To: WISEdata Primary, Secondary, and Generic Contacts and School Directory Technology Contacts for PS Districts
Subject: Join a Town Hall to Ask Questions About FERPA and the PowerSchool Breach
Date: 1/13/25
Dear Wisconsin PowerSchool users,
In late December, PowerSchool suffered a wide-scale data breach of their student information systems (SIS). This breach exposed staff and student data housed within that system. In response, PowerSchool has offered two recent webcasts to learn more about PowerSchool’s mitigation plans and have put together some basic details about the incident.
The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) recognizes that this incident may prompt questions about data privacy, FERPA, and/or any WI-specific obligations that pertain to this incident or others like it. Therefore, the DPI will offer two optional informational town halls for you to ask any questions you might have. The town halls will be facilitated by a FERPA expert from the Department of Education’s Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) and the DPI’s Principal Information Security Officer and CISO, Paul Neff. Please join whichever of the two options below best fit your busy schedule:
Tuesday, January 14, 3:00 PM CST
Thursday, January 16, 10:00 AM CST
Please note that these sessions do not constitute legal advice, and the speakers will not be able to provide legal advice specific to your circumstances. The DPI encourages all impacted parties to consult with your organization’s legal counsel. This is particularly true if your organization retains social security numbers within PowerSchool, as this breach likely triggers specific notification obligations under Wis. Stat. s. 134.98. Please review DPI’s cybersecurity webpage for more information and resources about cyber security and data privacy resources. Please reach out if you need further assistance by opening a WISE help ticket or by emailing securitynotifications@dpi.wi.gov.
Thank you for your kind consideration. We look forward to seeing you there.
Regards,
The DPI Customer Services Team
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