Violence Fears Cited as 1,500 Miss Classes at El Camino

At least 1,500 students were absent from El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills on Friday, five times the usual number, which officials attributed to publicity about the anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting and a threatening message found earlier in the month.

Principal Ron Bauer said El Camino’s administration and faculty took the rumors and fears seriously from the beginning but encouraged students and parents not to worry. He congratulated and thanked those students who did come to school Friday.

“Don’t succumb to the unknown,” he said. “The fact of the matter is the school has been a safe environment for all these years, and we didn’t disappoint them today despite all the negative publicity and rumors that were out there.”

Bauer sent a letter to parents after the threatening message was found. Earlier this week, the school also held a meeting for parents concerned about the anniversary.

El Camino was the only school in the Los Angeles Unified School District that had a significant drop in attendance Friday, Los Angeles School Police Sgt. Robert Denardo said.

Bauer said the absences on the 3,500-student campus will cost LAUSD and El Camino at least $39,000 in state funding, which is based on a school’s daily attendance. That’s enough money to pay a teacher’s salary for a year.

In addition, Bauer said, “the net effect is we lost a tremendous amount of instruction today, and we’ll lose more on Monday as we readmit those students to school.”