Student email accounts hacked; committee votes to let IT study password changes

A Lowell High student told the School Committee on March 5 that two student email accounts were hacked over February break and urged the district to find a security solution. "Over February break, two students had their email accounts hacked and a Google form was sent out to Lowell High School students," Sarika Park said, describing a phish that solicited personal information.

Committee member Mr. Bahu introduced a motion directing the IT department to examine allowing students to change their school email passwords after incidents of unauthorized access; the motion was seconded by Miss Doherty and passed by voice vote. Mr. Bahu said the motion was prompted by a concerned student and that steps such as authentication codes could be considered as a starting point.

The committee also approved a related motion to explore allowing student email accounts to remain active after graduation to support postsecondary access to syllabi and materials; student representative Miss Pratt said continued access would be "beneficial for students because after graduation when they're in college, they can have access to their syllabus...and access to materials that would help them in college." That motion passed by voice vote as well.

Members additionally asked IT to report on the overall security posture of school accounts and whether multifactor authentication or stronger default password requirements could be applied districtwide. No budgetary action was taken at the meeting; both items were requests for staff study and reporting back to the committee.