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Clinton Schools notify families after PowerSchool breach; district outlines credit-monitoring help
Summary
District staff said data accessed in a PowerSchool breach covered student and staff tables from Feb. 2013 through Feb. 2024; adults affected are eligible for two years’ credit monitoring and minors will receive identity protection.
School district staff told the board Feb. 18 that the PowerSchool data breach affecting many North Carolina systems included student and staff tables covering records from Feb. 2013 through the 2023‑24 school year, and described steps families and former students can take to enroll in credit monitoring or identity protection.
John Lowe, a district staff member who presented summary information, said the malicious actors accessed student and staff data tables but that the intrusion was detected and closed before broader systems were taken. He said PowerSchool will provide two years of credit monitoring for individuals who are now adults and identity‑protection services for minors affected at no cost.
Staff emphasized practical steps: Lowe said district notifications include direct links to PowerSchool sign‑up pages because PowerSchool’s outreach is limited to email addresses stored in the old database, and many former students no longer use those addresses. "I waited to send that out until I had the actual links so people could follow my link and sign up for that," he said.
District details: Lowe said approximately 13 staff members who worked for the district between Feb. 2013 and the date the district stopped using PowerSchool had Social Security numbers in the exposed data; those staff members were notified in aggregate and encouraged to enroll in monitoring. District staff also posted federal guidance about freezing credit and other protections.
Why it matters: The district said parents and former students need to act to enroll in monitoring because PowerSchool will only notify email addresses that existed in its historical database. Board members asked about phishing risk; Lowe acknowledged that recipients should be cautious and confirmed the notices from PowerSchool are legitimate.
Next steps: District staff sent a public notice with enrollment links and said they will keep families and staff updated as PowerSchool provides additional instructions.
