: A bomb threat forced the evacuation of more than 680 students from a Carmichael elementary school Tuesday afternoon, and parents were left waiting for answers from a system that can't seem to get the basics right.
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office responded around 1 p.m. to California Montessori School on Kermit Lane after the school received the threat, according to the New York Post. Deputies and bomb-detection dogs swept the property. All students were eventually accounted for, authorities said. The New York Post did not report any arrest or identification of a suspect.
The Carmichael campus serves transitional kindergarten through eighth grade as part of the California Montessori Project, a tuition-free public charter network operating six campuses and enrolling more than 3,000 students across the Sacramento region.
While parents in Carmichael were scrambling to find out if their children were safe, a new study laid bare just how badly California's leadership is failing on the fundamentals. MoneyLion ranked 46 American cities where jobs and affordable homes are increasingly out of reach — and California claimed 32 of those spots, nearly 70% of the entire list. Irvine topped the rankings with an average home value of $1.7 million, average rent of $3,500, and 5% unemployment. The top five was rounded out by Modesto, Fontana, Huntington Beach, and Rancho Cucamonga.
A separate WalletHub analysis found California has the lowest job openings rate in the country at just 3.6%. Home prices in the state have surged 441% since 1984 — more than double the rate of inflation, which grew 210% over the same period. A Pew Charitable Trusts analysis found high housing costs account for 30% of all poverty in California and 36% of child poverty.
The bomb threat at Carmichael is the kind of crisis that demands competence and speed from school officials and law enforcement. Instead, parents across California are navigating a state where the people in charge can't deliver safety, can't deliver jobs, and can't deliver homes families can afford. The one non-negotiable — keeping kids alive — now comes with the same uncertainty as everything else.
Authorities have not said who made the threat or whether anyone has been taken into custody. Parents are still waiting.
