The county experienced a Canvas issue on Thursday, May 7 along with school districts across the country that utilize this platform to run classes. Part of the problem became apparent when AACPS posted online and sent to parents the following message at 7:45 PM on Thursday night: “Anne Arundel County Public Schools continues to work with Instructure, the parent company of the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS), to gather information related to the data breach of the system.”
Severna Park High School Principal Nathan Johnson took questions on how this breach will affect Severna Park on Friday, May 8.
Q: Do you have any update on when Canvas will be running again?
A: Unfortunately, I do not have an update at this time, but I’m hoping that at some point in the day today, central office will share more information with principals so that we can share it out with staff and the community, but at this time, I know as much as everybody else that they were shut down for today, and students and staff are not allowed to log into Canvas.
Q: When did this issue happen?
A: I believe the issue began yesterday when there was news articles headlines out that Canvas was hacked, not AACPS specifically, but as a precautionary measure to make sure that our data was breached, we shut down canvas for AACPS to make sure we weren’t susceptible to any kind of violations.
Q: Are you guys taking any active measures now?
A: Essential offices are all over this, and we’re kind of waiting for more guidance from the central office.
Q: What do you expect students to do while Canvas is down right now?
A: I’m sure teachers have alternative plans, whenever they’re doing hard copy papers or using alternative kind of lesson plans, maybe more paper and pencil activities or interactive speaking, talking, moving in the classroom. I sent a message today to all staff saying not to get too stressed out, keep it really simple today, do what you do, what you can to share information if you need help making copies, don’t be afraid to call admininstration; things like that to do whatever we can do to kind of make sure we have a good day to be able to adjust.
Q: How often do issues like this happen?
A: This is my first time in my 22 years that I’ve experienced something like this, so it’s pretty new to me. I’m not sure if it’s ever happened before, but it’s pretty new to me. I’ve been teaching in Anne Arundel County for 22 years, and I think this is the first time for me.
This breach has affected schools and universities across the country where according to CNN, “Canvas, developed by Instructure, serves over 8,000 to nearly 9,000 educational institutions globally. This includes a vast network of K-12 school districts and universities, boasting over 30 million active users. The platform is widely used by 41% of higher education institutions in North America.”
AACPS has not provided a time line when Canvas will be operational again.
