School District ‘Closer’ to Finding Source of Email Leak

Expulsion is the least of the worries for the individuals involved in last month’s pertaining to the H student body, according to a district official.

With the FBI and on the case to find out how the information was sent via “hundreds of emails,” Hatboro-Horsham Assistant Superintendent John Nodecker told Patch that officials are “much closer” to determining the culprit – or culprits – behind the mass email.

if it was a senior who sent the emails as a prank – as was rumored at the outset - Nodecker said that expulsion would be the most lenient of punishment.

“The issue is much deeper than that,” Nodecker said of the school’s discipline of the persons responsible, which he told Patch previously could include expulsion. 

Resident Michael Carr questioned the board during Monday night’s meeting about the district’s assertion that its computer systems had not been compromised. He criticized the statements made publicly within hours of the email dissemination contending the same. 

He said a “thorough analysis” should be made of the cyber and non-cyber information.

If, as the district maintains, the system was not hacked, Carr suggested that “sloppiness and laziness” among district staff logging off of their computers, or properly shutting down systems with sensitive information could have caused the leak.

Superintendent Curtis Griffin said that in the weeks prior to the class rank and GPA distribution, the district had hired a consulting firm and had begun a complete IT governance audit. That helped exclude a system hack as the cause of the leak, Griffin said.

Nodecker said it is possible that the data from the district’s student information system was obtained through a “secondary source,” including looking over someone’s shoulder as passwords were entered, or using a computer in which someone had not properly logged out.

While students “never have access to that information,” Nodecker said district administrators and teachers “have access by need,” particularly in the weeks leading up to graduation.

Hatboro-Horsham High School Principal Dennis Williams has offered a $500 reward for help in nabbing the persons responsible for the information leak, Nodecker said.

Has it helped bring officials closer to an arrest?

“Kids have been coming forward before and after (the reward),” Nodecker said. The investigation “will continue until it’s solved.”