Administrators with the Carroll County School District are working to put the district back online after every computer in the district had to be cleared of viruses, and, as of late, the district is still experiencing issues.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Wendy Hubbard told board members at their meeting on Nov. 7 that the district was currently offline because of viruses and that some of their servers had ransonware—software that locks up your entire computer that isn’t released until a ransom is paid.
Hubbard said those were on the old Vaiden High School servers, but it did not affect all of the servers and those should be okay.
“This didn’t happen overnight. It’s been over time. People opening things, and there may be a virus attached or going to sites that they shouldn’t be going to while at school,” she said.
Hubbard said because the district has so many viruses, they were taken offline of the Mississippi Department of Education’s internet.
“They told us, ‘Until you get your viruses removed, we can’t put you back online,’” Hubbard said. “They said it could affect the entire state.”
A similar incident happened in Lincoln County where the district had to be taken offline because ransomware was discovered on the district’s computers.
“It’s not like it was in Lincoln County, it’s not that bad. It’s just viruses that have been placed on our computers over time,” Hubbard said.
She said it won’t be an overnight fix, and it hasn’t been one.
The district has also been experiencing problems with its phone lines, as Marshall Elementary’s phones were out all of last week.
Hubbard said for special education paperwork, testing and even the district’s honor roll, right now nothing can be done until the problem is fixed. She said every computer in the district would have to have the software installed by hand.
She also said she had a meeting with principals, teachers and staff at both schools about what sites are safe to go to and what sites are not safe, adding people were visiting sites that were prohibited during school hours.
To fix the board, Hubbard asked the board to purchase a three-year anti-virus software that will help protect all of the computers in this district from happening again.
Also, the Carroll County School District has a new website. The district’s new site is carrollcountysd.echalksites.com the site is still under construction as site admins Hubbard and Federal Programs Director Sara Johnson haven’t been able to work on the site because of the internet problems.
