We are writing to provide another update on the cyber incident involving PowerSchool’s Student Information System – the application used by Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board and many school boards across North America to store certain student and staff information.
This incident has affected current and former students and staff. Please note that we will also be posting this notice on our website to notify Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board’s former students and staff who may be affected.
What Happened?
On Tuesday, January 7th, 2025, PowerSchool informed Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board and other school boards throughout the province that it had experienced a cyber incident affecting Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board. Since then, we have been working with PowerSchool to determine the precise information that was affected.
What Information Was Affected?
We have concluded our analysis and can confirm that limited student and staff information was compromised as part of this incident.
For all students who have been enrolled in Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board since the 2015-2016 school year, the information affected includes:
- Home and/or mailing address information
- Graduation school, date and year
- Full name
- Date of birth
- Gender
- Current grade level
- Home phone number
- Ontario Education Number (OEN)
- Student number
- Initial enrollment school
- Most recent enrollment school
- Board entry and exit date
- Most recent home room class name
- Doctor name and phone number
For a small number of students from other school boards who have been enrolled in eLearning courses offered by Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, the same data was also affected.
For some students, the following additional information was also affected:
- Medical alert notes
- Guardianship notes related to custodial arrangements
- Guardian email addresses
- Notes related to discipline
- Emergency contact names and phone numbers
- Parent names
- Notes regarding reasons for transferring between schools
For a small subset of impacted students (less than 5%), the Other Notes field was impacted, which included references to IEPs. It is important to note that this reference did not impact all students with an IEP and that the IEPs themselves were not impacted.
With respect to medical alert information, if you provided information to your child’s school about your child’s allergies, medical conditions or injuries when completing registration or start of school year forms, this information was included in the data that may have been accessed or acquired. Please note that medical information provided to members of Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board’s community partner and external consultant teams (e.g. Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Audiologists, Speech-Language Pathologists, and Social Workers) was not impacted by this incident.
This incident did not result in the compromise of any of the following information:
Financial information, health assessment information, medical records, or student academic grades.
For all board staff with PowerSchool SIS or PowerTeacher Pro accounts (teachers, SSPs, ECEs, administrative assistants, principals, and other board support staff) who have worked in Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board since the 2020-2021 school year, the information affected includes:
Full name, title, employee ID, school(s) of employment, and board email address.
For some staff, the following additional information was also affected:
Home address information, home phone number, and home room class.
Staff without a PowerSchool SIS or PowerTeacher Pro account were not impacted (e.g. Support Staff such as Custodial staff and Lunchroom Supervisors).
We have also prepared an FAQ regarding this incident, and we encourage you to visit that here: https://tbcschools.ca/resources/powerschool-incident-faq/
You can also find an FAQ from PowerSchool here.
Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board has reported this incident to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC), and the IPC has opened an investigation file. While you are entitled to file a complaint, the IPC has advised that it is not necessary as they are already investigating the matter. You can visit the IPC’s website at www.ipc.on.ca.
If you wish to have more information about this incident, we invite you to contact us at
We appreciate your patience and understanding at this time, and sincerely regret any concern this has caused you.
