Los Angeles public schools defend $29 million closures over 'hoax' bomb threat

The Los Angeles Unified School District (Lausd) Superintendent has defended his multi-million-dollar closure of the city’s public schools following apparent criticism from New York City officials over his handling of a bomb threat that was ruled a hoax.

“Based on recent events, I took this precaution out of an abundance of caution and to ensure safety and security in our schools,” Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines said in an email to The Independent late Tuesday.

“We now must get back to the business of educating our kids. Our local districts will be supporting school and maintaining consistency.”

Los Angeles local CBS television news reported that the closure cost the school district a whopping $29 million at a time when education across the state continues to struggle with budget cuts.

“I have asked state Schools Superintendent Tom Torlakson to allow us to count [Tuesday] as an instructional day and reimburse the District for funds we will otherwise lose,” Superintendent Cortines said. Superintendent Torlakson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent.

Superintendent Cortines’ comments follow criticism from New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton that the Lausd overreacted to the threat. A similar emailed threat received in New York City was deemed a "hoax" after it was found to have originated at an IP address in Germany. The person behind the alleged terrorist threat had not spelled “Allah” with a capital “A,” which Commissioner Bratton said a “jihadist” would never do. There is no capitalization of letters in the Arabic language in which most Islamic texts are written.

“LA has a huge school system - 600 square mile school system. And to disrupt the daily schedules of half a million schoolchildren, their parents, daycare, buses based on an anonymous email without consultation — if in fact consultation did not occur with law enforcement authorities — I think it was a significant overreaction, yes,” Commissioner Bratton said.

Commissioner Bratton also quipped that the person behind the hoax appeared to have watched hit televisions series Homeland, and that the premise behind the threat mimicked a number of the series’ episodes.