Announcements

 

Excellence Across the County: Chatom Elementary Among Top 11 in Alabama

We are proud to recognize all of our schools in Washington County for performing above the state average on the most recent round of state testing. This achievement is a direct result of the hard work and dedication of our teachers, administrators, students, and families across the county. 

While we celebrate the success of every school, we want to give special recognition to Mr. Ben Jones and the exceptional teachers at Chatom Elementary School for an extraordinary accomplishment. Chatom elementary is one of only 11 schools in the entire state of Alabama to achieve 100% proficiency in both second and third grade reading. 

We are extremely proud of this distinction and what it represents for our students and community. As always, we will continue working together across all schools in our county to help every student grow and improve in their reading skills.

Curtis Kirkland 
Superintendent of Schools

 

SUN Bucks (Summer EBT)

We've received several calls and questions regarding the Alabama SUN Bucks program.

Students are automatically enrolled if they receive any of the following benefits: SNAP, TANF, Medicaid (through the school demonstration project), or are in foster care.

If your child does not receive any of these benefits, you can check their eligibility by going to https://www.alabama-sunbucks.com/#eligibility. Please note that the application deadline is August 15, 2025.

 

Dangerous TikTok Trend Involving Chromebooks

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I want to make you aware of a dangerous trend circulating on TikTok and other social media platforms that poses a serious threat to student safety and school property.

This trend involves inserting metal objects (such as paper clips or pushpins) into Chromebook charging ports or internal components to intentionally cause electrical short circuits. This behavior can result in sparks, battery damage, fires, and serious injury.

Any student found participating in this behavior will be fined for the full replacement cost of the Chromebook, $350, and may face disciplinary action in accordance with Board Policies. There are consequences for willful damage to school property, including possible legal action and loss of device privileges. Expectations for appropriate use of district-issued devices are also detailed in the Washington County Schools Chromebook Policy, available on the district website.

We ask for your help in discussing the dangers of this behavior with your child and reinforcing the importance of treating school property with care and responsibility.

If you have any questions, please contact your child's school office.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Curtis Kirkland
Superintendent of Schools

 

PowerSchool Cybersecurity Incident - Update

TO: Our Community

FROM: Washington County Schools

SUBJECT: An Update from Washington County Schools on the PowerSchool Cybersecurity Incident

Dear families and educators of the Washington County Schools community—

As we previously communicated, PowerSchool – a cloud-based software vendor used by Washington County Schools – recently experienced a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to certain information in the PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS).

We are reaching out to share more information and next steps that we recently received directly from PowerSchool:

•     Notification to Individuals Involved: Starting in the next few weeks, in collaboration with Experian, PowerSchool will provide notice to students (or their parents / guardians if the student is under 18) and educators whose information was involved, as well as a phone number to answer any questions you may have about the incident. The notice will include the identity protection and credit monitoring services offer (as applicable).

•     As soon as PowerSchool learned of the incident, they engaged cybersecurity response protocols and mobilized senior leadership and third-party cybersecurity experts to conduct a forensic investigation of the scope of the incident and to monitor for signs of information misuse. PowerSchool is not aware of any identity theft attributable to this incident.

In the meantime, I encourage you to visit https://www.powerschool.com/security/sis-incident/ for up-to-date information on the cybersecurity incident. We care deeply about the welfare of our Washington County Schools’ families and will continue to do everything we can to support you. Thank you for the important role you play in our community and your shared commitment to putting our students first.

Sincerely,
Curtis Kirkland
Superintendent, Washington County Schools

• Identity Protection and Credit Monitoring Services: PowerSchool has engaged Experian, a trusted credit reporting agency, to offer two years of complimentary identity protection services for all students and educators whose information from our PowerSchool SIS was involved. This offer will also include two years of complimentary credit monitoring services for all adult students and educators whose information was involved.

 

Notice of Cybersecurity Incident

On January 7, 2025, Washington County Schools was informed of a cybersecurity incident involving PowerSchool, the education software provider that manages our district’s student information system. On December 28, 2024, PowerSchool discovered unauthorized access to certain customer information through its PowerSource portal.

 The company has assured us that the breach has been contained, with no evidence of ongoing unauthorized activity or disruptions to operations. However, some personal information, including names, addresses, and email addresses, may have been affected. Importantly, social security numbers were not involved.

 In response, PowerSchool has enhanced its security measures, deactivated compromised credentials, and is offering credit monitoring and identity protection services to certain impacted individuals. Washington County Schools is working closely with PowerSchool and the Alabama State Department of Education to address this issue and ensure affected individuals are informed.

 We will share additional updates as new information becomes available.

 

Student Achievement Data

In order to comply with the accountability law, we have to announce that all achievement data for Washington County Schools may be found at www.alabamaachieves.org, under Reports & Data, School Performance, Proficiency, 2023-2024 ELA Assessment, 2023-2024 Math Assessment, 2023-2024 Science Assessment.  

 

Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA)

The Child Internet Protection Act of 2000 requires local school boards receiving federal funds to hold a public discussion of the network security features that protects students from inappropriate behaviors and websites. The Washington County Board of Education will have an open discussion of our protection features at the regular Board meeting Tuesday, February 27, 2018 beginning at 10:00 AM. The public is invited to participate in the discussion.