Bomb Scare Shuts Down High School in Reseda

School officials were greeted with overturned trash cans and a mysterious device resembling dynamite at Cleveland High School early Monday, causing the postponement of final exams and traffic congestion around the campus.

The device, which proved to be nonexplosive, was fashioned to resemble a bomb. It was discovered at 6:15 a.m. outside the school’s discipline center by Assistant Principal Alan Weiner and Dean Ed Garcia, who called police, said Principal Eileen Banta.

In the wake of the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., two months ago, police and school officials took no chances. Students were evacuated and more than 65 emergency personnel responded, including Los Angeles and school district police officers, firefighters and paramedics. The six-hour event cost more than $200,000, said Lt. William A. Guerrero, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman. Vanalden Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard, which border the school, were closed to traffic.

An LAPD robot was used to examine the device just before 10:30 a.m.

Guerrero said the criminal conspiracy unit will continue to investigate the case.

“Some students probably thought this was a funny prank, but it was an expensive operation,” said LAPD Deputy Chief Michael Bostic. “This hoax . . . is a felony crime, and there’s absolutely nothing funny about what happened here.”