Cascade Brook School Principal Dr. Nichole Goodspeed, pictured here in 2023, updates the RSU 9 board of directors on the school’s recognition by BARR and MDOE, while Superintendent Christian Elkington provides details on the recent PowerSchool data breach during the Jan. 28 meeting. File photo/Franklin Journal

FARMINGTON — At the Regional School Unit 9 board of directors meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 28, Cascade Brook School Principal Dr. Nichole Goodspeed shared exciting news about the school’s recent recognition by BARR [Building Assets, Reducing Risks] and the Maine Department of Education [MDOE].

“I am super excited to share some good news with you,” Goodspeed said. “Our school is being recognized, along with the middle school, by BARR and the MDOE. They are coming to visit our school and the middle school on Feb. 12, so we are going to have people from the MDOE visit and I guess some executives from BARR come to our school and observe our teachers doing some of the things – small group, community connect and doing some U-time. So we are pretty excited about that.”

BARR’s U-Time [K-5] and I-Time [6-12] are 30-minute sessions focused on strengthening connections between students and staff.

Goodspeed also announced that despite a budget freeze, she and a team member received full scholarships to attend the national BARR conference.

“Back in the fall, I put in a proposal to have some of my community connect team present at the national BARR conference,” she said. “And we got accepted to present there, but then we had a budget freeze. So we decided that we were going to pass this year, but we found out today that two of my team members, including myself, got full scholarships to go to the conference, including everything. It’s during vacation week, so there are no subs [substitute teachers] involved. We are excited, and we are going to go.”

Goodspeed commended the teachers for their willingness to showcase their work, adding, “The teachers at Cascade Brook School are amazing. We asked them who wanted to do U-Times, and we had teachers volunteer, knowing there’s going to be like maybe ten people standing there watching them do it. So we’re pretty excited, and you should be really proud of the teachers and the students at Cascade Brook.”

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Data Breach

During the meeting, RSU 9 Superintendent Christian Elkington’s report provided an update on a data breach involving PowerSchool, the district’s student information system which was first reported on Jan. 7.

Elkington stated the district is still awaiting a full report from PowerSchool and the cybersecurity firm assisting them, with an expected release soon.

Elkington cautioned that the breach might increase the risk of phishing attempts. “Please don’t just be on the lookout for someone possibly claiming to be from PowerSchool,” he warned. “It’s more likely to be someone pretending to be something or someone else and is trying to use our contact information to convince us to send them money, etc.”

According to Elkington, PowerSchool has assured the district that it is safe to continue using the system and that the breach has been contained.

“Their response team stated, ‘We have taken all appropriate steps to prevent the data involved from further unauthorized access or misuse. We do not anticipate the data being shared or made public, and we believe it has been deleted without further sharing,’” he reported.

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The breach occurred when a compromised credential allowed unauthorized access to PowerSchool’s Support Portal. The hackers downloaded data tables containing personally identifiable information [PII] of staff and students, including names, addresses, birthdates, grade levels, and medical alert information. However, Elkington emphasized that social security numbers and financial data were not compromised.

“PowerSchool has hired a cybersecurity firm to provide monitoring services to ensure that none of the stolen data reappears in the future,” he said.

Elkington advised parents, staff, and students to remain vigilant for phishing attempts and to report suspicious emails, calls, or messages immediately.

PowerSchool is expected to provide additional resources for those affected, which will be shared as soon as they become available, he said.

For further updates, RSU 9 will continue to communicate with parents and staff as more details emerge about the breach.

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