Update: No timeline for when MCS staff, students can log onto District devices

Modesto City Schools staff and students on Wednesday morning were asked to remain off their devices after a computer virus essentially shut down all essential services a day earlier.

A message on the MCS Facebook page Wednesday morning read: "Staff and students: Please continue to keep all District devices off as we work to restore services."

Becky Fortuna, spokeswoman for the district, said there's no estimate on when all services will be up and running.

"We are bringing things back one at a time, " she said. "It's going to be a process."

In a 9:15 a.m. email to district staff Wednesday, Cindy Minter, director of information and technology services for the district, said the virus hit at about 5:30 p.m. on Monday. Staff became aware of the issue early Tuesday morning.

She wrote that while "many of the District’s applications and services are now back online in the Datacenter, all District devices are to remain shut down until further notice."

She further stated: "Although the District’s student data (PowerSchool/MOSIS) and business data are unaffected, there was some loss to staff/student data files. Data files stored in Office 365 OneDrive and Google Drive are unaffected by this computer virus."

She said her staff is working with Microsoft "to ensure that once the District network connections are re-established between the school/support sites to the District’s Datacenter that the computer virus will not spread again."

Fortuna said earlier Wednesday that while district uses technology to enhance the educational experience of students, the district's "not dependent on technology in our traditional classrooms."

She said teachers have been using supplemental materials – like textbooks or novels – in the classroom to avoid any disruptions.

The devices, she said, include laptops, computers and Surface Pros, which are used by some staff.

She said technology-dependent classes tied to extended summer school or other "credit-recovery methods" have been affected. Extended summer school classes were canceled on Tuesday. The status of those classes Wednesday was not immediately known.

This year, 15,000 MCS high school students were issued HP 360 laptops in hopes of increasing student engagement and giving them access to digital resources and would strengthen their computer skills.

Fortuna, who said she didn't know the name of the particular virus, said staff, parents and students have been been patient through it all.

"This is a major headache, but not a tragedy," she said. "We're keeping things in perspective. You've heard of major corporations going through this ... nobody is immune."

We'll have more on this breaking story as information becomes available.

This story was originally published November 29, 2017 at 7:57 AM with the headline "Update: No timeline for when MCS staff, students can log onto District devices."