Phishing Alert for Lake Forest Parents and Community Members
Be cautious with all district emails. If you entered a password, change it now. Verify unexpected links, attachments, or payment requests by calling your school at a number you already trust.
What happened
On Thursday morning, November 5, a Parents Care member received what looked like a Google Docs invitation from a Lake Forest Schools email address. The link pointed to an unrelated website. A parent in the Moms of Lake Forest group said she called the employee, who told her the account had been compromised. Another commenter reported receiving the message too.
District 67 directs families who move to email updated proof of residency to that same address. Districts 67 and 115 need to explain what the account could access, whether student records or payment systems were affected, and how they will alert families.
Look for this email in your inbox
From address shown nmartinez@lfschools.net
Subject Document shared with you: “Request for Review: Important Document”
Leave the document link alone.
What to do now
Entered a password? Change it now. Go directly to the service’s official site. Change the password wherever you reused it, turn on two-step verification, and sign out unfamiliar devices. Contact district IT immediately if you entered school credentials.
Shared card or bank details? Call your bank or card issuer at its published number.
Received it? Report it as phishing in your email app and alert district IT through its published contact information.
Clicked it? Close the page. If you opened a download, installed something, or granted access on a school device or account, contact district IT. On a personal device, run an updated security scan and review any permissions you granted.
What the original email shows
Gmail recorded passing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC results for the Lake Forest Schools domain. Those checks authenticate the sending domain. The message still carried a link to an unrelated website. District IT needs to determine how it was sent and what the account could access.
Parents began warning one another in the Moms of Lake Forest group. One commenter said they forwarded the message to the districts’ technology chief.
Could someone access student records or family payment information?
District 67’s registration instructions direct families who move to send updated proof of residency to this address. The district also uses PowerSchool for registration fee payments.
Student and family records. Could someone reach enrollment records, home addresses, or proof-of-residency documents? The districts should explain what the account could access and whether the logs show anything was opened, downloaded, or forwarded.
School fees and payment information. Did the incident reach registration or payment systems? Were fee records, card details, or bank information accessible? The districts should also find out whether anyone entered financial information after following the phishing link.
Montgomery is in Florida. Who’s leading the response?
As of November 5, Parents Care had seen no districtwide warning about the phishing email. Parents were already warning one another.
Parents Care confirmed that Superintendent Matthew Montgomery was out of town again, attending a conference at the Omni Amelia Island Resort & Spa in Florida. Who was in charge locally of containing the incident and warning families while he was away?
Editorial composite using separate portrait and resort photos.
Warn families now and give them a time for the next update. Districts 67 and 115 should explain how far the incident reached, what IT has done to contain it, and how families will be notified if investigators find that personal information was accessed.
Share this alert before someone clicks
Send this Parents Care page to friends, neighbors, and school group chats so they know which email to leave unopened. Someone you know may have it in their inbox right now.
