Midlands schools’ computer system hacked; teacher pay, summer school affected
A computer breach at a Midlands school district is delaying the start of summer school for some students as well as affecting pay for teachers and staff.
Lexington-Richland 5 experienced a data breach that is limiting access to some of its systems, and employees have been told payment of an expected bonus for the school year will be delayed. The start of summer high school classes is also delayed by a week until June 16 because the breach knocked down web access in schools, the district confirmed Friday.
Law enforcement has gotten involved to locate the source of the breach, a school spokesperson said without specifying which agency is looking into the matter. The State Law Enforcement Division later confirmed to The State that its critical infrastructure cybersecurity unit is assisting the school district in responding to the incident.
“School District Five has detected a data security incident in its network environment. In response, we immediately launched an investigation with the assistance of law enforcement and third-party specialists to determine the nature and extent of the issue,” said Amanda Taylor, the district’s director of communications.
“We are working to restore impacted systems as quickly as possible. We are unable to provide further details at this time as the investigation continues. However, we will provide updates as they become available.”
A message sent out to employees of the Chapin-Irmo-area school district warned that a $1,500 employee retention bonus previously approved by the school board will not be paid out Friday and that a new payment date will be provided to employees next week.
Schools are currently closed for the summer, but employees working on site in the district have reportedly been unable to access computer systems because of the breach.
While high school classes for the summer are being delayed, classes for middle school students and an elementary school summer reading camp are still scheduled to begin next week, the school district said.
A message on the school district’s website on Friday said that SAT testing on Saturday will go forward as planned.
This is a developing story.
This story was originally published June 5, 2025 at 3:31 PM.
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