diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 80f40f7..7035e66 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -11,3 +11,4 @@ coverage
 tmp
 log
 config/attribute-map.yml
+.idea/
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 844dc23..d774251 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@ Change Log
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file using [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 
+## [0.4.8] - 2020-01-20
+### Fixed
+- [Fix issue with thread refresh_schema](https://github.com/lumoslabs/aleph/issues/103)
+
 ## [0.4.7] - 2020-01-17
 ### Fixed
 - Fix issue with schema cache
diff --git a/aleph.gemspec b/aleph.gemspec
index 6cd2ae2..310405c 100644
--- a/aleph.gemspec
+++ b/aleph.gemspec
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.name        = 'aleph_analytics'
-  s.version     = '0.4.7'
-  s.date        = '2020-01-17'
+  s.version     = '0.4.8'
+  s.date        = '2020-01-20'
   s.summary     = 'Redshift/Snowflake analytics platform'
   s.description = 'The best way to develop and share queries/investigations/results within an analytics team'
   s.authors     = ['Andrew Xue', 'Rob Froetscher', 'Joyce Lau']
diff --git a/lib/schemas/descriptor.rb b/lib/schemas/descriptor.rb
index 714713a..024f651 100644
--- a/lib/schemas/descriptor.rb
+++ b/lib/schemas/descriptor.rb
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ def initialize(role)
 
       Rails.logger.info("Start schema refresher thread for #{@role}")
       @refresher_thread = Thread.new{ schema_refresher }
+      @refresher_thread.abort_on_exception = true
     end
 
     def schemas
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@ def retrieve
     def schema_refresher
       loop do
         refresh_schema
-        sleep(SCHEMA_REFRESH_INTERVAL)
+        sleep(SCHEMA_REFRESH_INTERVAL.to_i)
       end
     end