Notices

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January 9, 2025

RE: Notification of Vendor Data Security Incident

Dear Parent(s):

On January 7, 2025, the Board of Education received notification of a data security incident from a contracted service provider, PowerSchool. PowerSchool is a vendor that many school districts in Connecticut, and nationwide, use to manage student information and data. In its notification, PowerSchool informed the Board that the data security incident affected its PowerSchool Student Information System, a tool that the District uses to store and manage student information. PowerSchool informed the Board that the incident affected the District’s data. The extent of the unauthorized access and the nature of the information accessed is not clear at this time. We are actively seeking additional information from PowerSchool. PowerSchool has promised to provide additional details as their investigation and remediation efforts continue.

PowerSchool has indicated that it launched an investigation immediately upon learning of potential unauthorized access, has contained the incident, and has taken steps that will further enhance data security going forward. PowerSchool has reported that it currently has no evidence that there has been any misuse of or public disclosure of the accessed information and that it believes that the data which was improperly accessed has been deleted.

PowerSchool has also indicated that it will be providing credit-monitoring or identity protection services at no cost to individuals whose personally identifiable information (“PII”) was compromised. As soon as the Board of Education receives information identifying the individuals affected by this incident, we or PowerSchool will notify such individuals and, if minors, their parent(s)/guardian(s) and will provide additional details regarding any credit monitoring or identity protection services being made available by PowerSchool.

We take the privacy of student information very seriously and expect our vendors do the same. We will continue to pursue information regarding the scope and nature of this incident, and we will provide updates to those impacted by it as we learn more. If you have any questions, please contact us via email at valenzisir@norwalkps.org.

Sincerely,

Ralph Valenzisi, Assistant Superintendent of Digital Learning and Innovation