Richland online school systems could take ‘several weeks’ to fix. What we know

Richland School District’s online service outage is expected to stretch well into summer break, updates posted this week suggest.

The district cut access to phones and internet Tuesday, June 11, after its IT teams identified “unauthorized access” to some of its computer systems connected to its networks.

Since then, many services for students, teachers and parents have been interrupted. Attendance records, grades and the district’s online portal still remain inaccessible online. Middle school and high school teachers are still working to get grades entered into the system for families to view.

A third-party forensics investigation recently concluded. The district said in a Friday letter to families that cyber specialists “found no evidence that student or staff data was affected” by the breach.

“Our network will remain down as we methodically and securely work on restoring our systems throughout the summer. As the recovery process continues, we will provide updates to our families,” district administrators wrote.

If there was ever a good time for a school district internet outage, it would probably be now.

The last day of the 2023-24 school year was June 12 for Richland. A district spokesperson told the Herald on Friday that a majority of staff won’t be affected because of the summer break.

Another update sent to district staff internally described that it would take “several weeks” to restore certain work functions, including access to Google Drive and OneDrive.

“Throughout the summer, families will be able to reach school principals and administration by email, but response times may vary. We sincerely appreciate your patience,” district staff wrote.

Records requests, applications and other submissions will be processed after the district’s systems are fully restored.

The district has not provided a specific date on when it expects internet and phone functions to be fully restored.