“Somebody was shot.”
That was the textual content. The second such textual content in three months from my son, a pupil at Garfield Excessive Faculty.
That is heartbreaking. A household has misplaced their little one. There might be nothing worse. Seattle has to do extra and higher for our younger folks. That is unacceptable.
I learn in regards to the enrollment decline in Seattle Public Faculties. I do know that the decline is an element however actually not all the explanation for the district’s price range woes (committing to lecturers union contracts they can not afford is an even bigger contributor). These incidents of faculty violence additionally impression the district’s price range — doubly in reality. Households are absolutely leaving district colleges partly due to their security fears, and these incidents are additionally contributing to the district’s rising legal responsibility insurance coverage charges, which The Seattle Instances reported on final week (see this week’s $45 million go well with from the household of a pupil murdered on Ingraham’s campus).
Seattle mustn’t want financial stress to prioritize basic security, however maybe it helps.
The upstream causes of the gang and gun violence are deep and should be tackled, however we’d like an instantaneous downstream plan as effectively. Prevention alone received’t stave off the literal bleeding of the college district.
One yr in the past, I attended a neighborhood assembly after there have been three shootings round Garfield in as many weeks. We had been instructed that police would patrol the neighborhood as they aren’t welcome on campus (recall that SPS severed ties with the Seattle Police Division in 2020), that momentary safety guards would patrol the campus however not the constructing as a result of they weren’t allowed to work together with college students, and that skilled restorative justice facilitators would work together with college students within the constructing. They might do that for 2 weeks. I imply, the incredulousness of us dad and mom at this non-plan was palpable and stays in order I kind this.
Since then, there have been 5 extra shootings (that I do know of) in or round Garfield. Two college students have been shot up to now three months, one fatally.
SPS is apprehensive about enrollment, their insurance coverage charges and their price range. Mother and father, college students and absolutely SPS college workers are apprehensive about basic security. This can be a disaster and a two-week, patchwork resolution is not going to repair it.
Having Seattle law enforcement officials in colleges as college useful resource officers is just not with out its controversy, however we’re leaving principals, workers and college students on their very own to fight societal points that seep into colleges. It’s untenable.
One other pupil has died. We’re long gone saying that is tragic — that undersells the lack of lives and innocence right here. If SPS needs to maintain its households, it must re-partner with SPD, it wants to deal with college students’ psychological well being wants, it must ship an unequivocal message that it’s transferring heaven and earth to create protected studying and instructing environments. The bleeding wants to finish.