Public schools in Los Angeles have been ordered closed after an unspecified terror threat led school district officials to close All Los Angeles Unified School District schools.
This school district comprising over 900 campuses and 640,000 students represents the second largest in the whole of North America.
According to Ramon Cortines, the school system’s superintendent many schools were threatened.
“It was not to one school, two schools or three schools, it was many schools, not specifically identified, but there were many schools,” Cortines said.
“That’s the reason that I took the action that I did.”
The Washington Post reports
Teachers and support personnel also have been ordered to stay away from schools. Cortines said he intends to have every one of the district’s schools searched. He said that while it is not unusual for schools to receive threats, this one was “rare” and comes at a time of heightened concern about safety.
Los Angeles is an hour’s drive from San Bernardino, where less than two weeks ago, 14 people were killed by two alleged terrorists.
“I as superintendent am not going to take a chance with the life of a student,” Cortines said.
Officials offered few details about the nature of the threat, calling it only an “electronic threat” that came in the form of a “message.” Cortines said the school district plans to release more information later Tuesday.