Staff and applicants

Over 99% of the files on the Human Resources shared drive, or more than 144,260 files, are employee records and job applications.

The "DO NOT USE" folder: 23,272 folders

Between 2018 and 2021, HR paid an outside document-scanning company to digitize paper employee binders and uploaded them into the district's eDocs system. The 2018–2019 scanning vendor invoices are still sitting in the HR budget folder. After the upload finished, staff added "DO NOT USE" to the old directory name and left it on the shared drive for five to seven years.

Employee group	Folders	Share	Contents
Teachers (BTA)	11,402	49.0%	3,756 scanned personnel binders, SIN sheets, evaluations, criminal record checks (CRC), and TRB files, with 2,388 folders labelled as already uploaded to eDocs
Support staff (CUPE Local 379)	6,953	29.9%	2,562 scanned personnel binders, SIN sheets, discipline letters, and CRC files
Former and Adult Ed staff	~4,776	20.5%	August 2019 scanned folders, terminated employee folders for all unions, and Adult Education files
Principals and vice-principals (BPVPA)	90	0.4%	84 active and 6 terminated administrator personnel folders
Senior management and HR (Exempt)	51	0.2%	51 exempt and senior staff folders
Total	23,272	100%	6,318 personnel binders, 6,004 SIN sheets, 439 discipline files, and hundreds of CRC checks

Frontline BTA teachers, CUPE Local 379 support staff, and retirees made up 99.4% of the 23,272 folders left behind in the "DO NOT USE" directory. Senior management and HR had 51 folders in that directory.

A second duplicate stash of 3,053 files totaling 2.33 GB of CUPE personnel binders, SIN sheets, and discipline letters was also left inside a support-staff subfolder labelled "USE CAUTION".

Principals and senior executives

Over 740 signed performance evaluation files totaling 2.22 GB for Exempt and BPVPA administrator staff from 2018 to 2023 were in the executive HR folders. Those files covered Part A and Part B evaluations, growth plans, and subfolders labelled as already uploaded to eDocs. Private Board packages added a 2024–2025 master spreadsheet of school administrators and exempt managers flagged as needing competency improvement. The same Board folders had Superintendent salary history spreadsheets, Assistant and Deputy Superintendent employment contracts from 2024, and private Exempt and PVP compensation reports from 2024 to March 2026.

Other directories had 98 mobile phone lists up to May 2026, 87 administrator directories, 88 long-term disability case files covering 56 Exempt and 32 BPVPA staff, and 10.24 GB of principal and exempt job applications.

Workforce CSV dumps and banking forms

A provincial reporting folder on the drive had 354 quarterly Employment Data and Analysis System .CSV and Excel files totaling 305.0 MB from 2013 to 2026, as well as teacher certificate audit spreadsheets. Each quarterly CSV is a row-by-row compensation, job classification, FTE, seniority, and demographic dump of the SD41 workforce. Private Board packages also had monthly Excel spreadsheets from 2018 to September 2026 listing every teacher and support worker who resigned, retired, or was terminated, together with their reason for resigning.

For teachers, BTA folders had 196 monthly home-address lists totaling 24.2 MB and two 159.3 MB staff mail-merge and address-label Excel workbooks from 2024. In hiring, payroll, and archive folders, staff left scanned employee void cheques, direct deposit banking forms, and corporate P-Card reconciliation files. One of those folders was named "DELETED O DRIVE FOLDERS DO NOT EVER DELETE THIS FILE".

Workplace investigations and private Board packages

HR kept master Word documents tracking overall BTA and CUPE Local 379 discipline history on the shared drive. File names on the drive included 880 mentions of "discipline", 813 mentions of "harassment", 309 mentions of "termination", and 89 mentions of "grievance".

Private Board and Management Committee files: 2,784 files

Board report folders had 2,388 files from 1988 to September 14, 2026, covering every monthly private HR Report and Committee of the Whole package up to one week before the ransomware attack. Those packages included private Board reports, Labour Relations Board appeal filings, and teacher salary-grid workbooks. When SD41 lost a major BTA teacher salary arbitration in 2026, it sent an April 24 letter to the BC Treasury Board requesting special bailout funding. That letter was in the private Board files.

Management Committee folders had 216 files from 1984 to 2026. They covered 42 years of in-camera employee suspension and termination hearing packages, Step 3 CUPE grievance packages dating back to 1984, confidential employer union bargaining mandates, and 2025–2026 strike contingency plans. One November 2024 discipline hearing package and "Last Chance Agreement" was kept in a folder noting the hearing had been cancelled because the employee resigned.

Raw HR investigation folders: 1,655 files in 160+ cases

A scanning directory on the drive had 1,655 files totaling 663.4 MB in more than 160 named employee investigation folders from 2021 to July 2026.

Two of those cases involved internal employee data snooping. One was a 2023 10-day suspension with a payroll/HR system access-log audit spreadsheet and a legal memo on disciplining an employee for improper access of personal information. The other was a February 2025 investigation into an internal MyEducation BC student contact data issue. A separate 2024 folder had the job description, probation extension letter, performance improvement goals, and a meeting summary on "Security Practices" for one of the district's own IT security staff.

Other folders covered an elementary school safe break-in and stolen cash investigation with office video footage and staff interrogation scripts, a secondary school internal financial audit report, and a 39-file school bed-bug infestation and employee home-inspection case. Employee addiction treatment and medical monitoring records, mandatory Employee and Family Assistance Program counselling session records, and mandatory physician letters were in the same directory, near 64 disciplinary and medical files placed inside folders named "Delete". Classroom and student safety investigations up to July 2026 had student witness interview notes, parent complaints, and RCMP file references on physical safety incidents, supervision lapses involving support students, medication errors, and staff-student boundary cases.

HR leader's personal folder and 30 years of harassment cases

An HR leader's personal initials folder had 1,124 files totaling 522.5 MiB. It included 449 CUPE discipline files, RCMP discussions, settlement agreements, 196 medical accommodation files, and 150 BTA teacher files with severance calculations.

Harassment and human rights directories had 2,362 harassment investigation files totaling 1.5 GB dating back to 1996, plus 196 BC Human Rights Tribunal case files totaling 132.9 MiB. Inside the harassment directory was a 2020 case folder on the shared drive with a subfolder whose name stated the documents had been removed from that drive per agreement. Twenty-one doctor's notes, WorkSafeBC files, and complaint documents were still inside it.

Medical notes and disability claims: 6,400+ files

Every paid sick-day request submitted between 2022 and September 2026 was on the shared drive, totaling 1,724 files and 908.6 MiB across Approved and Denied subfolders. Health and wellness folders had hundreds of named medical certificates, 55 of which were sitting inside a "Delete" subfolder. Other folders had 572 COVID-19 medical accommodation files, 196 additional accommodation files, and an external psychotherapy clinic invoice naming an employee. In one accommodation folder, a password-protected medical report email was saved right next to the email containing its password.

For workplace injuries and disability claims, early-intervention folders had 2,522 CUPE WorkSafeBC and Joint Early Intervention Service files totaling 858.8 MB, including 121 long-term disability employer statements and an addictions treatment subfolder. An HR portal archive had another 1,284 claim files, and separate folders had 88 long-term disability case files for school administrators and exempt staff.

Teacher committee folders added 2,209 files totaling 1.39 GB. Those files covered 26 years of Educational Leave applications from 2000 to 2026–2027 with official university transcripts and up to 55 MB of interview notes. Leave of Absence appeal folders included family death certificates and wedding invitations. In the Attendance Management Program folder, HR kept a 153.9 MB master absence database dump from February 2025 to January 2026 and multi-year absence workbooks from 2011 to 2026. The same folder had a "Culpable Absenteeism" spreadsheet tracking employees absent before and after statutory holidays or Pro-D days.

School hazards and work refusals

Health and safety files on the drive included September 2025 internal reports and FAQs on lead in school drinking water and lead-based paint concerns. A separate folder had 94 MB of asbestos exposure control plans and 2023 WorkSafeBC inspection orders, plus an internal FAQ on removing portable air purifiers from classrooms. Private Board packages added a September 2025 verbal report on rodents and pest control in schools and 2024 reports on school AEDs and emergency preparedness supplies.

Education Assistant and staff unsafe-work refusals and WorkSafeBC inspection reports were on file for five Burnaby schools: Taylor Park Elementary, South Slope Elementary, Gilmore Community Elementary, Moscrop Secondary, and Burnaby North Secondary. The folder also had 2023–2024 union discussions on workplace violence. Other HR and custodial directories had district office lockdown procedures, panic-button procedures for unsafe visitors, security camera and badge system guides, and district office floor and desk seating plans. Custodial and safety folders also had 27 MB of school floor-plan custodial run maps from 2017 to May 2025 and RCMP School Liaison Officer contact spreadsheets.

Job applications and regret letters: 37.4 GB across 29,649 files

Nearly 40% of the HR shared drive was made up of job applications, resumes, university transcripts, references, work permits, and regret letters:

Applicant group	Files	Volume	Notes
Support staff (CUPE) recruitment	10,519	12.34 GB	Includes No - Not Shortlisted folders
Principal and vice-principal (BPVPA) recruitment	4,854	7.25 GB	282 in Not Shortlisted and 257 external recruitment audit files
Senior and exempt (EXEMPT) recruitment	4,516	3.73 GB	Exempt management and administrative competition packages
Teacher and Adult Ed (BTA) recruitment	4,083	3.82 GB	121 unpurged files in a folder labelled "Purged" for declined offers
Rejected teacher (BTA / TTOC) regret letters	1,654	3.84 GB	Application packages of unsuccessful teacher candidates
HR staff personal application subfolder	1,664	2.70 GB	Custodian, crossing guard, student supervisor, trades, and food-service applications
Support staff and administrator regret letters	1,124	1.19 GB	Unsuccessful CUPE, BPVPA, and Exempt candidate files
2025–2027 teacher hiring folders	659	2.48 GB	Includes "NOT INTERESTED" and "Declined Offer" folders

High schools mentioned most often in HR files

Rank	Secondary school	HR files mentioning school
1	Alpha Secondary	270
2	Moscrop Secondary	158
3	Byrne Creek Secondary	121
4	Burnaby North Secondary	117
5	Cariboo Hill Secondary	112
6	Burnaby South Secondary	84
7	Burnaby Central Secondary	75
8	Burnaby Mountain Secondary	65