Spokane Public Schools experience 'cybersecurity incident,' online systems remain down

Spokane Public Schools experienced a “cybersecurity incident” Sunday night, causing online information systems to still be down Tuesday, Superintendent Adam Swinyard said. So far, only district staff have been affected by the incident.

The district informed families Monday morning it experienced a “network security incident” and that several of its systems were taken offline to protect the district. Swinyard said in a media briefing Tuesday that the district’s attendance system, PowerSchool, is down.

“We did school for a very long time without technology, and so our staff are prepared to do that,” he said.

‘We chose to take those systems offline out of an abundance of caution, and we’ll work through our crisis response protocols to understand the scope,” he said.

Swinyard said the investigation has found so far that only district staff were affected. He said it is too early to speculate on the extent of information affected or who might be responsible. Staff has been been notified.

“We’ve responded very swiftly,” Swinyard said. “We had individuals on site working through the issues within hours of the incident being flagged by our reporting system, and we’ll continue to update staff and families as we move forward.”

Communication with teachers and district staff through PowerSchool remains down, but Swinyard encourages parents and guardians to reach out through email or phone if they seek more information.