Providence’s Refusal to Acknowledge Sensitive Student Data Leak Feels Familiar
There’s an innate tension between school safety and students’ civil rights. The 74’s Mark Keierleber keeps you up to date on the news you need to know
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Medusa’s back at it.
The cybergang, which has become notorious for devastating ransomware attacks on K-12 school systems, has claimed the Providence, Rhode Island, district as its latest victim, leaking tens of thousands of sensitive student records on its Telegram channel.
Yet the district remains unaware — or is perhaps unwilling to admit — that students’ private affairs have entered the public domain. Sexual misconduct reports. Special education records. Medical records. Vaccine histories. All are available with a Google search and a few mouse clicks.
So why won’t the district acknowledge to parents and students that their information was stolen? It’s a refusal I’ve seen repeated again and again while reporting on school cyberattacks over the last few years.
Earlier this month, the Providence district spokesman told reporters that an ongoing investigation had uncovered “no evidence that any personal information for students has been impacted.” Yet when The 74 presented the district this week with evidence to the contrary, he doubled down. Third-party consultants are conducting “a comprehensive review” to determine what files were stolen, he told The 74 without uttering the word “student.”
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The files have been available for download for nearly a month. The state education department spokesperson told me — in an unsolicited phone call this week after catching wind of my latest investigation — that nobody (except me, apparently) was previously able to access the breached records.
“No one had actually gone in to see the files,” he said.
Click here to read my latest story on the K-12 ransomware beat. And thank you to our partners at The Boston Globe for co-publishing our story Friday.
In the news
As Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City and a former police officer, faces not one but four (!) criminal investigations, federal agents searched the offices of the city police department’s school safety division. The raid was part of an inquiry into a possible bribery scheme involving a company that sells panic buttons to districts nationwide. | The New York Times
‘Black girls were always the ones who got disciplined’: Black girls face harsher and more frequent disciplinary actions than their white female classmates — in the same schools and for similar behaviors — according to a new Government Accountability Office report on racial disparities in student suspensions. | The 74
Kids who are removed from their homes for abuse or neglect routinely find themselves sleeping in the offices of child protective services. Here’s how often it happens in Indiana. | Indianapolis Star
‘I’ve got to finish up my school shooter outfit, just kidding’: Prosecutors say the father of a teenager accused of unleashing a deadly mass shooting at his Georgia high school knew the boy was obsessed with previous gunmen — and had a shrine above his bed to the school shooter in Parkland, Florida. | Associated Press
Specialized schools in Michigan that serve students with complex behavioral issues routinely call the cops for backup. The frequent calls, critics argue, offer evidence the schools are failing the kids they’re designed to help. | Detroit Free Press
How DACA helps everyone: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — the Obama-era policy that provides deportation relief to undocumented immigrants who entered the country as young children — is a boon for U.S.-born kids, a new study suggests. The program “improves test scores and educational attainment not only for those directly eligible, but also for their peers.” | Brookings Institution
How a 15-word statement led to the arrest of a 10-year-old boy with autism at his Texas elementary school. | The Dallas Morning News
The Massachusetts attorney general’s office has sued TikTok, alleging the social media company knew its service was addictive to teens and was associated with sleep disruption, depression and anxiety. | Axios
Nov. 5 is approaching … And schools worry about the safety of their students when their campuses are used as polling locations. | NPR
Utah lawmakers earmarked $100 million for schools to meet new security requirements, including panic buttons, locks and armed guards. The actual price tag? $800 million. | KSL
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Emotional Support
Leo, who lives with my colleague Jo Napolitano, came prepared for school photo day.
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