LAUSD cancels all classes on Monday due to Tropical Storm Hilary

Los Angeles Unified School District has canceled all classes on Monday due to the potential impacts of Tropical Storm Hilary overnight. 

"Tomorrow there will be no schools active across Los Angeles Unified, all before and after programming ... everything will be shut down," Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said on Sunday, while speaking at a press conference.  

Related: Rain and wind hit Southern California with high risk of flash flooding

As expected, and following suit with Burbank Unified School District's similar announcement earlier Sunday, LAUSD will be completely closed for at least Monday, with another looming decision ahead of Tuesday morning. 

"Our school district covers 700 square miles, there will be impact in some areas. We cannot inspect those areas, those schools, or access to the schools," Carvalho said. "So, the prudent thing to do, to avoid harm or injury to any one child or workforce member of LAUSD, is to call off schools for tomorrow."

That decision includes all athletic activities and any third party events planned on LAUSD campuses on Monday. Charter schools are also likely to be closed, Carvalho said. 

"We make these decisions after going through a significant number of considerations," Carvalho said. "It is not an easy decision to make. We know the impact that closing of schools brings to our community." 

The superintendent noted that the decision comes based on the fact that the peak of the powerful storm will take place over night, leaving many in the dark as to what may have happened ahead of Monday morning, such as downed power lines and trees, outages or even flooding. 

"Depriving us of ability to inspect schools or determine access to schools to be safe," Carvalho said. "Without the ability to inspect schools, we cannot determine if there are power lines down or tree limbs down, potentially bringing injury or worse to our students or workforce."

Bus drivers for the district traditionally begin their days around 4 a.m., which is when some of the worst conditions of the storm are expected to hit the Southland, Carvalho said, also mentioning the high-powered winds that could affect the drivability of the large vehicles. 

"A last point, a significant percentage of our workforce does not work within the jurisdiction of Los Angeles," the superintendent said. "The ability of those workforce members, ranging from bus drivers to custodial staff to maintenance individuals to teachers themselves, may be compromised because of the impact that the storm will have in their local communities."