The Slater Theater Program is back at it! Yesterday, the cast of 12 Angry Jurors gathered for their first table read! Mark your calendars for the performance on May 2nd—you won’t want to miss it!
Dear Slate Valley Families and Staff,
We received an update from Powerschool relative to the data breach that occurred in December and wanted to pass the information along to you. The message from Powerschool is below:
Dear Valued Customers,
I am writing today to inform you that our investigation and data review into the scope of the cybersecurity incident has continued in earnest. As part of our commitment to keeping you informed, we are reaching out with an update on the latest steps we have taken in response to this incident and what you can expect over the coming days.
Importantly, this message requires no action on your part and serves simply as an update.
This afternoon, PowerSchool began the process of filing state attorneys general notifications across applicable U.S. jurisdictions on behalf of customers who did not opt-out of our offer to do so. PowerSchool has also started the process of notifying Canadian regulators.
For our U.S. customers, you may also have notification requirements with your state’s Department of Education. Since many customers have already notified and are in close contact with their state’s Department of Education, PowerSchool will defer to you on making these notifications.
In the coming days, PowerSchool will begin providing formal legal notice of the cybersecurity incident to current and former students (or their parents / guardians as applicable) and educators whose information was determined to be involved.
A direct email notification will be distributed by Experian on behalf of PowerSchool in the coming weeks to applicable current and former students (or their parents / guardians as applicable) and educators for whom we have sufficient contact information. PowerSchool will also launch a website and distribute a media release to ensure we reach as many involved individuals as possible and provide them with resources to protect their information. Importantly, these notices will include instructions for involved individuals on how to enroll in the credit monitoring and identity protection services that are being offered by PowerSchool.
PowerSchool will also be providing you with communications materials to help navigate conversations with families and educators as part of our effort to support you with the expected inquiries from your community members.
Thank you for your ongoing patience and partnership.
Hardeep Gulati
Chief Executive Officer, PowerSchool
Last Night’s Slate Valley Community Advisory Council Recap:
Thank you to everyone who joined us for an engaging evening of conversation with local legislators! A special thank you to Senator Weeks, Senator Hardy, Senator Williams, Representative Canfield and Representative Harvey who spoke with over 20 community members about the Governor’s proposed education funding plan and its potential timeline.
Key topics included:
📚 Mental Health in Schools: Concerns were raised about the strain on public schools and how the new plan will address this critical issue.
🏫 Consolidation Worries: Community members voiced concerns about long bus rides, board representation, curriculum decisions, and federal funding cuts.
💡 Budget Challenges: Representatives emphasized the importance of continuing to engage voters and work on explaining tax impacts ahead of the local budget vote.
It was an informative and productive discussion. The Community Advisory Council hopes to meet again in March with legislators and review updates.
Slater wrestler Liam Robinson achieved a remarkable milestone on Saturday, January 25th, at the Mt. Greylock Invitational, becoming the 22nd Slater to secure 100 career wins! Congratulations to Liam and his family on this outstanding accomplishment—an incredible testament to hard work, dedication, and skill.
Registration for spring sports is open. Please go to https://formreleaf.com/ or click on the “Registration” link on the athletics webpage and choose your sport of choice. Sports offered in the spring in Slate Valley are Baseball, Softball and Track & Field for Middle School and High School.
Get ready for our Annual District Food Drive, kicking off this Monday, January 27th!
Last week, Mr. Shawn Hadwen, Financial Advisor for Edward Jones in Fair Haven, VT came in to speak to the Adulting class about the benefits and risks of investing, the Rule of 72, the S&P 500 Index, and online brokerage firms. Mr. Hadwen answered questions from the students about when to begin investing, how much to invest, and how often to invest. We look forward to having Mr. Hadwen back next semester to speak to a new group of students!
On January 10th, The Outdoor Pursuits students embraced the cold, tackling a 4-mile hike up Snake Mountain. In science class, they’ve been exploring concepts like convection, conduction, and radiation, and they put that knowledge to the test by learning how to choose the best insulation for staying warm outdoors. And the reward for their efforts? A breathtaking view from the summit!
On Wednesday, January 8th, Mr. Greenlese and Mr. Kelson welcomed Sergeant Proudy from the Vermont National Guard to help students perform the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) in their physical education classes. This test not only maintains the physical and mental well-being of soldiers to ensure readiness, but it also plays a large role in the Army’s fitness culture.
Normally, the ACFT consists of 6 different tests; The 3 rep max deadlift, the hand release push up test, plank test, sprint-drag-carry test, the standing power throw, and the 2 mile run. Students were only able to complete 3 of the 6 tests during our time; The hand release push-up, the sprint-drag-carry test, and the standing power throw.
The students did a great job giving their all to see how they would perform on these tests!
Fair Haven Union Middle School students in the Project Build class are hard at work crafting custom lecterns for Fair Haven Grade School! It's yet another wonderful display of teamwork, creativity, and skill-building in support of a fellow school! #weareslatevalley
FHUMHS will be practicing an ALICE drill in the upcoming days. The purpose of the drill is to help students understand the best options if there is ever an emergency within the school environment.
Please feel free to contact the school if you would like to learn more about our safety procedures.
🎉This Sunday: Basket Raffle Fundraiser 🎉
📅 Date: Sunday, January 26, 2025
🕙 Doors Open: 10:00 AM
🕛 Basket Raffle Drawings: 12:00 PM
📍 Location: Fair Haven Union Middle and High School
Join us for an exciting Basket Raffle to support the Fair Haven Union Class of 2028!
Enjoy a wide variety of beautifully themed baskets, perfect for all ages and interests. Come early to browse, grab some tickets, and increase your chances to win!
Your participation helps fund important activities for the Class of 2028. Let’s make it a success together!
Spread the word, bring your friends and family, and we’ll see you there!
Congratulations to our indoor track and field seniors, Caden Lynch and Rowan Kuehn, for their outstanding performances at Saturday's Vermont Division II State Throwing Championships in St. Johnsbury!
Caden captured the Division II boys’ weight throw title with an impressive throw of 13.44 meters. Fellow Slaters Brady Niklasson earned third place with a throw of 12.85 meters, while Alex Messer secured seventh.
Rowan claimed the Division II girls’ weight throw championship with a remarkable toss of 10.42 meters. Teammates Amelia Munger and Morgan Oakman also delivered strong performances, finishing third (8.82 meters) and seventh, respectively.
Congratulations to Caden and Rowan for their exceptional achievements and for earning their well-deserved spots on the Slater Wall of Champions!
Congratulations to Slater senior Gabe Bache for etching his name into the record books as the 21st Slater wrestler to achieve the remarkable milestone of 100 career wins! This hard-earned accomplishment is a testament to Gabe's dedication, skill, and perseverance. A big congratulations to Gabe and his family on this outstanding achievement!
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
The rosters for Vermont’s 2025 Lions Cup Twin State Soccer Games have been announced, highlighting the top recently graduated high school players from both Vermont and New Hampshire. These annual all-star matchups showcase the best talent from each state, and the competition is always a thrilling event.
Congratulations to Slaters standouts Maddy Perry and Jace Hetrick for being selected to represent Vermont in these prestigious games.
Slaters Head Coach Teri Perry will also be involved as an assistant coach for the girls' team.
The date and location for the Lions Cup games are yet to be confirmed.
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.
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.