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Classes at Des Moines Public Schools will officially resume on Thursday following a "cyber security incident."
"Students should expect an offline learning experience until further notice as internet access and other networked resources will be limited," the district said in a statement.
According to the district, access to Infinite Campus student information is now available and phones are operational.
A limited number of staff will have access to the internet, but WiFi will not be available.
The district was reportedly alerted to "unusual activity" on its network Monday morning. In response, the district preemptively took its internet and network services offline and Tuesday classes were canceled.
“It was a cybersecurity event that we can't confirm yet until we run through all of our diagnostics and all of our protocols to get the forensics back to understand that specifically," DMPS Superintendent Matt Smith said Tuesday. “What I can tell you is we are operating as if it is a ransomware attack just to be sure."
DMPS will propose that Friday, Jan. 20 be the final day of the first semester and Monday, Jan. 23 begin the second semester. Currently, the last day of school is Monday, June. 2.
DMPS Update: Wednesday, Jan. 11
IT staff and consultants are currently investigating the issue.
“When our system is down, it impacts every aspect of our organization," Smith added.
While the district works to resolve the problem, DMPS says it is unable to continue normal operations without access to the network.
"Because many technology tools that support both classroom learning as well as the management and operation of the school district are not available at this time, the prudent decision is to close the district for the day," the district's message reads.
In a Tuesday update, the district said home sporting events for Jan. 10 are canceled due to the issue.
"Offices are open but services are limited," DMPS said.
Wednesday classes were canceled, with the district saying they were "working as quickly as possible to remove all threats from our systems, make sure all servers and devices are safe and clean, and return full functionality so students and staff may return to the classroom."
Regarding the decision to pull the plug on the DMPS network after noticing the threat, Iowa State University Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering Doug Jacobson said that, "Stopping what you're doing gives them a chance to figure out what happened, because now they're in a moment of figuring out what did really happen, what the threat actors were after, data, did they get it?"
But the issue is especially difficult for a school district, that hosts so many programs and resources on their network.
"Everything's online. All the students, all their lessons, all their homework, assignments, everything is disseminated to them online or is collected online," Jacobson said. "All the teachers' lessons are online. You take down these online services, which often operate in the cloud, you can't operate. You're just basically stuck."
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