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Superintendent briefs board on PowerSchool breach, Meeting Street scholarships and enrollment dip
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Dy Brown told the board the December PowerSchool unauthorized sign-on prompted state and law-enforcement notifications and that PowerSchool will offer two years of free credit monitoring. The board also heard that Meeting Street Scholarship funding will include Bamberg County and that district enrollment fell below 1,800 due in part to eight early graduates.
Superintendent Dr. Dy Brown informed the board Feb. 3 that a December unauthorized sign-on to PowerSchool affected the district and that the vendor and state officials took immediate containment and notification steps.
"This is nothing that the district did," Dr. Brown said, explaining that PowerSchool locked access, notified the State Department of Education and began statewide notifications. She added that PowerSchool is offering two years of free credit monitoring to affected individuals and that the state supplied template letters the district used to notify faculty, staff, students and families.
At the same time, the board heard that the Meeting Street Scholarship Fund selected Bamberg County as one of 14 districts participating in its scholarship selection process. Administrators described eligibility as tied to being in the top 30 of the class, meeting ACT/SAT cut scores, and qualifying for the state Life Scholarship or Palmetto Fellows, and said the scholarship will match the Life Scholarship in dollar value.
Dr. Brown also reported district enrollment dipped below 1,800 for the first time this year, noting the decline is partly due to eight students who graduated early in December and therefore were removed from enrollment counts.
