RICHMOND, Ind. — Four days after a ransomware attack breached Richmond Community Schools' computer network and some data services, an investigation is still ongoing.
Systems at RCS are still limited because of security concerns, according to Director of Student Support and Communications Bridget Hazelbaker, which has resulted in the cancelation of planned parent-teacher conferences on Thursday.
"Parents are still able to use ParentSquare or to communicate to their teachers if they have concerns about their child's progress. That open communication is always welcomed," she said. "We're just not going to be able to do the sit-down conference at the moment just because we can't even do any scheduling."
The limited technology use at RCS has also prompted most of the schools' students to shift from a mostly computer education to one of pencil and paper, a change Hazelbaker said many of the students are not used to.
"Think about having to tell a student the right side and wrong side of a piece of notebook paper," she said. "I talked to my son about it yesterday and he had a blast. He's a third grader, but it's just different."
Hot spots loaned to RCS from schools across the county
Hazelbaker said schools across the county as well as the Wayne County Emergency Management have been able to provide RCS with MiFi hot spots to allow all staff as of Tuesday morning to have internet access.
"We've got them from Hagerstown, Northeastern, Centerville. It's amazing the amount of help that people are giving us right now. It's incredible," she said. "IU East gave us MiFi hot spots. We even called our Ohio neighbors to see if they could help. National Trail has over 100 of these and they're investigating to see whether they can help."
Students have not been given access to the hot spots because of the lack of filters, though students in speech therapy are using working computers in the high school's basement because of instruction being entirely based on teletherapy over the internet.
Monday classes on two-hour delay as a result of breach
After the computer and data services networks Richmond Community Schools use was breached in the ransomware attack Friday, the district operated on a two-hour delay schedule Monday as it continued to work to resolve the issue.
No morning half-day preschool classes were held Monday, and teachers and staff were preparing low-tech lesson plans for the first few days of school this week.
Monday morning, staff members at RCS' administration buildings were having issues with the district's phones, although it was not clear whether the issues were a result of the network being shut down.
What did the school say when the breach first occurred?
Assistant Superintendent of Operations Karen Scalf on Friday sent a message to parents saying student information such as names, addresses, medical information, student identification numbers and contact phone numbers had been compromised.
Later information included the fact that the breach included staff information.
"While there is no current evidence of misuse, RCS has shut down the data services network and is actively investigating the breach with the assistance of local, state, and federal agencies," a Facebook post said. "Although we are working to restore all systems as soon as possible, please be aware that it may take several days to regain full functionality in all systems.
"RCS is taking this situation very seriously and we appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this issue," the Facebook post said. "As soon as additional information becomes available, we will keep you informed."
Students' Social Security numbers are not housed in the data source that was compromised, Scalf said in Friday's message to parents.
Evan Weaver is a news and sports reporter at The Palladium-Item. Contact him on X (@evan_weaver7) or email at eweaver@gannett.com .
This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: RCS parent-teacher conferences canceled Thursday in aftermath of ransomware attack
Local News
Comments / 0