Nearly a dozen Southern California schools closed because of mudslides

Nine schools in Kern County and at least two schools in Los Angeles County were closed Friday as mudslides blocked roads and buildings.

Schools in the El Tejon Unified and Mojave Unified school districts were both closed. El Tejon is in the Frazier Park area and has three schools with about 800 students; there are six schools in Mojave Unified with about 2,700 students, said Steve Sanders, chief of staff for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools.

El Tejon schools were closed because of a mudslide on the I-5 Freeway, Sanders said. Roads and weather were tolerable in the Mojave school district, Supt. Aaron Haughton said in a voicemail. But, he added, most of the district’s staff live near mountains that experienced mudslides, so there was not enough staff available to run the schools.

In Los Angeles County, Leona Valley Elementary School, located in the Westside Union School District near Lancaster, was closed Friday, as was Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union Elementary, L.A. County Office of Education spokesman Kostas Kalaitzidis said in an email.

Districts in Kern County aren’t used to closing schools because of rain, but they have a protocol for weather-related incidents such as fog or mudslides, Sanders said.

With the increased chances of El Niño rains hitting California this year, schools are revisiting their safety and closure protocols, Sanders said, and will be making sure their campuses are prepared for rain.

A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District said around 10:30 a.m. Friday that she had not received news of any LAUSD schools affected by the mudslides.

Reach Sonali Kohli on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli or by email at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com.