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The parents of nearly 640,000 Los Angeles Unified School District students were asked to not send their children to school Tuesday after an unspecified threat was made against several campuses.

Parents and students are seen outside of a school after LAUSD campuses were closed amid a threat Tuesday. (Credit: KTLA)
Parents and students are seen outside of a school after LAUSD campuses were closed amid a threat Tuesday. (Credit: KTLA)

“Please do not send your students to school today. Once we know more information we will notify you via phone and email,” an official said as part of a 20-second automated message sent to many parents.

Other parents received calls from people in their school’s administration office informing them that the campuses had been closed for the day.

Francisco, whose son Brian attends Locke High School, got one of those calls and told his son school had been canceled.

“I was in a bit of shock because I had just woken up,” said Brian, who arrived at the school with his father searching for more information.

During the call from the school they were told they would be advised of any updates later in the day.

Los Angeles Police Department patrol cars and SWAT vehicles were staged outside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum following an unspecified threat to several LAUSD schools on Dec. 15, 2015. (Credit: KTLA)
Los Angeles Police Department patrol cars and SWAT vehicles were staged outside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum following an unspecified threat to several LAUSD schools on Dec. 15, 2015. (Credit: KTLA)

The threat against the district was sent via email to a school board member Monday evening and was traced back to an IP address in Frankfurt, Germany, according to spokeswoman Ellen Morgan.

Parents and guardians were urged to keep their kids home from school. Anyone who had already dropped their child off was asked to pick them up. Proper ID would be required and checked upon picking students up.

For parents planning to talk to their children about the incident, pediatric psychologist Stephanie Marcy of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles said less information may be best, at least for the younger kids.

“We have to be developmentally wise with what we share with children,” Marcy said, adding that for younger children, “We really don’t want to scare them and put something in their minds that isn’t going to change the outcome at all.”

With teenagers and adolescents Marcy suggested more transparency, suggesting students at this age are very sophisticated and have easy access to media.

Marcy urged parents to give the information to students themselves instead of another source that might be misconstrued.

Correction: An earlier version of the text in this story spelled Marcy’s surname incorrectly. The story has been updated.