PowerSchool data breach included central Ohio schools' student data
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Several central Ohio school districts have confirmed student, family and educator data may have been accessed in a data breach of a popular student information software.
PowerSchool is a student information system that can be used by school districts to organize student data, including grades, home addresses and family contacts. PowerSchool experienced a data breach on Dec. 28, 2024, and has said the incident has been contained, according to Marysville Superintendent Diane Allen.
Along with Marysville schools, students at Big Walnut, Westerville, Upper Arlington and Reynoldsburg schools have also confirmed they were affected. The breach was worldwide, but multiple districts reported PowerSchool has provided video evidence of the hackers deleting the information, and they do not anticipate it will be or has been duplicated, leaked or sold.
Upper Arlington said it knows data from the student and teacher information tables were exported, but noted the district does not use all of the fields available to store information. For instance, Chief Excellence and Engagement Officer Denise Lutz said they typically do not use social security data on PowerSchool, except for a select number who had legacy data merged into their accounts. Lutz said those students, both current and recent, have been made aware of their social security information being compromised.
Tim Wagner, executive director of business and operations for Reynoldsburg, said most of the information accessed for Reynoldsburg students were names and addresses. Wagner said some demographic information, free and reduced lunch status, and medical information were affected.
Westerville City Schools confirmed the district does not store social security information in PowerSchool. NBC4 is awaiting responses from several other districts.
Columbus City Schools, Dublin schools and Gahanna Jefferson have confirmed they do not use PowerSchool, and therefore were not affected.