On Feb.11, approximately 620 North and South students and staff were targeted by an email phishing scam, Dr. R.J. Gravel, District Superintendent, said.

Affected students and staff received an email with a form to apply for a job that appeared to come from a district employee, Gravel said. The form requested personal information, leading to messages from the scammers to send messages to individuals, including a photo of a check as a “start-up” cost, Gravel said.

“School districts in our area have experienced an increase in phishing attempts like this one, designed to trick students and staff into sharing personal information,” Gravel said. 

The District Technology Department responded by removing the phishing email from inboxes and blocking access to the form, also informing students and families who interacted with the email, Gravel added. The district is encouraging affected families to review and share a resource from the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA): Recognize and Report Phishing, Ryan Manly, Senior Manager of Technology Services, said. 

“As soon as we became aware of the situation, we acted immediately and

reported the form to Google for fraud,” Manly said. “We are continuing to monitor the situation closely.”

The district encourages online precautions for the safety of students and staff. No district employee would ask for confidential information, and Gravel advises everyone to be alert when receiving an email that appears suspicious. 

“If a message seems unusual or out of character, verify it by calling the sender or speaking with them in person before responding,” Gravel said. “If you receive a questionable email, do not open links or complete forms—even if the message looks similar to forms you have used before.”