Los Angeles closes all schools due to ‘electronic threat’

All schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District have been ordered closed due to a threat, according to media reports.

According to reports school district spokeswoman Ellen Morgan announced the closure on Tuesday but released no further details.

The Guardian reports that at a press conference, school superintendent Ramon Cortines said that the threat was “not to one school, two school or three schools” but to “many schools” and “at school students” generally, but he declined to describe the nature of the threat.

Cortines said he had asked staffers at schools to look for “anything that is out of order” but “not to touch anything, not to do anything” before contacting authorities – suggesting that he and school officials fear a bomb threat.

According to international media, the threat was delivered as an electronic message, and that the decision to close schools was made in an abundance of caution, with LAPD assistant chief Jorge Villegas saying that the department and the FBI are currently vetting the threat to determine its credibility.

Cortines said that he would release a statement describing the threat only after police had searched schools.

The district has over 900 schools and 187 public charter schools.