January 8, 2025
Dear Families and Staff of the Portage la Prairie School Division,
We are writing to inform you that on January 7, 2025, the Portage la Prairie School Division was notified by our student information system (SIS) provider, PowerSchool, that a cybersecurity event had occurred in late December and that some of our PowerSchool data was accessed. PowerSchool, not the Portage la Prairie School Division, was the target of the cybersecurity event. PowerSchool customers across Canada and the United States have been impacted, including the Portage la Prairie School Division. We are working with PowerSchool to ensure the integrity and stability of our data going forward.
To this point, PowerSchool has worked with cybersecurity experts to resolve the situation. PowerSchool has deactivated accounts and initiated enhanced processes for passwords and access. PowerSchool has provided us with assurances that the accessed data has now been deleted. Furthermore, PowerSchool has confidence that the data was not copied or uploaded elsewhere. PowerSchool is actively engaged with cybersecurity professionals to continue to monitor this event.
Portage la Prairie School Division has taken the necessary preliminary steps to respond to this situation, which includes involving the appropriate professionals. No other school division systems or data was accessed or compromised.
We are investigating this cybersecurity event's impact on the Portage la Prairie School Division. At this time, we believe that the data accessed included information about students, particularly contact information, as well as staff names and work email addresses. No banking information was accessed, and no images of students were accessed.
Please be assured that the safety and security of our data—particularly the information of your children and of our staff is of paramount importance to us and to PowerSchool. We regret that this has occurred, and we will continue to collaborate on this matter.
We are committed to continuing to communicate with you. As we learn more, we will contact you and our community. We will also post communication on our website and social media. The division is committed to responding to questions from families and staff in the coming days.
Regards,
Pamela Garnham
Superintendent/Secretary-Treasurer/CEO
Portage la Prairie School Division
