Los Angeles schools closed due to threat

Steve Zimmer, the president of LAUSD’s Board of Education, said at the same news conference that the decision to close the schools for the day was “appropriate given the situation we are in”. It was taken seriously enough to spur the school district’s leaders not to have students attend classes, according to police spokeswoman Liliana Preciado. He says, “We can not allow ourselves to raise levels of fear”.

Los Angeles government officials – including the school chief and the mayor – defended the decision to close schools today.

“Somebody has sent information that leads us to pause and make sure that we are safe, that our children and our staff are safe”, said Superintendent Ramon Cortines. He said the person who wrote the note claimed to be a jihadist, but made errors that made it clear the person was a prankster, including spelling the word “Allah” with a lowercase “a”. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said students would be permitted to ride city buses and trains for free. Officials said there was a “credible terror threat”, KTLA reported.

As it’s the second largest school district in the U.S., some 640,000 students will be affected by the closure in more than 900 schools and 187 public charter schools.

Mr Cortines told a news conference that all schools in the district will be searched. “We are concerned with overreacting”, said NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.

The San Bernardino attack and other recent mass shootings have pushed the issues of militant Islam and gun violence to the forefront of the USA presidential campaign. Officials asked parents to keep all of the system’s 643,000 students at home to allow time for a full search of more than 1,200 schools, from primary through high schools.

School officials have closed all schools after receiving a bomb threat.

“I, as superintendent, am not going to take the chance with the life of a student”, he told reporters.

Without naming New York City officials, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said that it was “irresponsible to criticize the decisions” without first knowing all the facts.

The New York Police Department also tweeted that New York City schools received a threat Tuesday morning which was determined not to be credible.

Rep. Sherman said he has reviewed the email that was sent to a Los Angeles school board member.

On any given day, running the Los Angeles Unified School District is a complex operation.