Mira Costa Costa High School reopened without incident Tuesday after a bomb threat shut down the campus on Dec. 7.
“The opening was very smooth,” said Manhattan Beach Unified School District Executive Director of Human Resources Carolyn Seaton Tuesday afternoon. “Students were calm. Teachers were calm. It was business as usual today.”
The campus was evacuated on Monday when someone called in a bomb threat to the school around 8:18 a.m.
Over 80 personnel from agencies all over Los Angeles County responded, including the Manhattan Beach, Long Beach, Hawthorne, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles World Airport and Port of Los Angeles police departments, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Coast Guard. The agencies set up a command center in the parking lot of Hope Chapel in Hermosa Beach, across the street from the high school, and scoured the campus.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better response,” said Seaton. “The chief of police, the chief of the fire department and the city manager were all there.”
Police are trying to determine the identity of the caller, whom they said was described as male. Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews described the call as “anonymous and vague.”
Initially, students were evacuated to the sports fields while the campus was searched. Around 9:30 a.m., a Nixle alert was sent out asking that parents pick up their children. Identification of both parents and children were checked.
Around 2:54 p.m., Matthews sent an email parents saying the campus was clear and school would be open Tuesday.
“I am pleased to report that the search of the Mira Costa High School campus is complete and nothing suspicious was found in any room on campus,” Matthews wrote. He noted that nine K-9 units participated in the search.
The high school was also shut down last year when threats were made through the social media Yik Yak. Police later said the offender was a “female juvenile” from outside the district.
Seaton said that regardless, the school district would pay attention to any threats.
“I think we have to take all threats seriously because honestly, the safety of the students is first and foremost, and the safety of the teachers is a close second,” she said “Kids can’t learn if they don’t feel safe and aren’t safe.”
“I know across the country there have been many other threats,” she continued. “And they almost always turn out to be hoaxes.”
But if they were to treat a threat as such, she said, “God forbid any students or staff is injured or worse.”
“We hope the very strong response will serve as a very strong deterrent to keep it from ever happening again,” she said. ER
