Letter from Secretary Zoie Saunders:
Dear Slate Valley Unified Union School District Community,
We recently informed you that our district was affected by the PowerSchool data breach, which has garnered national media attention. We take data privacy very seriously, which is why we work with vendors who commit to robust data privacy practices in their contracts through the Student Data Policy Consortium. We expect PowerSchool to fulfill its obligations, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely and follow up as needed to ensure a resolution.
PowerSchool has notified us that the breached data primarily includes parent and guardian contact information for students, such as names, phone numbers and addresses. In some cases across their customer base, personally identifiable information (PII) for students, such as Social Security numbers (SSNs) and medical details (e.g., medical alerts required to ensure student safety, like life-threatening food allergies), was also affected. PowerSchool is currently conducting an urgent investigation to determine if any PII specific to our students was compromised, with a goal of starting notifications to affected parties in the next few weeks.
It’s important to note that Slate Valley does not store Social Security numbers in our PowerSchool database, so this is not a concern for our district based on the current details of the incident. Any staff data that we believe to have been compromised at this time was limited to directory information.
Protecting our students’ information is our top priority. With PowerSchool’s assistance, we will share more information and resources as they become available. If applicable, this may include credit monitoring or identity protection services.
PowerSchool has also created a general information page about this incident, which you can access here: SIS Incident | PowerSchool.
For additional support, here are some resources on identity theft:
Vermont Attorney General’s Office: Identity Theft Resources
Federal Trade Commission: Protect Your Child from Identity Theft
Thank you for your understanding as we work through this matter.
Sincerely,
Brooke Olsen-Farrell
Superintendent
1st Grade stained glass.
Kindergarteners loved having free time to color on this half day.
Girl Scout Troop #63444 worked on their first aid badge
Kindergarten earned a coloring and a dance party!
1st Grade!
Recess!!!!
Board Meeting - January 13, 2025
You’re invited to the Slate Valley Unified Union School District Board Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Fair Haven Grade School Library.
This meeting will be in person. Virtually connect by going to:
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/aux-bhia-ezu
Or dial: (US) +1 650-735-3957 PIN: 163 604 574#
Please note: To participate in conversation virtually and/or ask a question virtually, please use the “raise hand” icon in Google Meet. Typing responses or questions in chat is not an option.
Hat Day!
Hat Day!
Hat Day!
Hat Day!
Hat Day!
Announcement: Cybersecurity Breach
Dear Slate Valley Families and Staff,
Slate Valley Unified Union School District was informed late yesterday about a cybersecurity breach involving our student information system vendor, PowerSchool. While we have limited details at this time, we want to share the attached letter from PowerSchool in the interest of full disclosure. We take this news seriously as it pertains to the security of private information. We will be providing more information as it is made available.
To clarify, this issue does not involve a data breach within Slate Valley but rather a data breach originating from PowerSchool. Furthermore, it affects a significant number of school districts across the country and state and is not limited to Slate Valley alone.
Thank you for your patience as we work to learn more about this situation.
Sincerely,
Brooke Olsen-Farrell
Superintendent of Schools
Notification from PowerSchool:
Dear Valued Customer,
As the Technical Contact for your district or school, we are reaching out to inform you that on December 28, 2024, PowerSchool became aware of a potential cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to certain information through one of our community-focused customer support portals, PowerSource. Over the succeeding days, our investigation determined that an unauthorized party gained access to certain PowerSchool Student Information System (“SIS”) customer data using a compromised credential, and we regret to inform you that your data was accessed.
Please review the following information and be sure to share this with relevant security individuals at your organization.
As soon as we learned of the potential incident, we immediately engaged our cybersecurity response protocols and mobilized a cross-functional response team, including senior leadership and third-party cybersecurity experts. We have also informed law enforcement.
We can confirm that the information accessed belongs to certain SIS customers and relates to families and educators, including those from your organization. The unauthorized access point was isolated to our PowerSource portal. As the PowerSource portal only permits access to the SIS database, we can confirm no other PowerSchool products were affected as a result of this incident.
Importantly, the incident is contained, and we have no evidence of malware or continued unauthorized activity in the PowerSchool environment. PowerSchool is not experiencing, nor expects to experience, any operational disruption and continues to provide services as normal to our customers.
Rest assured, we have taken all appropriate steps to prevent the data involved from further unauthorized access or misuse. We do not anticipate the data being shared or made public, and we believe it has been deleted without any further replication or dissemination.
We have also deactivated the compromised credential and restricted all access to the affected portal. Lastly, we have conducted a full password reset and further tightened password and access control for all PowerSource customer support portal accounts.
PowerSchool is committed to working diligently with customers to communicate with your educators, families, and other stakeholders. We are equipped to conduct a thorough notification process to all impacted individuals. Over the coming weeks, we ask for your patience and collaboration as we work through the details of this notification process.
We have taken all appropriate steps to further prevent the exposure of information affected by this incident. While we are unaware of and do not expect any actual or attempted misuse of personal information or any financial harm to impacted individuals as a result of this incident, PowerSchool will be providing credit monitoring to affected adults and identity protection services to affected minors in accordance with regulatory and contractual obligations. The particular information compromised will vary by impacted customer. We anticipate that only a subset of impacted customers will have notification obligations.
In the coming days, we will provide you with a communications package to support you in engaging with families, teachers and other stakeholders about this incident. The communications package will include tailored outreach emails, talking points, and a robust FAQ so that district and school leadership can confidently discuss this incident with your community.
Pre K's obstacle course and some gross motor fun.
Cookies & Conversation
Cookies and Conversations at Benson Village School 🍪
Today a group of students at BVS had a special treat! Superintendent Brooke Olsen-Farrell and Director of Curriculum Casey O'Meara sat down with students for a fun and meaningful "Cookies and Conversations" event. As part of an initiative to foster open dialogue and build connections, the two leaders gathered with students in the library where everyone enjoyed cookies while discussing everything from their favorite subjects to ideas for improving the school.
Reppin' The Bears!
Lunchtime!
