Administration updates board: PowerSchool breach, preliminary budget figures and summer Bell Scholar program
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Summary
District staff told the board Wethersfield was not affected by a recent PowerSchool data breach, outlined early 2025–26 budget planning assumptions and described a summer YMCA Bell Scholar program that will serve about 36 students at Hanmer Elementary.
At the Wethersfield Board of Education meeting, Michael Emmett, staff member, gave several administrative updates including a vendor cybersecurity incident, early budget assumptions for the 2025–26 school year, and summer program planning.
Emmett said a recent PowerSchool vendor breach prompted inquiries but that Wethersfield had "no data compromised." He said PowerSchool will provide a forensic report and thanked the district IT team for its response.
On budgeting, Emmett said the district is developing the 2025–26 budget and that preliminary figures discussed with principals and department leaders include contractual obligations and a conservative 6% health‑insurance increase. He said the administration is considering an ELL coordinator position, rolling a high‑school social worker from a grant to the operating budget (the grant is ending), and a request for one security guard assigned to each elementary school (five guards total). He said, based on those items, the district was looking at an approximate budget increase of about 4.25 percent; he also cautioned that principals’ identified needs exceed that preliminary figure.
Emmett described a planned summer YMCA Bell Scholar Program that will operate at Hanmer Elementary and serve about 36 students with a full‑day, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., academic support program. He said the Y will employ staff for the program and that district staff could work for the Y if interested. Emmett also told the board the town installed fencing at Catone Field over the holiday break to improve spectator‑athlete separation and safety.
Emmett said the district is planning for the summer with an eye toward the upcoming superintendent transition, noting possible town building projects such as a chiller project at Silas Deane that could require temporary relocations.
Board members asked clarifying questions and thanked staff for the updates; Emmett said further budget work and formal proposals will follow.
