By Sasha Ryu, Contributor
On Oct. 1, the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District Board of Trustees held a regular meeting and voted 4-0 to join a lawsuit against Instructure over a recent data breach of its learning management system, Canvas. Both of the District’s high schools use Canvas for collecting and grading assignments and were affected when cyberattacks shut down the platform this past spring.
The District will now be part of Frantz Law Group’s mass tort litigation against Instructure, which staff says will protect LGSUHSD’s legal interests while it seeks damages and other relief for the hack without using the District’s internal resources.
Each district involved in the “mass action law suit” will file its own case and get its own offer or result.
The firm is working on contingency, so the District will pay nothing up front. Frantz will take 30% of any potential monetary settlement or recovery, down from its usual 40%.
The suit comes in response to the hacking group ShinyHunters breaching Instructure’s systems on April 25, which Instructure did not discover until April 29, when the hackers sent the company a ransom demand.
On May 7, users nationwide were locked out of the platform and shown a message from the hackers, who urged schools to negotiate privately to keep their data from being released before May 12. A day before the hackers’ deadline, Instructure shared that it had paid a ransom, without disclosing the amount.
According to Instructure, the hackers returned data from about 275 million users at more than 8,800 institutions and that it received digital confirmation the data was destroyed, though it acknowledged there is “never complete certainty” with cybercriminals. The data included names, email addresses, student ID numbers, course and enrollment information, and user messages.
The District said its main concern is future liability. If someone were to open a credit account in a student’s name using personal information obtained through the breach, staff said, that could create significant liability for the District. Joining the lawsuit is meant to shift that risk to Instructure.
Food co-op plan
At the meeting, the board also authorized joining the Central Coast Purchasers Cooperative, a group of 22 school districts that buy food and supplies together. LGSUHSD will be its first member from Santa Clara County.
By purchasing together, the districts will have greater buying power, which staff says can help to secure better pricing and reduce time spent on procurement.
When asked how much money the District would save, staff said they didn’t have an estimate yet, because the previous food service contractor kept few purchasing records. LGSUHSD expects to have figures at the end of the school year.
The board approved its 10-item consent calendar without discussion. It included contracts under $50,000, an agreement with The Education Team for temporary staffing and bills from August.
August payments totaled about $1.76 million after cancellations, and payroll was about $4.47 million.
During the meeting, the board also certified that every student has sufficient textbooks and instructional materials for 2026-27.
Superintendent Heath Rocha announced that the District’s English Learner Development Program won a 2026 Golden Bell Award. The board honored Saratoga High School senior class president Alma Garniek for being a “bright, compassionate and selfless leader who consistently puts others before herself.” Teacher Kathy Palma and registrar Jean Hsu were also recognized for making positive contributions.
