Freehold Township School District closes schools after cybersecurity incident

Freehold Township School District in Monmouth County, New Jersey told staff and families late on Sunday, January 28, 2024, by robocall and email, that its schools and offices would be closed the following day because of a cybersecurity incident. Parents had less than 12 hours' notice and scrambled to arrange childcare.

The K-8 district runs eight buildings: an early childhood learning center, five elementary schools and two middle schools, serving roughly 3,500 students. Freehold Township High School, which belongs to the separate Freehold Regional High School District, was not affected.

Superintendent Neal Dickstein attributed the closure to technical issues related to a cybersecurity incident and said the district had retained outside IT expert consultants who were working around the clock to assess, contain, remediate and fully restore operations. The district did not release details of how its network had been compromised or which systems were affected.

Classes resumed on Tuesday, January 30, though before-school and after-school activities were canceled that day. Board of education president Michael Amoroso said an investigation was under way and that officials had no information to share at that stage. The district did not say whether any data had been stolen, and no group publicly claimed the intrusion.