Latest on school threats: Indiana districts close schools

"This is no necessarily just a hoax that we are just discounting as I've heard throughout the NY conversation and the Los Angeles conversation", Dallas Police Chief, David Brown said.

The Miami-Dade County, Dallas and Houston school districts announced on their websites that "less-than-credible" threats were received by email late Wednesday evening, and that schools would be open Thursday.

Meanwhile, two IN school districts did cancel classes after also getting threats. District officials said they immediately alerted San Francisco police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and decided not to close down any schools. Meantime, parents, students and staff are urged to be vigilant and keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

In McAllen, an emailed statement to parents from the McAllen Independent School District said it appeared the district received the same threatening email that earlier targeted schools in NY and California.

It is a move district officials around the country have weighed heavily after school shootings and threats.

In central IN, two school districts canceled classes Thursday.

Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Virginia, and Washington already have laws addressing threats at schools, but some other states do not. The Texas district did not elaborate.

The Dallas Independent School District, with approximately 160,000 students, also said it would keep schools open. They arrested two students for their involvement in the first threat - a freshman and a senior.

"I think it's important to take this precaution based on what has happened recently and what has happened in the past", LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines said.

Even when a threat is determined to be a hoax, the consequences can be a severe, with the safety of thousands of children, millions of dollars in school funding, and the message sent by each decision on the line. And in Plainfield, west of Indianapolis, students were told to stay home Thursday after a threat was "directed to the high school".

Plainfield police said in a statement that the agency received information late Wednesday night about social media postings and was working "to identify who is responsible".

School will resume on January 4. No issues had been reported in the district as of Thursday afternoon. Los Angeles, however, closed 1,100 schools for the day.

The district has 356 campuses and more than 320,000 students.

"I'm glad they shut it down", said Rebecca Alvarado, who was taking her 5-year-old daughter, Sofia, to an elementary school near downtown.

According to employees of CCSD, who refused to name themselves when contacted by the MLN, the CCSD staff consulted with special Local Threat experts and Crisis Response Teams as well as multiple law enforcement agencies, who ultimately deemed the email as non-credible.

Officials also notified neighboring schools and universities, including: San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, San Francisco charter and private schools.