Press Release- March 26 BOE Special Session

Information Update:  March 26th BOE Special Session:

During the December Board of Education Meeting a community member (Scott King) reported a potential information security breach in the district’s Google Suite management software.  The district was able to determine that a design feature of Google Suite may have allowed for some vulnerabilities where the security/privacy settings are not marked for privacy.  Shortly after, a parent communicated that her child’s IEP had been shared on social media, and this prompted the start of an investigation.

An internal investigation was conducted, as well as a cybersecurity investigation through the district’s cybersecurity insurance company.  The results of those investigations concluded a few days ago, and were shared with the TSD Board of Education.  Upon reviewing the reports, they scheduled a Special School Board Meeting for last evening in order to discuss the information in an executive session, and to also host a public session to share information with the community, make the reports available to the public, and discuss next steps and or discipline.

The investigations revealed that a member of the Talawanda school board (Dawn King), and several students had accessed confidential records that they did not have authorization to review, copy, print, or share.  The records were leaked to a community member who then shared them publicly on facebook.  One of the records was a student’s IEP, and had first been accessed by a school board member.

The parents of the student victim spoke publicly last evening encouraging the School Board to make the investigation reports public, which the School Board voted in favor of doing with a 4-1 vote.  Later in the meeting individual board members expressed their concerns both to the community and to the member who accessed the records.

This morning local law enforcement officials were contacted to evaluate the information and will evaluate the information in regard to it meeting the criteria of a criminal case.  In addition, the district has received multiple public records requests for this information.  The Superintendent of Schools will be sharing a detailed communication with district parents and faculty/staff shortly.