LOS ANGELES – Multiple San Fernando Valley schools were placed on lockdown Wednesday after receiving threats that raised concerns about safety.
Initially, the lockdowns were reported at two schools.
Sky5 was over the scene at Birmingham Community Charter High School in Van Nuys shortly before 11 a.m., where officers responded to investigate the threat made by an unknown individual. Also on lockdown was High Tech Los Angeles Charter High School in Lake Balboa.
Neither school is affiliated with the Los Angeles Unified School District, but the Los Angeles Unified School District Police are contracted to provide security services to these independent charter schools. As a result, LAUSD officers responded alongside the Los Angeles Police Department.
“Both schools were placed on lockdown, and officers are actively searching the campuses out of an abundance of caution,” LAUSD Police said in a statement.
Within about an hour of the threats being received, officials announced that normal school operations resumed and that no evidence of a credible threat was found.
At about 2:20 p.m., LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho released a statement explaining that in addition to the Birmingham and High Tech, three LAUSD schools were also threatened: Independence High School, Northridge Academy High School and West Valley Occupational Center.
Carvalho also detailed that the threats were made by telephone and that the lockdowns were only enacted “out of an abundance of caution.”
“Our schools are now off lockdown and have resumed normal school operations,” Carvalho posted to X, formerly Twitter. “Our students, employees and school communities remain safe. We thank everyone for their engagement and patience during this situation.”
Nidia Becerra contributed to this report.