Los Angeles: Los Angeles Unifed School District has asked hundreds of thousands of school children and thousands of teachers to stay at home on Tuesday after a ‘credible terror threat’.
All 1,200 schools in the district were being searched as a result. It was the first closure of the full district in at least a decade, officials said.
The message was received by a school board member and has been described as an ‘electronic threat’. It referred to ‘not one, but many schools’ within the district. Superintendent Ramon Cortines said the schools commonly get threats but called this one rare. Officials wouldn’t elaborate.
He said: ‘It was not to one school, two schools or three schools. It was many schools, not specifically identified. But there were many schools. That’s the reason I took the action that I did … It was to students at schools.’
Many children were on their way to school already and their buses were ordered to turn around and take them home. Others who had already arrived were with school staff until parents could be contacted. ‘We need cooperation of the whole of Los Angeles today,’ said school board President Steve Zimmer. ‘We need families and neighbours to work together with our schools and with our employees to make sure our schools are safe throughout today.’
On its website, LAUSD said: ‘Special notice: All LAUSD schools are closed today to ensure safety of students. Parents should retrieve students at reunion gates with proper ID.’
