School district works to recover phone lines, internet after virus hit

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Columbus County Schools staff are still working to recover their network after a “potent” virus forced a shutdown last week.

School Superintendent Deanne Meadows says no student information or any other confidential information was compromised.

As of midday Monday, School Spokesman Kelly Jones says some of the phone lines are back up and running, including those at the district’s central office. Jones says they hope to have more lines fixed by the end of the day.

The internet is still down, but Jones says their first priority is getting all the phone lines back up.

Jones says there is no way to know where the virus came from yet, but their team is working to trace it.

He says their team is working extra carefully to make sure the network is even more secure than it was before.

You can still make calls to each school, but calls will be routed to a cell phone.

Jones urges people to avoid calling unless it’s an emergency.