Los Angeles schools cancel classes due to threat

The mayor said Tuesday that officials were acting out of “an abundance of caution” in their investigation of a threat that closed the Los Angeles Unified School District for the day.

Meanwhile, New York City officials said they received the same threat that led to the closure of the Los Angeles schools but quickly concluded that it was a hoax.

The LAUSD, with almost 700,000 students, is the nation’s second-largest.

The district spans 720 square miles including Los Angeles and all or part of more than 30 smaller cities and some unincorporated areas.

“I think the circumstances in neighboring San Bernardino”, Cortines said of the mass shooting that left 14 dead and wounded 22 earlier this month.

The New York mayor characterized the email threat as “so generic (and) so outlandish”.

“It’s disappointing”, said Trinity Williams, a high school student who dropped off her younger sister at elementary school, only to find it was closed.

The superintendent said the district police chief informed him about the threat shortly after 5 a.m. “It was many schools, not specifically identified”.

Bratton said the person who wrote the note claimed to be a jihadist, but made errors that made it clear the person was a prankster.

All LAUSD buses have been recalled to the bus depot. “We need employers to show the flexibility that a situation like this demands; and we ask you to show the maximum possible flexibility with your employees who are primarily mothers, fathers and guardians today in this situation”. “We gave our school district our best advice on this, and they chose a path”.

Vela said she worries about talking to her kids about the threat and terrorism in general.

“This is a rare threat…”

The United States’ two biggest school districts get the same threat.

The threat came in emails to several people on the district’s school board, after which police became “very concerned”, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said.

“I could not take the chance”, Superintendent Ramon Cortines said. By then, some facilities had opened, and some students and staff were already there, with others on the way.

Breaking News: All Los Angeles schools are closed today after what’s being reported as a “credible terror threat” to multiple schools.

An “electronic threat” received early Tuesday prompted the decision, school district police Chief Steve Zipperman said, adding that the threat “is still being analyzed”.