Confused, anxious, surprised, and in shock. Students at Englewood High School learned via text and email around 7:40 Monday morning that, “Due to an anonymous tip about a possible explosive device, we’re calling a 90-minute delayed start for the Englewood Campus (EMS/ELA/EHS).” The text went on to say that police were on the scene conducting a thorough search to ensure the safety of students and staff. It was followed by several texts and emails with updates.
School resource and Englewood Police Officer Shaw Gifford said the tip came in to Safe2Tell, an anonymous way to report information about any issues that concern the safety of others, at 6:54 am. Englewood police and seven different departments searched the campus on foot and with canines.
Ada Brown is a senior, “I was waiting in my mom’s pickup truck waiting to go to school, and my mom walked out and told me, ‘Hey, there may be a bit of a delay, so we’ll drop you at the Mcdonalds on Belleview’. My sister and I hung out there with my mom waiting for a friend to come pick us up because my mom had to go back to work.” She says, that after that her friend’s mom took them to their home. They waited until 10:30 to come back to school. One area of concern, Brown says they didn’t get a text or email and were getting information through a friend.
Students at the TEC Campus early in the morning for athletics were forced to stay across Logan, clear of the school. Around 8:00 students were moved to the stadium locker rooms, and then loaded onto buses and sent to Colorado’s Finest.
Sophomore Jamey Huff catches the school bus at Zuni and Baker. He learned through a text from his mom that something was wrong, “They let us on the buses at 7:40, and by the time they would have let us into the building (EHS) they made a quick turn into the church parking lot a few blocks away at Hampden and Clarkson.” He says they made the bus wait for further instructions and ended up going back to the school to pick up students housed in the stadium locker rooms.
Junior Alysha Aguilar was arriving at school around 8:00 in the morning and saw police, “I thought probably a threat.” She turned around and went back home.
Students sat in the auditorium at Finest and were given water and snacks while the situation at the TEC campus unfolded.
Some students were able to get in touch with their adults and were picked up and taken home. Students who stayed were loaded back onto the buses at 10:45 and brought back to the all-clear campus.
Ophelia Durgin, a junior, got the initial email and stayed home until 10:00. “My grandma tried to drop off both my brother and me, but we saw the staff and the cop cars and then found out it was delayed until 11:00.”
When the doors re-opened, students were greeted by school and district staff, “A lot of students are not at school and they are most likely being kept home by their adult,” said Durgin.
Some students wondered why school continued after the threat was unfounded, but others understood that because “It was possible we still have plenty of hours in the day and time to learn,” said Brown. “They thought it was clear after multiple hours of searching without finding anything,” said Huff.
Brown said she had turned off notifications from the Parent Square app and Infinite Campus and didn’t get updates. Some students say they didn’t get notifications as well. Students believe they should have received notifications, “Especially those who drive themselves. I don’t have communication besides what my parents tell me. I got lucky. My mom happened to leave at the same time as me and she told me about the threat before I left the house,” said senior Evan Rouse. There is concern that the notifications do not go out to students at all.
According to 9News, the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office shared on its Facebook page that an “alarming post” was circulating on social media, listing schools across Colorado as potential targets. However, after an investigation, the Sheriff’s Office found no evidence to support the claims made in the post.
9News further reported that the Lake County School District acknowledged the social media posts and confirmed that they had been in contact with law enforcement.
