Authorities in Los Angeles are facing accusations of overreaction after shutting hundreds of schools in response to a threat of violence which authorities in New York dismissed as a hoax.
The LA Unified School District sent home more than 700,000 children from more than 900 campuses with little warning on Tuesday morning, prompting an unprecedented scramble by staff, parents and law enforcement agencies across the city.
Officials said a “credible threat” of violence involving explosive devices, assault rifles, backpacks and packages was sent to several school board members, raising fears of a fresh atrocity in California weeks after the San Bernardino massacre.
However, officials in New York, who also received a threat to city schools, dismissed it. “There was nothing credible about the threat,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “It was so generic, so outlandish and posed to numerous school systems simultaneously.”
New York’s police chief, Bill Bratton said the threat appeared to mirror recent episodes of the television drama Homeland. “It is not something that we are concerned with. What we would be concerned with is overreacting to it.” Bratton, who used to be LA’s police chief, said LA’s response could fuel anxiety and copycat threats.
Officials in LA, an hour’s drive from San Bernardino, which suffered a recent terror attack, bristled at the criticism and defended the shutdowns.
“I think it’s irresponsible, based on facts that have yet to be determined, to criticise that decision,” the police chief, Charlie Beck, told a news conference. “All of us make tough choices. All of us have the same goal in mind, to keep the kids safe.”
Mayor Eric Garcetti said: “Decisions need to be made in a matter of minutes. We will continue to hope that this is nothing and that our children will be back in school tomorrow.”
Both Beck and Garcetti made clear that the decision to shut the schools was taken by Ramon Cortines, superintendent of the LA unified school district. Cortines said that the threat was “not to one school, two school or three schools” but to “many schools” and “at school students” generally.
As the day wore on, however, local politicians sided with New York in playing down the threat.
“The preliminary assessment is that it was a hoax or something designed to disrupt school districts in large cities,” Adam Schiff, a US congressman who represents a part of LA county and sits on the House intelligence committee, said in a statement.
Another local congressman, Brad Sherman, a senior member of the House foreign affairs committee, said the author of the emailed threat claimed to be a devout Muslim with 32 “jihadist friends”, all planning to attack schools with bombs, nerve gas and rifles. The name was Arabic and the message cited Allah several times, but not always capitalised, undermining its credibility, said Sherman.
“The text of the email does not demonstrate that the author has studied Islam or has any particular understanding of Islam,” he added. The only thing known, Sherman said, was that the email was “sent by an evil person”.
Law enforcement officials reportedly traced the threat to an IP address in Frankfurt, Germany, but this did not mean it was the source.
The closures prompted widespread disruption but also a community spirit, said Tanya Anton, who runs the school advice blog gomamaguide.com. “Everybody has been helping each other, parents opening their homes, collecting each others’ kids.” She praised museums and the city metro for allowing in children for free.
Wealthy parents with cars, radios, smartphones and active social media accounts tended to hear the news before poorer parents, said Anton. “For working parents it’s been a huge disruption.”
As parents and students milled outside schools across the city the disruption may have contributed to a tragedy: a city service truck struck and killed a 17-year-old student crossing a street in Highland Park, near a charter high school.
Local television stations initially gave blanket coverage to the closures, reflecting skittishness in the wake of the 2 December attacks which left 14 dead in San Bernardino, but by late morning some viewers complained, calling it excessive. Some commentators on social media called the closures a farce.
The playground and classrooms at Kenter Canyon elementary school were silent and deserted by 8.30am, with just a handful of staff staying on to warn away any parents who had not heard the news.
“The phone has been ringing off the hook,” said the principal, Terry Moren. “We’re here to make sure no kids come to campus. The school is totally closed.”
Police and sheriff’s deputies who searched the Del Amo elementary school in Carson found nothing suspicious, said the principal, Cheryl Nakada.
Parent Veronica Manzano, who lives nearby, was still in bed when a Del Amo school staff member knocked on her door at about 7am to let her know of the closures.
“It was scary,” said Manzano. “First of all it was like a desperate knock. Then when I saw her [the staff member’s] reaction you could tell something wasn’t right. So that’s when she told me. It was nerve-racking – oh my goodness.”
Both Manzano and her husband work longshoreman jobs and decided to stay home with their three children, including their two-year-old daughter because of the threat.
Manzano recognized that the district’s decision likely left many working parents in a lurch, but said she supported the decision to close the schools.
“My children come before anything and I’m actually very happy with the call that they’ve made,” said Manzano. “… I’d rather be safe than later on regret it and say we wish they would have taken other precautions. So I’m 100% supporting their decision.”
Given their proximity to the school she and her husband were wondering whether to evacuate. “That’s the decision we’re taking right now, whether we stay or go away for the day,” said Manzano.
One of her sons piped up with a suggestion: “Go to Disneyland.”