L.A. School Closure Was Right Thing to do

Los Angeles School Superintendent Ramon Cortines drew a lot of fire from the news media yesterday about his decision to close schools after a threat was made on schools in the greater Los Angeles area. Despite the fact that authorities were pretty sure the whole thing was a hoax, Cortines went ahead and closed all the schools as a safety precaution.

Many people in the media jumped on the poor man for his decision. The main criticisms leveled at Cortines was that he had a knee-jerk reaction and that he, according to the news media, set a precedent for closing schools when any threat is received. The criticism didn’t come from the right or the left as both CNN and Fox were quick to second guess the decision. But wait a minute here; just what was he supposed to do in his position?

If Cortines is guilty of anything it is erring on the side of caution. Let’s say that Cortines dismissed the entire incident as a hoax and didn’t call for school closure. Let’s further say that an incident, any incident, actually happened. The public would be crying for his head for ignoring a threat. How this minor point escaped the news hungry media is beyond me. When it comes to our children, any threat has to be taken seriously and I applaud Cortines for his decision.

The media proceeded to look at the threat and point out that the letter contained wording and information that would not be in keeping with radical Islam. So, I guess the media has never heard of a lone-wolf ever causing any problems. What members of the press decided that, the only kind of threat must include hard fast proof that the sender was a terrorist?

We live in a time of heightened fear and mistrust. If someone says they’re going to harm school children, just how much credence do we give them? There can be no gambling on a threat being a hoax. Would you want to know that the people in charge of your child’s safety would not err on the side of caution. The school system that should be coming under fire is the New York City School System.

Sure they were told that it was a hoax, once again because of the lack of accuracy about Islam in the threatening note. Of course we all know there’s no such thing as just a nut wanting to foist his peculiar brand of politics by use of terror.

If something like that happened in this area, I’d like to think that our school leaders would react the same way Cortines did. Our children are far too precious to be used as an ante in the game of terror.