Canvas, the district-wide platform for instruction and learning, went down on November 22, 2024, at about 11:15 a.m,  interrupting 4th period. As of 11:35 am, the platform was up and running once again.

“I’ve never seen a ‘no access’ to Canvas like this before. Usually it’s one of the apps within Canvas that isn’t working properly,” Niles West Application Trainer Cindy Kukla said.

The outage interfered with students’ ability to finish and turn in work.

“I was distraught and upset because I needed to turn in my assignment and I couldn’t. I needed to submit my VHL for Spanish and it was due in class, and I wasn’t able to get to it because Canvas went down,” senior Nichelle Thomas said.

This outage, whose cause is unknown, comes on the heels of a major service outage at  Morton High School District 201, where hackers are suspected to have interfered with the district’s systems.

According to Phil Hintz, Chief Technology Officer for the District, administration is confident that the incident was not related to hacking, as prior instances were in districts that had been hacked, and not specific district sponsored applications.

“One of the reasons we choose Canvas, we do business with them, is they were willing to sign what is known as a Data Privacy Agreement, which makes them equally responsible for keeping our student information safe and private and not falling into bad hands,” Hintz said.

The district is yet to hear from Canvas regarding the source of the problem.