Edmonton-area school divisions affected by PowerSchool breach [Video]

Edmonton’s Catholic and St. Albert’s Catholic and public school divisions are among the school boards in multiple provinces that have been affected by a data breach of their student information system vendor.

In a notice emailed to families on Wednesday afternoon and in a statement posted to the division’s website, Edmonton Catholic School Division (ECSD) said it was working with U.S.-based PowerSchool to determine exactly what data was accessed.

Families can use the cloud software to check their child’s grades or pay school fees, although ECSD said “no financial information was accessed or is stored in PowerSchool.”

“PowerSchool has assured us that the incident is contained and that they’ve strengthened their security measures to prevent future breaches. PowerSchool’s operations remain unaffected, and service continues as usual,” ECSD’s statement read.

“Additionally, you do not need to change your password as login information is not impacted.”

St. Albert Public Schools families were also told by email that financial data …