Providence鈥檚 Refusal to Acknowledge Sensitive Student Data Leak Feels Familiar
There鈥檚 an innate tension between school safety and students鈥� civil rights. 社区黑料鈥檚 Mark Keierleber keeps you up to date on the news you need to know
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Medusa鈥檚 back at it.
The cybergang, which has become notorious for devastating ransomware attacks on K-12 school systems, has claimed the Providence, Rhode Island, district as its latest victim, leaking tens of thousands of sensitive student records on its Telegram channel.
Yet the district remains unaware 鈥� or is perhaps unwilling to admit 鈥� that students鈥� private affairs have entered the public domain. Sexual misconduct reports. Special education records. Medical records. Vaccine histories. All are available with a Google search and a few mouse clicks.
So why won鈥檛 the district acknowledge to parents and students that their information was stolen? It鈥檚 a refusal I鈥檝e seen repeated again and again while reporting on school cyberattacks over the last few years.
Earlier this month, the Providence district spokesman told reporters that an ongoing investigation had uncovered that any personal information for students has been impacted.鈥� Yet when 社区黑料 presented the district this week with evidence to the contrary, he doubled down. Third-party consultants are conducting 鈥渁 comprehensive review鈥� to determine what files were stolen, he told 社区黑料 without uttering the word 鈥渟tudent.鈥�
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The files have been available for download for nearly a month. The state education department spokesperson told me 鈥� in an unsolicited phone call this week after catching wind of my latest investigation 鈥� that nobody (except me, apparently) was previously able to access the breached records.
鈥淣o one had actually gone in to see the files,鈥� he said.
Click here to read my latest story on the K-12 ransomware beat. And thank you to our partners at The Boston Globe our story Friday.
In the news
As Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City and a former police officer, faces not one but four (!) criminal investigations, federal agents searched the offices of the city police department鈥檚 school safety division. The raid was part of an inquiry into a possible bribery scheme involving a company that sells panic buttons to districts nationwide. |
鈥楤lack girls were always the ones who got disciplined鈥�: Black girls face harsher and more frequent disciplinary actions than their white female classmates 鈥� in the same schools and for similar behaviors 鈥� according to a new Government Accountability Office report on racial disparities in student suspensions. | 社区黑料
Kids who are removed from their homes for abuse or neglect routinely find themselves sleeping in the offices of child protective services. Here鈥檚 how often it happens in Indiana. |
鈥業鈥檝e got to finish up my school shooter outfit, just kidding鈥�: Prosecutors say the father of a teenager accused of unleashing a deadly mass shooting at his Georgia high school knew the boy was obsessed with previous gunmen 鈥� and had a shrine above his bed to the school shooter in Parkland, Florida. |
Specialized schools in Michigan that serve students with complex behavioral issues routinely call the cops for backup. The frequent calls, critics argue, offer evidence the schools are failing the kids they鈥檙e designed to help. |
How DACA helps everyone: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals 鈥� the Obama-era policy that provides deportation relief to undocumented immigrants who entered the country as young children 鈥� is a boon for U.S.-born kids, a new study suggests. The program 鈥渋mproves test scores and educational attainment not only for those directly eligible, but also for their peers.鈥� |
How a 15-word statement led to the arrest of a 10-year-old boy with autism at his Texas elementary school. |
The Massachusetts attorney general鈥檚 office has sued TikTok, alleging the social media company knew its service was addictive to teens and was associated with sleep disruption, depression and anxiety. |
Nov. 5 is approaching 鈥� And schools worry about the safety of their students when their campuses are used as polling locations. |
Utah lawmakers earmarked $100 million for schools to meet new security requirements, including panic buttons, locks and armed guards. The actual price tag? $800 million. |
ICYMI @The74
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L.A. Housing Crisis Hits LAUSD as Number of Homeless Students Continues to Grow
NYC Schools Launch Anti-Hate Hotline as Antisemitism and Islamophobia Reports Rise
Banned Books Find Shelter in Maryland 鈥楽anctuary Library鈥�
Emotional Support
Leo, who lives with my colleague Jo Napolitano, came prepared for school photo day.
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