Lake Washington School District Apologizes After Website Hacked

REDMOND, WA — The Lake Washington School District is investigating after its website was hacked Thursday, displaying racial slurs and other white nationalist references, before going back offline. The district is Washington's second-largest, and the fastest-growing in King County, serving more than 31,000 students in Redmond, Kirkland and Sammamish.

Lake Washington officials acknowledged and apologized for the hack in social media posts Thursday evening and said they first received reports of a problem around 4 p.m.

The district wrote:

"The page that was presented as part of the hack included vile, disgusting and disturbing language that is filled with hate, racism and is completely unacceptable. Lake Washington School District (LWSD) does not, in any way, condone this type of language and we are saddened that this action is internationally trying to hurt people of certain races and cultures. We will get to the bottom of this hack and in the meantime we want to apologize to everyone who had to see this page, and we especially want to say our sincerest apologies to anyone who may have felt personally impacted by this. LWSD is committed to all of our students, staff and families, and in this moment, we stand united in protecting our community as anti-racist educators and leaders. We will continue to provide updates as necessary."

Malcontent News was the first to report on the hack Thursday and posted a screenshot of the district's homepage before it was knocked offline, showing the site replaced by a string of profanity and racial slurs and appearing to be credited to a white nationalist group.

In an update Friday morning, Lake Washington officials said its website was fully restored, while officials continue work to identify who was behind the hack and how it happened.