Back-to-school operations at Evanston Township High School will be impacted this fall by the ransomware attack that occurred June 7, District 202 officials said on Thursday.
Superintendent Marcus Campbell announced the upcoming impacts in an email to families July 16.
“While we are ready and excited to welcome students back, some of the tools, processes, and timelines our families and staff have come to expect will not yet look or function as they have in the past,” Campbell wrote in the email. “Some of these changes reflect our ongoing recovery from the cybersecurity incident, while others represent new systems and processes that will support our district moving forward.”
These changes might include new technology platforms, updated back-to-school procedures, and regular services that might be restored in phases, the email states.
“Families will not need to re-enroll or complete additional steps outside of typical back-to-school practices,” Reine Hanna, spokesperson for the district, wrote in an email to the RoundTable. “There will be some updated processes and new tools introduced for daily operations and school functions this year, and we will share those details with families as part of our back-to-school information.”
According to Hanna, the district continues to work with external cybersecurity experts to investigate if any information may have been accessed by the cyber attackers.
“We do not yet have definite findings,” Hanna wrote. “If the investigation determines that an individual’s personal information was affected, the district will provide notification in accordance with applicable law.”
The work following the attack has focused on both bringing systems back online and rebuilding technology infrastructure in a way that is secure, reliable and built for the future, Campbell wrote.
Details will be shared with families as part of back-to-school information, the district said. ETHS resumes classes on Monday, August 17.
ETHS has not released the ongoing cost of the cyberattack and repair to technology systems, nor has it said who was responsible for the breach (or if they even know) or if the ransomware demand was paid.
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