Parents, students, and teachers across St. Albert are coming to grips this week with a security breach of the web service they use to track grades and make payments.
The St. Albert Public, Greater St. Albert Catholic, Sturgeon Public, and Conseil scolaire Centre-Nord school boards sent notices to parents Jan. 8-9 about a data breach of PowerSchool — an online service used by schools across North America to process fees and distribute information about grades and attendance.
In a letter sent to GSACRD, PowerSchool CEO Hardeep Gulati said that PowerSchool learned of a potential security breach on Dec. 28, 2024, related to its PowerSource customer support website. Investigators later confirmed that someone had used compromised credentials to access data contained in the PowerSchool Student Information System. The company has since informed law enforcement, deactivated the compromised credentials, restricted access to PowerSource, and reset all PowerSource passwords.
“The incident is contained and we have no evidence of malware [or] continued unauthorized activity in the PowerSchool environment,” the letter reads.
In an online post, St. Albert Public said it was one of hundreds of school divisions across North America affected by the breach and had not been specifically targeted.
“We understand that news like this can be unsettling, and we want to assure you that we are doing everything possible to address the situation responsibly and proactively.”
GSACRD officials said the PowerSchool service itself was still operational, and that in its particular case no financial information had been stored or accessed in it.
In an email, Centre-Nord spokesperson Laura Devaney said PowerSchool did not expect this breach to lead to any misuse of personal information or financial harm. The company has promised to provide credit monitoring and identity protection services to Centre-Nord staff, students, and families affected by the breach.
The Gazette will update this story as more information becomes available.
