We are writing to provide another update on the cyber incident involving PowerSchool’s Student Information System – the application used by Wellington Catholic District School Board and many school boards across North America to store certain student and staff information.
This incident has affected current and former students and staff. Please note that we will also be posting this notice on our website to notify Wellington Catholic District School Board’s former students and staff who may be affected.
As previously reported, PowerSchool has noted that it received confirmation that the data acquired by the unauthorized user was deleted and that the data was not posted online.
What Happened
On January 7, 2025, PowerSchool informed Wellington Catholic District School Board and other school boards throughout the province that it had experienced a cyber incident affecting Wellington Catholic District School Board. Since then, we have been working with PowerSchool and internal and external experts to determine the precise information that was affected.
What Information Was Affected
We have concluded our analysis and can confirm that limited student and staff information was compromised as part of this incident.
For all students who have been enrolled in Wellington Catholic District School Board since September 1996, the information affected includes name, date of birth, address, gender, OEN (Ontario Education Number), guardian contact name and phone number, and emergency contact name and phone number.
For some students the following additional information was also affected: medical conditions, doctor’s name, and custody information for students enrolled between 2013 and 2025.
For a very limited number of students (i.e., less than 30 students) enrolled between 2000 and 2015, Social Insurance Numbers (SIN) were impacted. If your SIN was impacted, we will notify you directly.
With respect to medical alert information, if you provided information to your child’s school about your child’s allergies, medical conditions or injuries when completing the start of school year forms, this information was included in the data that may have been accessed or acquired. Please note that medical information provided to members of Wellington Catholic District School Board’s Student Support Services team (e.g., Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Audiologists, Speech-Language Pathologists, and Social Workers) was not impacted by this incident.
This incident did not result in the compromise of any of the following information: financial information, student academic grades or Individual Education Plans (IEPs).
For some staff who have worked in Wellington Catholic District School Board since 2013, the information affected includes name, address and educator number.
For a very limited number of staff (i.e., less than 5 staff) who have worked in Wellington Catholic District School Board, the information affected includes Social Insurance Numbers (SIN). If your SIN was affected, we will notify you directly.
We have also prepared an FAQ regarding this incident, and we encourage you to visit that here PowerSchool Cyber Incident - Wellington Catholic District School Board. You can also find an FAQ from PowerSchool here: https://www.powerschool.com/security/sis-incident/.
The Wellington Catholic District School Board has reported this incident to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC), and the IPC has opened an investigation file. While you are entitled to file a complaint, the IPC has advised that it is not necessary as they are already investigating the matter. You can visit the IPC’s website at www.ipc.on.ca.
If you wish to have more information about this incident, we invite you to contact us at [email protected]. Please understand that those who contact Wellington Catholic District School Board regarding this incident will need to verify their identity before we can release information about the specific impact to their information.
We appreciate your patience and understanding at this time and sincerely regret any concern this has caused you.