East Texas classrooms filled back up this month. Athens started Monday, August 3, and Palestine ISD followed on Friday, August 7. Cumberland Academy opened Tuesday, August 11. Tyler ISD and Brook Hill in Bullard started Wednesday, August 12, and Winona ISD started Thursday, August 13. The Tyler Morning Telegraph ran the first-day pictures.

The fake mail shows up the same week. It looks like a message from a parent portal, a student device program, a bus app, or a notice that a password expires today. The logo is close enough to pass a glance, but the link is not the school's. A busy owner clicks it between a quote and pickup, and the login box belongs to someone else.

A Palestine office sees this twice. Staff who are parents get it on the work phone, and staff who are not parents still get the same pitch in the company inbox: update your account, your device is locked, confirm this form.

You do not need a breach headline to act on it. You need a rule. If a message asks for a password, a code, or a payment, do not use the link in the message. Open a browser and type the address you already know, or call the number on the school's real site. If it is a work login, call the person who actually supports the office.

Guest Wi-Fi for homework in the break room is fine when it is actually guest Wi-Fi. It is not fine when it is the same network as the front-desk computer. An after-hours "I have to reset this from home" is how a personal click becomes a work problem. If someone needs office email from the kitchen table, that should be a known path with MFA, not a forwarded password.

If you already typed a password into a page that felt wrong, change that password on the real site and tell whoever handles the office. Do not try to fix it by clicking the next message from the same sender.

Cumberland Academy also stood up Cumberland Connect this year, a virtual and hybrid high-school path, so home networks now sit next to school work more often. The same rule applies there.

My I.T. Consultants is a managed service provider in Athens. If you want a short staff note and a look at what is landing in the inbox this week, call 903-675-5431 Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.