Threat against New York public schools being investigated as a hoax

NEW YORK -- New York City officials say they received the same threat that led to the closure of the Los Angeles school system but quickly concluded that it was a hoax.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday morning that he was "absolutely convinced" there was no danger to schoolchildren in New York.

“These threats are made to promote fear,” he said. “We cannot allow up to raise the levels of fear.”

New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said he thought Los Angeles officials overreacted by deciding to close the nation's second-largest school system.

“We have an investigation underway but it is an investigation into a hoax,” he told reporters.

He said a school superintendent received the threatening email Tuesday morning.

Bratton said the person who wrote the note claimed to be a jihadist but made errors that made it clear the person was a prankster.

New York City’s public school district is the largest in the country with 1.1 million students in more than 1,800 schools, according the city Department of Education’s website.