Grades Manipulated in Illinois School District; Employee Placed On Leave

The Abingdon-Avon School District says it discovered unauthorized changes to student grade point averages along with other data breaches, including someone who broke into and copied emails. 

Officials say an unnamed employee has been placed on leave. 

The following is a school district statement that was posted to its website:  

Around the first of the year, the school district discovered several changes to its student information management system which resulted in unauthorized changes to student grade point averages.  While the changes were tracked down and resolved, the unauthorized nature of the changes caused the school administration and board concern, and the school hired a consulting firm to investigate the changes.

During the investigation, other unauthorized activity was uncovered, including unauthorized access and copying of certain employees’ emails.  The school district has placed an employee on leave and has begun the process of assuring school district data is safe.  The school district is working with professional technology assistance to assure its data systems are secure for the future, and has begun the process of notifying those whose data was breached.