Dear SCPS Families,
On Tuesday, January 7, 2025, PowerSchool, the company that provides Somerset County Public Schools’ (SCPS) student information system (SIS), announced a cybersecurity incident affecting the SIS data of a number of their customers nationwide. Unfortunately, they have confirmed that SCPS’ data was impacted by the incident.
The compromised data primarily includes student, family and staff contact information, like names and mailing addresses. Across their customer base, they have determined that for a portion of individuals, some personally identifiable information (PII), such as social security numbers (SSN), was impacted. They are working with urgency to complete their investigation and determine whether PII belonging to our staff and students was included. PowerSchool has confirmed that the breached data file has been deleted and is no longer accessible.
While PowerSchool is responsible for this incident and its impact, our team acted swiftly once we were notified and is continuing to investigate. SCPS understands the importance of your trust and is diligently committed to protecting our student and staff data. We are coordinating with PowerSchool and other information technology leaders in Maryland to fully assess this situation and safeguard our community.
Through discussions with PowerSchool leadership, it was made clear there was no additional action SCPS could have taken to prevent the breach. PowerSchool said the incident was an attack on the company, not any particular school system. 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.
We understand how the news of this breach of one of our trusted partners is a great concern for you. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ava Tasker-Mitchell, Superintendent
Tracie Bartemy, Director of Schools