Technology issues cause late start, confusion at Edmonds schools

Edmonds School District students and staff couldn’t access internet services Wednesday after the district network experienced “suspicious activities” on Tuesday.

Schools opened two hours late Wednesday morning after the district disabled internet access Tuesday afternoon, according to an alert on the district’s homepage. Student and staff passwords were reset Wednesday morning, the alert said, which “significantly mitigated additional potential security issues.”

The alert said details on the incident are “limited” because of an ongoing investigation into the technology issues. An Edmonds School District spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Once internet services are restored, the alert said, all staff and students will have to reset their passwords.

The district will be making changes to the grading timeline, too.

Phones, fire alarm systems, most building intercom systems and HVAC systems are still operating.

Hisham Othman, 38, said he and his wife were confused when the before-school care they usually take their two sons to at Brier Elementary School got canceled.

Othman looked into the issue and found there is a backup server that takes over in the event of an internet outage, according to a June 2021 school board meeting agenda.

“I think there’s more than what’s being told going on,” Othman said.

Othman said he and his wife both had important work meetings that morning and were fortunate to drop off the boys with his mother in Edmonds. They wished, though, the district had been more upfront about the incident’s cause.

Eric Michelson, 39, said he only found out about the late start at 9 p.m. Tuesday, making it difficult to plan his workday around bringing his son, a kindergartner at Lynnwood Elementary, to school.

Michelson, who owns a small moving company, ended up bringing his son to work.

“It’s our children’s education, but at some point these are real life things we have to worry about,” Michelson said.

Michelson said he has not received additional communication from the district about what caused the outage.

This story has been updated to reflect that the before-school care at Brier Elementary was canceled.