Software "update" affects Kentucky computers

This from Fox41:

Antivirus vendor McAfee Inc. confirmed that a software update caused its antivirus program for corporate customers to misidentify a harmless file.

The Kentucky Department of Education says the issue has likely affected nearly every school district in the state. It says school districts are being advised to shut down workstations that are affected by this update. Late Wednesday afternoon, McAfee came up with a temporary fix for the problem.

The Education Department says it not aware of any privacy breaches related to the issue.

Jefferson County Public Schools spokeswoman Lauren Roberts tells Fox 41 News that several JCPS computers have been affected. She said affected computers display a message that they have been infected and JCPS is warning users not to reboot.

The website for the Bullitt County Public School system displayed the following message as of 12:50 Wednesday afternoon:

"We are experiencing problems with a state-wide virus attack. Computers are shutting down on their own. We are investigating the problem...For updates, call 869-TECH."

Fox 41 contacted Bullitt County Public Schools, but a spokesperson declined to comment.

Kentucky State Police Lt. David Jude said Wednesday that state police personnel have been instructed to turn off computers while technicians try to resolve the problem. Jude says the problem has not interrupted the ability of state police to respond to complaints.

In Shepherdsville, city Police Capt. Kenneth Bernardi said his department was advised to turn off their car terminals.

McAfee has posted a replacement update for download.

KDE Spokeswoman Lisa Gross issued the following guidance by email late this afternoon:

I’ve just been alerted that a temporary fix has been designed for the issues that school districts (and other users) may be experiencing due to the faulty update received from McAfee for users of the company’s products.

Technology staff in all 174 school districts have been provided with the temporary fix. KDE staff is still actively working with McAfee to find a long-term solution to the problem.

...This issue has likely affected nearly every school district, but is not limited to school districts.

...We are not aware of any privacy breaches related to this issue.

Hat tip to KSBA.

Ex-Dixie principal may be charged in Louisville

This from Toni at C-J:

Audit finds $69,000 may have been misspent

Prosecutors are considering whether to bring criminal charges against Dixie Elementary's former principal and bookkeeper after a school district investigation revealed roughly $69,000 in unsubstantiated payments from school funds.

Adrian Sanford, who resigned Thursday after being principal at Dixie since 2002, and bookkeeper Toneke Bullitt violated "numerous" school board policies and engaged in "fiscal mismanagement" by hiring and paying at least a dozen vendors for work the district can't prove was done, said Lauren Roberts, spokeswoman for Jefferson County Public Schools.

"It appears that (Sanford) instructed (Bullitt) to write checks to vendors from the local school activity fund, which is a violation of IRS requirements," she said. "Four thousand dollars from this account has not yet been recovered." ...

JCPS to investigate football player’s death

This from Toni at C-J:

Jefferson County Public Schools will open a formal investigation into the death of a 15-year-old Pleasure Ridge Park High School student who collapsed during football practice a week ago, and died on Saturday.

Lauren Roberts, a spokeswoman for the district, said this morning that officials decided to investigate further after reading witness accounts in today’s Courier-Journal.

Four people who were at PRP during the Aug. 20 practice told the newspaper that they heard coaches deny players’ requests for water.None of the witnesses knew if the players requesting water included Max Gilpin, 15, who died three days after collapsing on the field. Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Sam Weakley has said he believes that Max died of complications of heat stroke, although no autopsy was performed.

“District level athletic officials did an initial review last week and on Monday,” Roberts said. “We decided to have our Security and Investigations unit look into this and as soon as Max is laid to rest, we will be talking with players and the witnesses that have come forward.”She added: “From the information we have been given, it does appear that between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., the players were given three water breaks.

The questions seem to be surfacing in the time after regular practice ended, during the time they were running sprints, which was around 5:30 p.m.” ...