“Hello there” - the email started. “There is something you should know about, taking place tomorrow of 12-17-15 - Thursday.”
That was the email message received by the Houston Independent School District. A similar email came into the inboxes of school officials here in South Florida.
The emails threatened to blow up school buildings with pressure cookers bombs.
Thousands of South Florida parents woke up to find their own text and email messages from school districts calling the threat - quote - less-than-credible. The message to parents, teachers and students said it was a regular school day on Thursday.
"One of the things I don't want to do is to do things as a district that is going to encourage this kind of repeated behavior," said Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie.
Earlier in the week, Los Angeles schools closed for a day after receiving a similar threat.
Miami-Dade Public Schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the school districts and several police entities are working to identify the person or people who sent the letter.
.@MiamiSup says several entities are collaborating to find who is behind the email. Says origin of email is Europe #FloridaRoundup
— WLRN Public Media (@WLRN) December 18, 2015
Carvalho added that the letter didn't refer to an attack on a specific school and was sent to school board members who had public email addresses.
Some parents chose to keep their kids at home, still only making a small dent on attendance. Carvalho said attendance was down only 2 percent from the same date last year.
Many parents who did send their kids to school stated they wanted to avoid creating more fear and hysteria over non credible threats.
Most parents we queried said they sent their kids to school, confident in the school district #FloridaRoundup pic.twitter.com/hOuU7w4Iwo
— WLRN Public Media (@WLRN) December 18, 2015