(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s largest school district plans to resume classes today (Thursday) after a cybersecurity attack on Monday forced the cancelling of school for 33-thousand students. Des Moines Public Schools Interim superintendent Matt Smith says the district is in the restoration-and-recovery phase and it’s still not known if students’ or families’ personal data was leaked.  “That’s what all of our diagnostics checks will actually let us know,” Smith says, “and so once we get those forensics back, we’ll have a lot more of a confident idea of anything that has or has not happened.” Smith says the district-wide computer system that was evidently hacked significantly impacts a wide range of student services.

“It impacts our routing system to make sure that we are picking up students at the right spot at the right time, that we know who’s on our bus and who’s not,” Smith says. “It impacts our food and nutrition system to make sure that we are supplying the meals necessary for all of our students.” Cedar Rapids schools were hit by a cyberattack last year and the state’s second-largest district paid an undisclosed sum in ransom after losing a week of summer school.

(reporting by Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)