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PARCC testing is postponed in Union Township because of a possible hack of the district's Internet network, according to its superintendent. (Star-Ledger file photo)

UNION TOWNSHIP — New Jersey's new state tests have yet to begin in Union Township and will be postponed until at least Thursday morning because of a possible hacking of the district's Internet network, Superintendent Gregory Tatum said.

The district was unable to administer the computerized Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams on Monday or Tuesday because of an overload of traffic on its network — about 15 times more than usual, Tatum said.

Experts from Comcast, the district's Internet provider, told the district that the excess traffic is coming from outside the district's network, Tatum said.

"From what we understand, it's external," Tatum said. "It is actually, I guess for lack of a better word, someone hacked the system. That's really what it amounts to."

The district conducted trial runs to ensure that its system could support the PARCC tests and has enough bandwidth to accommodate student testing, Tatum said. School officials believed the issue was resolved after Monday, and the system was running fine Tuesday morning, he said

"It seems to only happen, coincidentally, when it's time to take the tests," Tatum said. "Somewhere out there, there obviously is someone who is infiltrating our system."

Union respected the wishes of parents who submitted letters saying their children would refuse the tests, Tatum said. He doesn't want to believe that students could be responsible for the problem, he added.

The Department of Education is sending representatives to help the district on Wednesday, pushing testing back to Thursday at the earliest, Tatum said. Union has not contacted police, but Tatum said the district could seek prosecution if it's determined that someone has attacked its network.

The state is not aware of any other schools having similar problems to Union Township, Department of Education spokesperson Michael Yaple said.

PARCC testing began in a few New Jersey schools on Feb. 20 and a glitch with the test's start button prompted one district to delay testing by a day. Widespread testing across the state started Monday, but few major issues were reported.

"Everything ran flawlessly," Kenilworth Superintendent Scott Taylor said Monday.

However, at least one other district, West Windsor-Plainsboro, had to delay testing because of technological problems. The test did not properly download to the district's server on Monday, but testing went fine on Tuesday, said Gerri Hutner, the district's director of communications.

The phone line for PARCC's help center was also down for a few hours Tuesday morning, according to PARCC. Questions were instead answered via email or online chat, PARCC spokesperson David Connerty-Marin said.

About 240,000 students across New Jersey took PARCC tests on Tuesday, Yaple said.

Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook.