Latest news with #studentdata
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Sumter County School District created 'shell schools' to boost school grade, increase funding
A state investigation found that the Sumter County School District falsified student data to boost some schools' scores. The state says this happened while former Superintendent Richard Shirley was leading the district. In a statement posted on the district's Facebook, current Superintendent Logan Brown called the previous leadership's alleged actions 'a deliberate and unethical attempt to manipulate school performance metrics at the expense of our students.' The 53-page report from the Florida Department of Education's Office of Inspector General says the district moved approximately 200 low-performing students out of classrooms in their zoned school and into virtual classes. The investigation found that in some cases, the district never notified parents. The state says it received a tip back in November 2023. The tipster claimed the Sumter County School District 'falsified student data and reporting' and created 'shell schools' to remove low-performing students from school grades in order to increase funding from the state. The so-called shell schools were virtual programs known as SOAR. The report says between 2016 and 2021, roughly 200 students were taken out these 4 Sumter County Schools: Wildwood Elementary, Wildwood Middle High, South Sumter Middle, and Webster Elementary. The report says Wildwood Elementary achieved a 'B grade' for the 2016/17 school year, but the school would have scored a 'C grade' if the district didn't remove low-performing students. The report says that former Superintendent Shirley and former Assistant Superintendent Deborah Moffitt 'provided and approved the instruction to the district to withdraw low-performing SOAR students from their traditional zoned schools and enroll them in virtual school. However, former Superintendent Shirley states in the report that SOAR was intended to help students. He said the improved school grade was not the purpose of SOAR, but it was a 'side benefit.' Shirley retired last year shortly after the state launched an investigation into the district. Current Superintendent Brown released a statement calling the alleged actions 'serious misconduct by the previous leadership.' Brown is set to speak more about the investigation and the district's plan moving forward at a news conference Monday morning. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
CTV News
07-05-2025
- CTV News
Student info stolen in PowerSchool data breach not deleted despite ransom being paid: TDSB
Canada's largest school board has informed its staff and students that some of their personal information stolen during a cyberattack late last year remains in the possession of the hackers, even after a ransom was paid. On Wednesday, in a letter to parents, guardians, and staff, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) provided the update on the PowerSchool data breach, which occurred between Dec. 22 and 28, 2024. PowerSchool is a cloud-based program used by the TDSB and other GTA school boards to store student and staff information. The TDSB said PowerSchool confirmed to the board that they paid ransom hoping that the stolen data gets deleted. 'As with any such incident, there was a risk that the threat actors would not honour their commitment to delete the stolen data, despite assurances provided to PowerSchool. Earlier this week, TDSB was made aware that the data was not destroyed,' the board wrote in the letter. 'We appreciate that this news may be unsettling and understand the concern this may cause. We remain committed to working closely with PowerSchool, law enforcement and the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario to provide support in any way we can.' The TDSB has said that personal student information dating back to 1985 was affected by the breach, including names, dates of birth, gender, health card numbers, home addresses, home phone numbers, and school emails. If students provided medical information to document an allergy, illness, or condition, it was also likely affected by the breach, the TDSB said. Staff names, employee numbers, and school email addresses were also stolen during the attack. The TDSB added that the personal numbers and home addresses of about 350 staff members could have been acquired by hackers. The school board noted that financial or banking information as well as social insurance numbers were not stored in the system, thus were not stolen. During a technical briefing in January, a PowerSchool official said an unauthorized actor was able to hack into the system and download data through compromised credentials. With files from CTV Toronto's Alex Arsenych
