The closures cost the school district $29 million, according to Tom Torlakson, California state superintendent of public instruction.
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However, the New York City school system also received a similar email threat, if not the exact same one, and determined it a hoax early this morning.
The school superintendent said every building would be searched. “We need the cooperation of the whole of Los Angeles today”.
Screengrab via KTLALAPD Chief Charlie BeckBut New York, whose email was identical to LA’s except for the name of the city and number of people participating in the terrorism threat, did not see those aspects as meaningful. In LA, the threat came in the form of an email to a school board member that raised fears of another attack like the recent deadly shooting in nearby San Bernardino.
Two law enforcement sources said the letters to New York City and LA “may very well be identical” in terms of content and origin.
LA reacted by closing more than 900 public schools and 187 charter schools attended by 640,000 students, while NY opted to hold class as usual.
Officials in the city have been accused of over-reacting by deciding to close every school in the district on Tuesday, displacing 643,000 students and their parents in the process.
Superintendent Ramon Cortines said the precautions the school board was taking were being done in “a calming way”. Authorities in NY reported receiving the same “generic” email and decided there was no danger to schoolchildren. Police Commissioner William Bratton said it was not a credible terrorist threat and he was “concerned with people overreacting to it”. When they make a decision, they have to take into account the safety of the children of Los Angeles.
“Whether it’s criminal mischief, whether it’s somebody testing vulnerabilities of multiple cities, we still do not know enough to say definitively”, he told a press conference. “Immediately, we called our operations office and confirmed that the threat was real, and I started sending out my phone messages for the school to all the parents and staff at 6:45”, she said.
California Congressman Brad Sherman told CNN that the email had come from a person claiming to be a “extremist Muslim” who said attacks would take place on Tuesday and would involve nerve gas.
School police said the FBI was notified of the LAUSD threat, which the federal agency analyzed. Not long after, school officials announced the resumption of classes on Wednesday, Dec. 16.
It is unlikely that a single approach will ever apply to any logistical or procedural plans regarding threats to schools and children.
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Police said the threat referenced explosives, assault rifles and machine pistols and specifically named schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. “Who knows what it does psychologically to kids?” This, even though children might be safer in school than if they are sent home where they could be left unsupervised.
