Walter Reed Middle School, by noon, it was empty.

Walter Reed Middle School in Studio City, has “zero periods,” when students with electives go to classes before school begins. When teachers arrived at the school early today to prepare for their regular class time, they were greeted by their colleagues saying, “Leave the school, we’re on Level 1 alert. This is serious!”

Minutes before school was supposed to begin, Reed’s principal Jeanne Gamba issued a robo-call alerting parents that all schools will be closed and parents are being asked to pick up their children.

All across the 1,100-plus traditional and charter schools run by LAUSD, procedures were surprisingly similar today as law enforcement authorities checked campuses to see if an email threatening violence across the district was real or a hoax. It was a long and trying day, testing nerves of parents and instincts of authorities with a “serious threat” of mass violence just two weeks after the terrorist attack in San Bernardino.

Across town from Walter Reed in the southern part of the country’s second-largest school district, principal Tracy Washington,of Locke Early Education Center was standing outside her school, not allowed to go in herself. She was able to alert her families through her cell phone.

“You do what you have to do; we’re here for the students,” Washington said. “We take our orders from the district, and they said, don’t go into the school. It’s a state of emergency, that’s it.”

The first alert was sounded at 6:25 a.m. when the six local district superintendents were told about a threat and that schools should be closed. At that time, principals, plant managers and building and grounds workers were told to go to the school to make sure students wouldn’t enter.

At 6:32 a.m., a robo-call went out in both English and Spanish to families throughout the district asking children to stay home. At the same time, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti asked that the buses and subways be free for students who were going to try to get home.

The message said, in part, “As a result of a threat received, the Superintendent has directed all schools to be closed today to ensure the safety of all students . . . The safety of students is the District’s number one priority. Thank you for your attention to this communication and to your support of our efforts to keep our schools safe and secure.” Some homes reported receiving three calls.

Although there wasn’t a threat to private schools, some parochial schools closed as a precaution, and some schools remained open, but with caution. A few private schools limited the outdoor activities and canceled athletic events for the day.

By 7:40 a.m. robo-calls went to school employees, telling them to stay home. People working at LA Unified’s downtown headquarters were told to report to work as usual. Employees in the emergency Dawn Patrol program were told to report to their assigned schools.

Brian Bauer, the executive director from Granada Hills Charter High School, had his own dog teams from the school police already scouring the school grounds. He heard earlier about the school closures at about 6:30 am from city councilman Mitch Englander.

By 11:30, the district set up a hotline: 213-241-2064. In addition, half-hour updates were provided at lausd.net and on KLCS-TV.

By noon, the district officials said that all students had been picked up as school plant managers continued working with one California Highway Patrol officer, one Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department member and one school police officer at every site to seek out anything suspicious.

The Beyond the Bell and all after-school activities were canceled at 12:50 p.m. Most of the schools in the district were on a shortened day anyway for afternoon teacher meetings.

By 1:30 pm, 13 police agencies were helping out with the school sweeps. Los Angeles Unified School Police was the lead agency along with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department; California Highway Patrol; the Departments of Police Services at the University of California and Cal State-Northridge; and the police departments from Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Fernando, Bell, Gardena, Hawthorne, Huntington Park, Inglewood and South Gate.

LAPD Detectives Donna Wheeler and Jennifer Cohen show their TS tattoos in honor of a bullied boy.

An LA Unified anti-bullying campaign for at-risk youth that includes an innovative arts program culminated today in an emotional speech by a father, whose 11-year-old son killed himself after being bullied. Students, teachers, even police officers had tears in their eyes at Bret Hart Preparatory Middle School.

For some of the officers, it got personal. Los Angeles Police Detective Donna Wheeler rolled up her sleeve and showed the tattoo she and about half a dozen others now wear to show support for the father’s anti-bullying campaign. It’s a heart with the initials TS, for Ty Smalley.

“We were very moved by the story and what Kirk Smalley is doing is doing for youth, and this is the only tattoo I have,” said Det. Wheeler. Her colleague, officer Jennifer Cohen, added, “We were amazed by him.”

LAPD’s Southeast Division connected with the non-profit Venice-based P.S. ARTS program and launched a pilot program with a $40,000 grant from the California Endowment. It’s the division’s first collaboration with an arts program, and it hopes to replicate it in other LAUSD schools, particularly in the southeast and southwest sections of Los Angeles, Wheeler said.

As a helicopter flew over the school and sirens wailed in the background, Wheeler, who is the division’s community relations supervisor, said, “This is the kind of thing these kids have to deal with every day. Helicopters, shootings, violence, crime. With this program, we have been able to get them away from the trauma these see every day. And bullying comes at them from all directions.”

Wheeler smirked and admitted, “I used to be a bully.”

The program for the South Los Angeles students involves police officers and students working together on a 20-week after school theater program in which the students write the play and perform it. As part of the program, they bring in guest speakers, like Smalley, to inspire and motivate the students.

Lui Sanchez, who runs the Inside Out Community Arts after-school program for P.S. ARTS, said he met Det. Wheeler in 2012. They immediately hit it off and developed the LAPD Jeopardy Program, a gang prevention/intervention program for boys and girls ages 8 through 17 and their parents. They identified 24 students to get involved.

“The arts gives them tools to look inward and how to express and control their emotions,” Sanchez said. “It builds their confidence and it built trust in the police and showed them how to resolve bullying.”

Kirk Smalley talks about his son’s suicide after being bullied.

Roland Zee worked with the students and officers and said he definitely saw some ups and downs. “Students got to say what was on their minds about racism, bullying, the police,” Zee said. “But the police got to see the students in a different light, and the students got to see the police in a different light. The students wrote the plays, cast it and did the choreography, music and songs. We hope to continue this here and many other schools.”

Police officers and teachers said they have seen vast improvements in attitudes of students in the neighborhood who might have turned to crime or dropped out of school.

“Our aim is to be a catalyst for lifelong change,” said Kristen Paglia, the chief executive officer of P.S. ARTS. “Students develop understanding and skills in our theater program that will be instrumental in making the best decisions for themselves, like staying in school and being engaged contributors to their families and communities.”

Smalley is part of the Stand for the Silent campaign that was started in 2010 by a group of students from Oklahoma State University after they learned of Ty’s suicide, which followed two years of bullying.

At today’s meeting, five Bret Hart students read tributes, holding photographs of students who had committed suicide after being bullied. Then, Smalley talked about his son’s suicide, which led him to tears.

“I’m here to tell you guys what happened to Ty and to make sure it does not happen to another family,” Smalley said. He pointed to the students and asked, “How many of you have been bullied?”

At least 80 percent of the hundreds of children in the auditorium raised their hands.

“How many of you are bullies?” Smalley asked.

A handful of students raised their hands.

Smalley said, “I love you both, I love you all, but you know that some of you can become heroes if you stand up against it.”

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“There is an ongoing investigation at this time,” said LAPD public information officer Norma Eisenman, an assertion confirmed by Capt. Julian R. Melendez of the LAPD Juvenile Division in the West Bureau Olympic Community Police division.

The confirmation follows the filing of a $1 billion class action lawsuit against LAUSD on behalf of Esquith, a nationally-known Hobart Elementary School teacher, and other teachers who have been pulled from their classrooms and placed in “teacher jail.” Esquith was removed from his classroom in April.

In announcing the lawsuit yesterday, Esquith’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, said, “No, there’s nothing that the LAPD is doing.” Geragos said neither the police nor the district ever brought up any acccuations such as “highly inappropriate conduct involving touching of minors” during his time as a district teacher or “inappropriate photographs and videos of a sexual nature” on his school computer, as the district has claimed.

“I haven’t been given anything of the things they leaked,” Geragos said. “They haven’t given us any information, they did not show us anything.” He said Esquith denies any wrongdoing and has never had a complaint lodged against him in three decades of teaching.

Eisenman emphasized that an LAPD investigation doesn’t establish guilt.

“Usually what happens is that the school district will send over the information and the juvenile division will investigate, but that doesn’t mean there will be any charges,” Eisenman explained. LA School Report reported two months ago that LAPD had launched an investigation involving the Sexually Exploited Child Unit.

Geragos said his client has not even confirmed that the school board voted to terminate him from teaching at LAUSD. Citing an anonymous source, the Los Angeles Times reported that the board voted unanimously this week in a closed session to end Esquith’s contract.

The district has refused to confirm the report and has declined to comment on the class action lawsuit filed yesterday.

Rafe Esquith, book cover of ‘There Are No Shortcuts’

LA School Report has confirmed that an LAPD sex crimes unit has an open investigation of celebrated teacher Rafe Esquith involving allegations of “inappropriate touching.” Meanwhile, Esquith’s attorneys are striking back with threats of additional lawsuits and a “declaration of war against LAUSD.”

One of Esquith’s attorneys, Ben Meisales, said, “This continued defamation by LAUSD knows no bounds. This is a slap at all hard-working teachers and it has created a declaration of war against LAUSD.”

Lead attorney Mark Geragos added, “People all across the country are watching these unscrupulous tactics. LAUSD is acting as a criminal cartel that needs to be put out of business, and we will put them out of business.”

Meanwhile, the Sexually Exploited Child Unit of the West Bureau Sex Crimes of the Los Angeles Police Department has a case that is opened against Esquith and being investigated by Detective Rachel Saavedra. The attorneys for Esquith said they were unaware of the investigation, which is being conducted by police at the Olympic Division of the LAPD in the district of the Hobart Boulevard Elementary School where Esquith taught fifth grade until he was unceremoniously taken out of the classroom last April and confined during the day hours to the “teachers jail” in a downtown LA building.

On Thursday, Geragos filed a class action lawsuit against LA Unified not only claiming age discrimination and unfair business practices, but defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Hours after receiving the lawsuit, LAUSD issued a letter for the first time dealing with alleged serious allegations against Esquith, including “highly inappropriate conduct involving touching of minors” during his time as a district teacher as well as “inappropriate photographs and videos of a sexual nature” on his school computer. The letter also mentions allegations of “threats to a parent and two students” and “possible ethical” violations of district policy regarding Esquith’s nonprofit after-school program, the Hobart Shakespeareans. 

Through attorneys, Esquith denies all the allegations. Esquith is the author of some popular books about teaching, won the National Medal of Arts from President Obama and was named one of the best teachers in the country by The Washington Post.

School officials are required by law to report all sexual allegations involving children to the proper authorities, and because of the “inappropriate touching” allegations, LA School Report asked LAUSD if police officials were notified.

Shannon Haber, the district’s director of Communications & Media Relations, issued a statement reading, “Yes, as mandated reporters, we always report allegations of suspected child abuse to the appropriate agency.”

LAPD officials had no further details about the ongoing investigation.

Meanwhile, Geragos said he plans to ask for a criminal investigation against the school district by going to the Department of Justice, and they also plan to file a lawsuit against Toni Tosello, the liabilities claims coordinator who wrote the Aug. 13 letter from LAUSD’s Risk Finance and Insurance Services department. The letter said that while investigating the original allegations (of a reading from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), they discovered “additional serious allegations of misconduct” by the 61-year-old teacher.

Meanwhile, Esquith’s attorneys claim the noted teacher is a victim of a “witch hunt” and that after one day, their class action has gone from about 200 hundred teachers to more than 1,000 who have contacted the office with similar complaints.

“The only child who was been hurt by all this is one of Rafe Esquith’s students who when LAUSD started this witch hunt attempted to commit suicide when [Esquith] was taken from the classroom,” Meiselas said.

Meanwhile, in a letter dated Thursday from Student Safety Investigation Team director Jose Cantu, the district asked for an interview with Esquith for the “investigation of alleged misconduct” according to the letter. They planned the interview on Aug. 18 with investigator Ray Johnson. That interview won’t happen, Esquith’s representatives said.

“The only discussion now about this will be in court,” Meiselas said.

Michelle Yeh (Credit: LAPD)

A 28-year-old female teacher has been arrested on suspicion of sexual abusing one of her students at San Pedro High School.

Michelle Yeh, who was on temporary assignment in the science department of the school during the past spring semester, was arrested Friday after a 15-year-old male student claimed she had abused him on several occasions, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Yeh has been released on $100,000 bail.

The student was in her class and after the semester ended, Yeh reached out to the victim on several occasions and arranged private meetings, the LAPD said in a press release about the arrest.

The release also said, “The investigation is still ongoing and detectives believe there may be other cases of unreported sexual abuse with other students. Yeh has held multiple temporary teaching assignments in the surrounding area and also provided tutoring online, allowing her contact with other minors. Anyone with further information is encouraged to come forward.”

LA Unified had no comment on the arrest other than to describe Yeh as a “former employee,” KTLA reported.

“I’m just appalled. It’s scary knowing that you send your child to school and you know, this is a place where they are supposed to be safe,” one parent, Rebie Griffith, told KTLA.

*UPDATE

A burglary near an LA Unified school lead to a police chase today, with another school being put on lockdown as the result of a search for the suspects.

Los Angeles school police notified the LAPD around 5:04 a.m. that multiple suspects were trying to burglarize Joseph Pomeroy Widney High School at 2302 Gramercy Place, according to ABC7.

However, LA Unified spokesperson Monica Carazo said the burglary actually occurred near the school at a residence and the suspects fled onto the campus grounds.

The suspects were spotted by officers in the 400 block of Fairfax Ave. around 5:11 a.m., which led to a seven minute police chase that ended near 24th and Western, according to Officer Jane Kim of the LAPD media relations section.

Two of the suspects were arrested in the car, but police had to set up a perimeter and search the area for thee more suspects who had fled on foot. The additional suspects were also arrested after the search, Kim said.

24th Street Elementary School was put on lockdown during the search, but is not clear if anyone was in the building due to school being on recess for the summer.

*UPDATED to include comments from Carazo clarifying the burglary was near the school

A ninth student was arrested off campus, and at least five other students are also being sought by police.

At a press conference, LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said 14 students, between 14 and 17 years old, were believed to have sexually assaulted the female students on and off campus several times, according to KTLA.

“We are working on rounding up more students whose names we have,” Smith said.

Few details were provided by police, which first received a report about the alleged assaults on Tuesday.

“Some of these were forced sexual acts, sexual assaults and some of them were consensual with victims too young to give consent,” said Smith, according to Fox 11.

LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines issued a statement and said the district is cooperating the investigation.

“Parents of the suspects have been notified. This is a painful moment for Venice High School, and this District. I want you to know that no sexual misconduct of any kind by students or staff will ever be tolerated in L. A. Unified. Crisis counselors are on campus today to assist students who might be affected,” Cortines said.

*UPDATED

Four LA Unified schools were placed on lockdown in the Granada Hills area after a  Los Angeles Police Department officer was struck by a vehicle and was seriously injured, according to the Los Angeles School Police Department.

The suspect fled on foot, leading officers to search the area. The schools placed on lockdown were Porter Middle School and Danube and Haskell elementary schools, according to the school police department’s Twitter account. The department also said in its tweet that Kennedy High was also placed on lockdown, but it was not, according to a district spokesperson.

The suspect was arrested after a 3.5 hour hunt, according to Fox 11, which reported that the lockdown at Porter was lifted after an hour, and the lockdowns at Haskell and Danube at 3:10 p.m.

The male officer, who was taken to a hospital, was in plain clothes and conducting a narcotics investigation about noon in the 10900 block of Haskell Avenue when he was “rammed” by the suspect and sustained a major compound fracture, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

The officer is listed as being in serious but stable condition, according to the LAPD.

*Updated to reflect that the suspect was arrested, and that Kennedy was not placed on lockdown.

*UPDATED

Hamilton High School in West LA was put on lockdown for over an hour this morning after three men were shot in streets near the school, which is located on S. Robertson Blvd. near the 10 Freeway.

The three victims were shot at different locations — with one victim being found on the 3100 block of Helms Avenue — after likely being chased through the streets by at least two shooters, Officer Drake Madison of the LAPD Media Relations Section told LA School Report.

Madison said the three victims were all adult males and were not students at Hamilton. The shooter or shooters are still at large, and the victims are all being treated at local hospitals. No description of the shooters is available, Madison said.

The shooting was reported around 9 a.m. and the lockdown was lifted at 10:40 a.m. The incident may be related to drug or gang activity, Madison suggested.

“It was not random, let’s put it that way,” Madison said.

UPDATE 2:50 p.m. One of the victims in the shooting died, according to NBC Los Angeles.

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Appeals Court Imposes Restrictions on Parcel Taxes
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