HAVERHILL, MASS. (WHDH) - Haverhill Public Schools students in second through fourth grade will return to in-person learning Friday after a ransomware attack delayed their return to the classroom.
The attack made its way into 140 computers across the district sometime Wednesday, leaving the IT department scrambling to turn everything off once they discovered the hack, according to Superintendent Margaret Marotta.
“Several of them jumped out of bed and came into work before dawn the other morning and quickly shut down the system and began to try to determine what was going on,” she said.
The district canceled classes Thursday as the IT department worked with Haverhill police and Homeland Security to correct the issue.
This frustrated some parents on what was supposed to be the first full day of in-person learning for second through fourth grade students.
“I’m so stressed out,” one woman said. “I have to go home and get stuff done. I just had no idea. It’s just not a good start to the day.”
Other parents took the cancellation in stride.
“It really was just another day off for him,” parent Jason McLaughlin said. “He got to rake the yard and tomorrow he’s kind of happy he doesn’t have to.”
Students in second through fourth grade joined those in kindergarten and first grade for in-person learning Friday, while students in fifth through 12th grade remain remote.
Marotta says she is thankful the ransomware attack was caught early enough to avoid serious damage to the system.
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