Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Superintendent Quentin Breese of USD 333 and Superintendent Art Baker of USD 224 confirmed on Thursday, January 9, that USD 333 (Concordia) and USD 224 (Clifton-Clyde) might have suffered a data breach involving data of employees or student families.
Other schools across the state of Kansas confirmed that they were also affected in the data breach, in conjunction with schools across the entire country.
The schools became aware when PowerSchool, a software program used for a range of functions, from grading books, personalized learning, insights and analytics, and more, said that PowerSchool contained a breach that happened on December 28 that may have affected the districts.
PowerSchool is used by over 60 million students, 18 thousand school organizations, and used in over 90 countries, according to their website.
Baker and Kelly Struebing, director of operations and technology director of USD 333, sent this official message to families of the districts, “USD 224/USD 333 is serious about protecting the security and privacy of your data. This breach not only violates our expectations for district vendors; it also violates board policy and Kansas law.
“At this time, we have limited information and await additional guidance from PowerSchool officials. Rest assured, we are doing everything we can to learn more and will notify you directly if/when we receive information about how this breach affects you/your family, your data or your next steps.
“The district is working with PowerSchool on how to progress forward and will notify individuals/families directly if they were affected by the breach.”
