New Haven School Employees On Leave Over Performance Concerns: Reports

NEW HAVEN, CT — Two employees with New Haven Public Schools have been placed on paid leave over 'performance-related concerns,' according to multiple reports that cite school officials.

Both the director of information technology and the senior information technology information specialist have been put on leave, according to reports in both WTNH and NBC Connecticut.

Officials said that while the decision is not a result of a cyber attack that happened over the summer, concerns were raised afterward as the school implemented "corrective measures to strengthen our IT systems from future attacks," according to reports.

Patch reached out to New Haven Public Schools for comment.

In 2023, cyberattackers stole $6 million from New Haven schools after creating a fake email account that mimicked the email of a bus company that held a contract with the Board of Education for bussing, federal authorities previously said.

"The criminal actors used the compromised email address to send test emails between the compromised email address and the newly created fake bus company email address," according to the Department of Justice. "Using the fake bus company email address, the criminal actors then were able to change the bus company’s payment information from the real bus company to an account held by the criminal actors."

New Haven sent approximately $5.9 million to the account, officials said.