Reflecting on the January Bomb Threat in East Otero Schools - By Liyah Madrid

Description: East Otero School District in La Junta, the Eads School in Kiowa County, and the Ellicott School District in El Paso County, Colorado, were presented with a bomb threat on January 9, 2024. Learn more about impact on the Southeast Colorado Community in this article by Liyah Madrid.


Published: 05/02/2024
Byline: Tigers Tale

Reflecting on the January Bomb Threat in East Otero Schools 

By Liyah Madrid

East Otero School District in La Junta, the Eads School in Kiowa County, and the Ellicott School District in El Paso County, Colorado, were presented with a bomb threat on January 9, 2024.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a list of Colorado Schools that were among those who received bomb threats on January 9th — prompting many, including La Junta, to cancel school for the remainder of the day. The FBI says its investigation is active and, officials there urge people to report suspicious activity.

Districts impacted in the region include Falcon District 49, Ellicott School District 22, East Otero Schools, and Kiowa County Schools.

East Otero and District 22 in Ellicott evacuated the schools and canceled classes for the day. Kiowa County officials say Eads schools were targeted there, and those schools closed for the day.

In La Junta, Colorado, all three East Otero Schools had been evacuated at 10:30 AM — La Junta Primary School, Intermediate School, and Jr./Sr. High School. The La Junta Primary School was possibly evacuated at a church as the Intermediate School and Jr./Sr. High School was evacuated at the East Otero College. Around 11:00 AM, the East Otero District schools were now at safe locations as the East Otero District had confirmed that all three of the schools were evacuated. All students had to stay together with their teachers to make sure all students were accounted for and safe.

Jaidyn Jaramillo is a freshman in La Junta Jr./Sr. High School who had agreed to an interview for this article, “During that situation, I was worried and confused about what was happening. Also, I was worried about my little siblings that were in lower grades than I was but other than that, I was pretty okay but I am scared that it would happen again since our lives would be in danger.”

Aniyah Jaramillo had also agreed to an interview, a 6th grader at La Junta Intermediate School, “I didn’t know what was going on with this situation. I was worried and confused about why the school was evacuated on the buses. I was worried about my younger brothers. Once I got to the Otero College, I tried to find out what was going on but people were saying it was a gas leak or a bomb threat..”

During that process, the East Otero District contacted each student's parents so the parents could pick up each of their kids. Parents had to go through a process with their ID to get their children which was the safety for the children, especially the younger ones. (Intermediate students and Primary students). The staff had to make sure none of the students' parents was not an intruder or threat to any students that involved danger. Each student was safe before, during, and after the evacuation from the schools. 

“Unfortunately, we live in times like this, and people disrupt our kids’ education. We try to err on the side of safety,” said East Otero School District Superintendent Rick Lovato following the threat.

Ellicott School District 22 superintendent Chris Smith showed 11 News that threat itself. Whoever wrote this message claims to have placed multiple bombs within a school. The email had been sent by a terrorist group by an unknown email.

“They don’t understand the full ramifications that they just caused. We don’t know how far this will impact our kids,” Smith said.

Chris Smith said it is true the whole situation could have impacted all of the students, or knowing something like this could happen again, something different besides a bomb threat like a shooting. Any student could think this would happen again to the schools. It took away all the students' education and learning time with their teachers.

This whole situation with the bomb threat towards the schools of Colorado was chaos. It might have affected kids or adults, making them think if this happened again, it could put anyone's life in danger. 

In the days and weeks following this threat, administrators and staff within East Otero Schools used this even as a learning process, processing the events and using everything that happened on that day to help streamline systems to ensure the complete safety of students at school. 

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