Acting Manhasset School Superintendent Gaurav Passi said that the school district’s investigation of a computer network disruption that occurred two weeks ago remains ongoing.
He made the disclosure in a districtwide email sent on Saturday.
Passi said the service disruption affected the availability of certain systems in the district’s network, including email. The investigation was launched by a group of IT professionals and some progress has been made, he said.
“We continue to work methodically to determine which specific systems were impacted by this incident and to restore involved systems to operational status as quickly as possible,” Passi said in the email. “We thank you for your continued patience and understanding. We will continue to provide you with updates as appropriate.”
Despite the district’s WiFi remaining unavailable to students, staff and faculty, additional anti-malware protection has been installed to allow teachers to use their district laptops for displaying materials on most SmartBoards, Passi said.
Officials previously announced that the district received $1,500 to rent 50 internet hotspots as the network investigation continues. Passi said the funds were provided by the Manhasset Tower Foundation. He also said the hot spots will provide the district with “limited internet access” to allow students to continue learning.
“It’s important for the community to know that we’re working as diligently as possible to resolve the situation in a quick and careful manner,” Passi said. “Our classroom instruction may look different, but it certainly has not stopped.”
Students are still able to access web-based instructional products such as Canvas, ClassLink and Google Drive through their @musfd account from remote internet access on their district-issued Chromebook or any other electronic device, he said.
The cafeteria staff continues to manually record student purchases since its point of sale system remains inactive. While students’ cafeteria balances remain unavailable due to the system being down, all complete meals will be provided at no charge, Passi said.
District officials did not estimate how long the interruption of email services would last.
