Update 1/30/2025:
Good afternoon Caroline County Public Schools families and employees:
We are writing to update you regarding the recent cybersecurity incident involving PowerSchool, the software vendor that provides our Student Information System (SIS).
On January 29, 2025, PowerSchool initiated the process of notifying individuals whose information was determined to be involved.
As previously mentioned, PowerSchool has engaged Experian, a trusted credit reporting agency, to provide complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring services to current and former students and educators that had information exfiltrated from PowerSchool SIS. PowerSchool is doing this regardless of whether an individual’s Social Security Number was exfiltrated. In the coming weeks, Experian (on behalf of PowerSchool) will be distributing direct email notifications to involved individuals (or their parent/guardian, as applicable) for whom PowerSchool has sufficient contact information.
Additionally, PowerSchool has worked with Experian to set up a dedicated, toll-free call center to answer any questions associated with these offerings and the incident. All the information regarding the activation of and access to these services will be included in the email sent to you by Experian. Whether or not you receive an email, you may also visit PowerSchool’s website to learn how to activate the offering from Experian, linked here: http://www.powerschool.com/security/sis-incident/notice-of-united-states-data-breach/.
Protecting our students and teachers remains our top priority. Thank you again for all of your support and understanding during this time.
Dr. Sarah Calveric
Superintendent
Update 1/21/2025:
As we previously communicated, PowerSchool – a cloud-based software vendor used by Caroline County Public Schools – recently experienced a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to certain information in the PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS).
We are reaching out to share more information and next steps that we recently received directly from PowerSchool:
- Identity Protection and Credit Monitoring Services: PowerSchool has engaged Experian, a trusted credit reporting agency, to offer two years of complimentary identity protection services for all students and educators whose information from our PowerSchool SIS was involved. This offer will also include two years of complimentary credit monitoring services for all adult students and educators whose information was involved.
- Notification to Individuals Involved: Starting in the next few weeks, in collaboration with Experian, PowerSchool will provide notice to students (or their parents / guardians if the student is under 18) and educators whose information was involved, as well as a phone number to answer any questions you may have about the incident. The notice will include the identity protection and credit monitoring services offer (as applicable).
- As soon as PowerSchool learned of the incident, they engaged cybersecurity response protocols and mobilized senior leadership and third-party cybersecurity experts to conduct a forensic investigation of the scope of the incident and to monitor for signs of information misuse. PowerSchool is not aware of any identity theft attributable to this incident.
In the meantime, I encourage you to visit https://www.powerschool.com/
Update 1/15/2025:
Good Afternoon Caroline County Public School families and employees:
As communicated on January 12, 2025, PowerSchool, an education software provider,
suffered a cybersecurity incident in late December resulting in unauthorized access to
the data of students and educators from hundreds of school systems around the
country. Caroline County Public Schools (CCPS) utilizes some PowerSchool tools and
has received assurances from PowerSchool that the company will notify any impacted
members of the CCPS community. PowerSchool’s investigation into this matter is
ongoing, and Caroline County Public Schools has not been provided with details on
what information was exposed for specific individuals.
PowerSchool has now posted an informational FAQ page about the incident to their
website: https://www.powerschool.com/security/sis-incident/
CCPS takes the privacy of our students’ and employees’ information very seriously. We
will continue to monitor developments about PowerSchool’s response to their breach
and how members of our community may have been impacted.
Dr. Sarah Calveric
Superintendent
1/12/2025:
Earlier this week, PowerSchool, an international provider of education administration software,
announced that it had suffered a cybersecurity incident in late December. Although security of
PowerSchool’s systems has been restored, data pertaining to students and educators at hundreds
of school systems around the country were subjected to unauthorized access. The breach was
limited to PowerSchool’s internal systems, and security of individual school system networks
was not disturbed.
Caroline County Public Schools utilizes some PowerSchool tools. We have asked PowerSchool
to identify the scope of impact this incident may have had on information pertaining to members
of our community. PowerSchool has assured us that they are investigating the matter.
Caroline County Public Schools takes the privacy of our students’ and employees’ information
very seriously. We are committed to holding PowerSchool accountable. PowerSchool has
advised us that they will directly notify any impacted individuals with details of the information
pertaining to him or her that was affected. Caroline County Public Schools has not been
provided with details on what information was exposed for specific individuals.
Dr. Sarah Calveric
Superintendent
