed that our school district information was involved in the data breach. 

“PowerSchool has enacted its security protocols to contain the breach and has since taken significant steps to secure its systems, including password resets and enhanced security measures.

“As a district, we take data security extremely seriously and always maintain a high standard of data protection. This breach occurred through a third-party provider, outside of our network system and services. Unfortunately, it was beyond our control, affecting thousands of school systems nationwide.

“PowerSchool has assured us that the breach is contained, and there is no evidence of ongoing unauthorized activity. We will be staying vigilant and reviewing any related accounts for unusual activity as a precaution. We are working closely with our cyber security service provider (Bitdefender) along with the State of Wyoming Cyber Assistant Response Effort (CARE) and the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) to address this breach.

“With PowerSchool’s help, more information and resources (including credit monitoring or identity protection services if applicable) will be provided to you as it becomes available.”

Resignations

The board approved six resignations and one hire Monday. Resigning for retirement are family and consumer science teacher Alana Thackeray, food service staff member Peggy Schurman and business office assistant Sher Jolley. Also resigning are LHS administrative assistant April Price and school district executive assistant Celecia Gallagher. Elementary school art paraprofessional Chevy Jolley is resigning to undertake her student teaching.

The board room was packed with visitors for the recognitions portion of the meeting. The board recognized Gracie Angell as the middle school student of the month, Jasmine Keele as the high school student of the month and Brittni Aagard as the CTE student of the month.

High school music director Carisa French presented members of the Wyoming All-State Choir honorees, noting that the nine students selected is a school record, as far as her research shows. Attending the meeting were all-staters Jarrett Allen, James Blau, Whitney Hendershot, Wilson Hendershot, Grady Henley, Jay Mayes, Parker Steenbakkers, Damian Wagner and Kenley Wilson.

Taggart Shumway also attended as a member of the Wyoming All-State Jazz Ensemble on the baritone saxophone.

A. Jay Montanez presented athletes selected for the Class 3A Wyoming All-State football team: Davin Crosby, Kalell Gruell, Brody Muller, Owen Walker and Matthew Newman.

Special education report

Special education director Elisha Summers gave a presentation about the district special ed program, providing statistics of students with disabilities. The percentage is 15 percent nationally, 16 percent of Wyoming students and 9.7 percent in District Two. And while the national trend shows an acceleration, the District Two trendline is down over the last nine years.

She said the disability with the highest percentage of students in the district is in the area of speech and language at just over 45 percent. She also presented a table of staff members, contracted services and the number of students receiving therapy, along with areas of focus for the current school year.

Student council representative Matthew Allen reported a positive attitude coming off the Christmas break among students and updated the board on upcoming activities. He said the council is looking into a student swap with another school, where student council members will spend part of a school day at the participating school. A swap with Burlington is being discussed.

Supt. Hazen noted his written facilities update, Lovell Recreation update, BOCES report, food services update, a technology and CDC Mental Health Grant update, transportation report and the PowerSchool breach.

The board voted to approve the district bank depositories – Bank of Lovell, Big Horn Federal and First Bank – with trustee Tess Peterson abstaining as an employee of the Bank of Lovell.

The board went into executive session to discuss “matters of personnel and legal” nature, then returned to an open meeting and approved the six resignations listed above plus the hiring of Sarina Sponsel as a special education paraprofessional at Lovell Elementary. The board met in the closed session for 45 minutes.