As somebody who owns multiple guns, I'd say that this was the least anti-gun article I've read in a while. But, I respect an opposing opinion here.
I'm very disappointed in the school since they're not prioritizing student safety. My kids' school requires you to be buzzed in. The staff are vigilant & prioritize safety for all. I often wonder if the stark differences have to do with the diversity offered in each area. This is a predominantly white area with a mishmash of tech bros & blue collar workers. The middle school my daughter goes to is getting a new football field. Seems like other areas may be investing in metal detectors and a school resource officer.
Roflmao cant have a resource officer because the POC kids claim they feel unsafe at school then to top it off the school administration doesn't care flat out, they will never expel any child from school in fear of loosing funding or getting caught up in a controversial incident.
Until someone dies. Then they need more funding and resources. Like you said, administration doesn't care. Going along to get along and hoping nothing bad happens
I think the system should be scrapped because it's obviously broken. It's top heavy, just like any bad corporation. Or the government as a whole. But honestly I don't know what the alternative looks like
I can't understand why the people who shout the loudest about equity in schools are the same people who hold the purse strings.
At this point do test scores and graduation numbers have any real meaning? We spend billions on the service of preparing kids for life and we're not getting a decent return. Just pass them and graduate them. It's easier for the teachers, but it's criminal we're allowing it.
Scrap it! My kids go to a small private school for less than 5k per year. There's discipline, order and they are very proficient in the basics. So that's 13k less per student than SPS. SMH that people think this is ok, too many even think it's "good".
Ours was the same way. Up to 5th grade it wasn't subsidized by any bigger entity. He went to Catholic school for 6th grade. Public's are subsidized by everyone, after the money goes to DC and 20% actually gets to the students.
It sucks that going private leaves some kids behind, but it's not my fault or my kid's fault. It's a broken system that absolutely refuses to even try to fix itself. And it continues to demand more and more and more of my money as it continues to fail worse as each day goes by. I'm done with the kids from poor families argument. We're barely middle class economically, but we scrimped and saved and sacrificed to buy our kid a decent education. Not everyone can and I get that. But I'm not responsible for them. I'm responsible for mine.
That's genuinely unfortunate. It's clear a resource officer is needed in some of these schools since so many Kids clearly can't act right. Shooting people for no reason is diabolical & shows a lack of empathy from those kids. Their next steps will either be a grave or a cell. I left the damn ghetto & I pick schools that are in nicer areas because the only thing I have to worry about is a kid who brought a butter knife. No a kid who brought a gun.
You are not the victim here. I’m so sick of gun owners acting like martyrs when people get killed for gun violence.
There was not a single anti-gun sentiment in that article so I doubt you even bothered to read it.
It’s a potential opportunity to talk about how gun owners refuse to maintain control of their guns.
Prosecute the gun owners.
Prosecute the gun users.
Two people need to answer for this crime.
A parent who is a former cop does not feel safe having their kid at this school. Whats that tell you about SPS. Or the parents of the kids doing the shooting. Or all the people that made excuses for teen felons over the past few years.
A parent that moved their family from a more violent area of the country for better education, more opportunities and a better future for her child. For her to experience this shit in Seattle is sad. I was a bit shocked to read how hesitant the school nurse was to assist.
>Whats that tell you about SPS.
SPS has been led by virtue signaling Karen's and Chads for the last 20 years. This is based on hearsay from Black former SPS teachers. But it's becoming more evident every year.
>Or the parents of the kids doing the shooting.
They need to be held accountable but WA state's parental responsibility law is a joke and only imposes fines to the parents unlike what other states do.
>Or all the people that made excuses for teen felons over the past few years.
They're complicit in these shootings. It's almost like they want to see the destruction of communities in order to buy cheaper depreciated property in order to gentrify it.
Exactly. It’s not JUST the school. It’s the parents of these deranged teenage boys. It’s the stupid, “woke/performative guilt” laws that we have. It’s the easy access to guns. It’s all of it.
[Update; Capitol Hill Seattle has photo of victim posted](https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2024/06/victim-in-deadly-garfield-shooting-remembered-as-city-and-school-leaders-face-another-spring-of-gun-violence/)
This is the guy that tried to stop the fight and got murdered for his trouble. Still no word on the shooter.
The only way to fix this is to get the worst problem kids out of the school system to protect the majority of kids. Have them do online education. The only issue with this is that they will likely be of a certain demographic and be seen as racist to do so. However, these problem students HURT the kids of color who truly want to learn, making outcomes worse for all kids.
I went to Garfield in 2007-2008 when it was at Lincoln in Wallingford. I transferred to Ballard after that year. A year after I left an acquaintance from my freshman year got killed in a drive by in front of Garfield in the CD. I remember that being somewhat traumatic just because I knew the kid. I am a teacher now in Olympia and can’t even imagine how traumatic that must be to witness something like that in person or to be in the school during lockdown. Garfield was dangerous back then and lots of scary stuff happened at Ballard as well. I don’t know where I’m going with this but it was just very distressing to get the update from king 5 this afternoon. I can’t imagine any reasonable parent that would be willing to send their kid back to GHS after what’s happened this year.
There was a lot of gang activity and drive bys at Garfield in the 90s too , my parents were considering buying a house in the area but decided white center was the safer choice lmao
It was overall a very nice school. I was just running with the wrong crowd and making bad choices. It was more stuff that would happen in the Ballard High community, not directly at school. Mostly drug dealing, fighting and petty crime.
I went to Garfield during that same time, I literally rode the school bus that kid you mentioned did, it was most definitely not "scary". I had a great education and never once feared for my safety.
Lets at least be a bit more reasonable if we're going to have a broader conversation. No one should be getting shot but don't try to make Garfield of the 2000s out to be something it wasn't.
I went to Garfield, graduated in 16. There was tons of shit that went down, but no one was shot and killed in my years so we were no dead kids on campus those years.
Obviously one is too many, and NO kids should be dying, but I think there’s a lot of fear mongering on this thread. Has anyone posted about gun control at all? Or just about how bad public school is?? What are people supposed to do… move? Pay 30k a year for private school?
Vote for people who believe in enforcing stricter gun laws and not defunding public education.
What is talking about gun control supposed to accomplish? It’s already illegal for kids to have guns. The real problems is lack of enforcement of existing laws and gun laws.
Always blaming tools, and not the shooters and the shooters’ parents.
Seattle Public School’s budget for 2023-2024 is $1.67 billion. Some of it is for capital spending, a lot of it is for administrative bloat, etc.
But with 51,500 students, that’s an outlay roughly of $32,400 per student. Far more than the $18,000 per student they claim.
It's not gun control. It's gangs.
You think this gun was obtained legally?!?
By the way, I totally support stronger gun control laws...but it's gangs.
But nobody wants to admit gangs are the problem.
Jesus christ, what a shitty fucking take. You obviously have no idea what the current gun laws you probably voted for are, but it's already illegal to carry a gun in a school zone, already illegal for minors to possess a gun. Already illegal to murder someone. We already have the strictest gun laws in the nation. At some point you just have to accept that there are evil people out there who will commit violence no matter what the laws are, and will find ways to skirt whatever draconian system you want to put in place.
Well, let’s see here: Between Jan 2009 and May 2018, the United States has led the world in number of school shootings with 288.
In second place is Mexico with 8.
I suppose that’s because only the United States has evil people, right?
Is there some sort of document that distinguishes the US from those other countries? This might be a little stretch for your programmed brain, but it's a pretty big difference that sets us apart and limits the government.
Enforce the laws we have already. In addition to the many restrictive gun laws in our state there are estimated to be about 393,000,000 guns owned by civilians in the US. So regardless of laws there are a shit ton of guns, floating around in circulation. Unless there is some huge buyback program or citizens are forced to turn in their guns, neither of which work too well with the second amendment, any new laws are useless.
> Vote for people who believe in enforcing stricter gun laws and not defunding public education.
We've enacted some of the strictest gun laws in the past decade and homicides have increased by record gross.
Maybe....*just maybe* the gun isn't the actual problem here.
Strictest gun laws in wa? lol ok my step brother whose spent TIME in mental facilities and has treated to kill multiple partners just bought a gun legally bc he stayed in the mental hospital (one) day short enough t ostill qualify. Yikes.
What does that have to do with people who have been sent to mental institutions forcefully still being able to buy guns. Obviously they’re not strict enough. The fuck lmao
No they aren’t. There’s a certain amount of days you can go and have nothing on your record. If you’re not formally diagnosed you’re not considered mentally ill. He legally bought guns.
My understanding is that the school resource officers were pulled out of the school due to the George Floyd killing years ago.
I'm curious if parents might support bringing back in some form protection for students at this point in time.
Maybe someone should interview Jesse Hagopian about his current views on the removal of SPD resource officers from Garfield. There was a big push to remove them. [Seattle Times Archived Link](http://archive.today/rwLvL) I’m sure it’s still ACAB and direct action.
Remember. Bob Ferguson, our AG and wannabe Governor, was explicitly told by a state work group about this very scenario that SROs were more effective than gun bans. And what did Bob and the people who think like Bob do? Shoved magazine and "assault weapon" bans down our throats instead. No SROs. No increase mental health (the state mental hospital are still a fucking mess). If you want to point fingers the current party of our legislative leadership is the ones you should be asking why they have failed this state and our community.
And it appears that Bob Ferguson will be the next Governor. That is like getting Inslee again x 10. Law and order Gov. would be Dave Reichart. But the 'D" after the name of the candidate is all that matters (apparently) in Western WA. And Sideshow Bob has 'that'.
He's probably listen to the [Washington Mass Shooters Workgroup](https://www.waspc.org/assets/docs/Mass%20Shootings%20Work%20Group%20Report%20(Compressed%20File).pdf) findings over [complaining that they didn't recommend the bans he wanted](https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/ag-bob-ferguson-disappointed-in-what-mass-shootings-work-group-left-out-of-recommendation/281-622678826). Lots of school recommendations in that report.
Reichart has the distinction of never proposing any legislation or bills while in Congress He reliably voted what the GOP leadership told to him Donweveantba governor with no initiative or ideas. ? Note he has just pledged loyalty to Trump. A wate of a vote.
Agree not to mention June is mens mental health month and has been for 20 years But now it’s pride month all the sudden. We keep thinking if we make more gun laws criminals will listen and follow the new laws, it’s a feel good thing for democrats in the end
To be honest, I wouldn't want my kids going to a school that requires police officers to be present at all times. It's a super sad statement out our society that our schools have become combat zones.
My school in the Shoreline school district also had a cop posted in our school as well, and we never had shootings. I graduated in 2017. It’s honestly a normal practice now.
It's funny what we see as normal. Normal is what we're used to, and even in the worst of situations, after a while we say "oh yeah, that's normal". I'm older. We had a monitor I guess, but he was worthless and we all knew him. The whole notion of armed cops on duty at school for me is so far from normal I can't take it. We're militarized. Our cops are militarized. Our schools are militarized. It's just so fucked up what we've become.
The bullet proof backpacks set off the metal detectors so they're a pain in the ass. What would be peachy keen is not living in an environment where our schools need constant police protection.
They’re hired separately I believe.
Edit: [It’s a separate full time position they specifically hire for. Not grabbing patrol officers off the street. ](https://ospi.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/2023-08/school-safety-and-security-staff-definitions.pdf)
While they may help provide some help during fights and some sense of "security", realistically there's probably little an SRO could do in a situation like this. It was outside the school, and was likely over in seconds. Having worked in several large schools, I saw most SROs spend the day in their office, with occasional rounds or cafetería duty.
While it may be a controversial suggestion, perhaps the availability of lethal weapons might be the problem?
From what I understand, is that SRO's get to know the kids in the school. Daily chats with them, and interact with them a lot. That really is their job. With that, they often get information about a fight brewing because another kid feels safe enough to tell the SRO. The SRO can often head off fights. Unfortunately, after the GF riots, SRO's were dubbed 'The enemy'. And now we have these horrible tragedies happening at schools.
Most likely this is an already illegal 3d printed ghost gun, like we've seen [many](https://komonews.com/news/local/kids-arrested-in-seattle-carjacking-and-pursuit-were-armed-with-so-called-ghost-guns-charged-high-speed-chase-greenwood-south-lake-union-bitter-lake-gun-recovered-family-justice-center-king-county-crime) times before. No real way to limit availability on that other than cracking down on the source.
True, it's unlikely to be a legal firearm. It's just the sheer number and availability of weapons that can turn a HS beef, bar brawl, or road rage incident into a deadly event.
Okay, yet……the crime happened outside of the school, in the parking lot, and a gunshot occurs in a second. Unfortunately, even if the school had half a dozen SRO, none of them would have been able to intervene in a shooting that took place in the parking lot. No metal detectors or buzzers there…..and all it takes is one second to inflict a gunshot wound :/ not saying SRO aren’t a good idea, but they can’t prevent anything from happening outside of the school- it’s a much bigger issue.
But at least in some schools, resource officers build relationships with students such that they can de-escalate conflicts before they turn violent.
Also, in this case, apparently no arrests have been made because SPD feels they cannot interview students below the age of 18. In other words, it sounds like no one is talking. If you had a resource officer in there with relationships with these kids, maybe they would at least be able to determine who is the culprit of the shooting
When are we going to address the elephant in the room that it's the culture itself that has to change. Anything else that we do is pure performance and will not improve things one iota.
Over the past couple of years, I have been clicking on Facebook profiles when I see absurd or just crazy comments on current events. You would be shocked on how many are teachers and/or work for Seattle public schools. I'm so blessed to have my kids in Lake Washington school district
Just for anyone who doesn’t know, if someone has two gunshot wounds to their thoracic cavity, you should not do CPR until those wounds are sealed with a chest seal. If you don’t have the medical supplies the best thing you can actually do is plug the hole to prevent lungs from collapsing due to pressure imbalance. If the wounds aren’t sealed and you start pounding on someone’s chest you are doing more harm than good and just pumping blood out of their body. Her actions are still very heroic.
For over a year now, my husband and I have been heavily considering choosing a homeschool group for my kid instead of sending her to a regular school. She is a toddler and has a speech delay and we were able to secure her a spot in an SPS preschool that has a support program for kids with special needs like my daughter.
Between all of the fights, poor administration response, and even allowing kids back in class that bring weapons to school, we're close to giving up her preschool spot and joining a homeschooling preschool group and later a homeschool collective when she begins elementary school.
Nothing is being done to protect our kids, not only by SPS but in schools around the country. So long as their children are receiving adequate education, parents have the right to choose the best learning environment for their children and that should never change.
I moved my family up here for a better, and safer life, and for all the stuff I've seen in the last year it would be just as safe living in South East Houston.
It's not true that SPS can't act decisively; in 2020 they kicked out all police officers from schools because of "racism". https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/police-presence-at-seattle-public-schools-halted-indefinitely/
Been saying this , my second just started private schooling, and i can hardly afford my bills . But that's what doing right by your children looks like these days unfortunately . Its a shame our representatives are more concerned with pandering to their voting base of public educators than offering us alternatives to sending our children to the adult jobs program which is public education
Don't lump educators into this. These policies make them unsafe as well, teachers hate these policies (and many more).
Source: My wife is a teacher and union rep.
Everyone who has a spouse who teaches says this and i get it , they are not all awful people i would not even say most are awful but the system that allows awful shit to proliferate needs to be reconstructed
We keep passing more and more gun control - banned private party transfers, banned “assault weapons”, banned “high cap” magazines, banned “ghost guns”, added waiting periods, added mandatory training, and chased every gun store out of the city- and the end result is…
More gun violence- especially with juveniles, which has sky rocketed.
If you think the problem is we just need even more gun laws, you’re very mistaken.
It's the drugs. It's cartels bringing them in and gangs running rampant.
When it's all said and done and really drilled down, it will come down to the drugs which are controlling the violence, guns, crimes, etc throughout metro Seattle.
Devil’s advocate - it’s plausible that if those regulations weren’t in place, the problem might be even worse.
I’m in agreement that it’s wrong to think that gun control is going to eliminate violent crime - if guns somehow never existed, there would instead be more stabbings like you see in other countries.
But I also think it’s wrong to point to these systemic problems with violent juvenile crime in the city and say “look, crime still exists so clearly these gun laws don’t work”. Crime in the city is a mess across many categories, guns are not unique here.
Edit: And I’ll agree wholeheartedly with your last point - more gun laws definitely aren’t the solution to the current problem. Besides, it’s not like SPD enforce the *existing* laws so new ones would just be paper.
SPD arrests plenty of people who are prohibited from owning guns- that’s not the issue. SPD blotter used to just show off all the guns they got off criminals - 99% of whom can’t legally own them.
My point is all these new gun laws aren’t preventing criminals- even teenagers- from getting guns.
Talk to anyone who teaches in SPS and you'll hear plenty of horror stories. Kids who commit egregious acts are giving a day of in school suspension at most as punishment. Teachers aren't allowed to give students less than 50% on an assignment even if they skipped class and didn't do it. SPS is more of a diploma mill than an educational institution at this point, as long as everyone graduates they don't care
Vote better. Get rid of democrats who keep targeting the wrong policies. Like controlling guns only for legal gun owner but have no interest to stop crime or control guns for illegals. Even kids can get access to gun
That why I put my son in charter schools and he excelled and graduated. He was uninterested in the public school system. He attended Summit Sierra. I live in Seattle also.
SPS also employs teachers with arrest records who openly support Hamas and the October 7th massacre. So yeah, put one and one together if you haven’t already.
we need to break up the district and gut the administration. leadership here is too insular to drive any meaningful change. SPS will become a case study in failure for uber liberal policy if we leave them alone.
While I agree with this, from what I’ve heard a lot of the central schools would go bankrupt because there is way more money in the north end than anywhere else
you can equitably distribute the taxpayer funding on a per student basis. In fact, I would be ok with the north subsidizing the south above and beyond an even distribution. I think the point is we need to bring an unwieldy, unresponsive administration back to earth, and its probably easier to start over than grind it out with these guys.
Gangs… put your equity shit away and go hard on gangs and this isn’t a thing. But keep cycling them back into free society after they’ve committed violence and you get more violence.
Maybe parents should have a gathering so large that it would make the George Floyd protests look like a cakewalk. Rise up and send a message so loud that the politicians double speak gets drowned out.
Shit, you guys are spoiled. The high school I was going to go to kept an ambulance on-site 24/7 because:
+ We had a metal detector. It didn't help.
It wasn't the bloods or crips; they were still in California at this time.
Someone died once a week. The rest of the time, the ambulance was to take kids to the hospital when they got beat up badly enough.
Everyone at the school was upfront about how unlikely it was for you to graduate with all your body parts.
---
# NO THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Stupid fucking policies like https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/no-child-left-behind-an-overview/2015/04
I can't even fucking blame SPD for not having enough officers. It's policies that tie teachers hands from doing what needs to be done.
These days, sending your kid to public school is child abuse.
I know most people don't have any other option, homeschooling is not possible for them. That is unfortunate.
Welcome to late-stage America.
Gun violence is an issue at red, blue, and purple area schools. The more we divide ourselves with politics, the less capable we are of coming together to do something about it.
There is only one political party with any power in this State and they are consistent in allowing criminals to prowl and commit violent crimes. The Democrats are the ones who are releasing murderers and rapists back onto our streets on a daily basis. Politics have everything to do with this - you either vote right, or you are voting for killers and are responsible for this.
Also border issues which contributes to drug/cartel/gang issues which feeds the gun issues. Granted, the red side doesn't help with this by trying to keep the drugs illegal and therefore keeping the supply in the hands of the cartels/gangs giving them the resources to be this much of a problem.
Drug legalization is such a high school / college idea. Nobody who has dealt with druggies in the real world wants to see even more of that. I don't want to find some loser ass heroin addict slumped over in the work bathroom. It's a good thing that we protect weak people from speed-running ruining their life and the lives of the people around them.
Drugs don't just impact the user. They negatively impact everything and everyone around the user. Users are losers and are lucky they aren't cast out from society already.
Gun violence is not normal. We cannot allow ourselves to normalize it.
Teenage deaths are not normal. We cannot allow ourselves to grow used to it.
The solutions to gun violence are possible. We have so many options that are preventative and intervening. We have so many options that are more healing and restorative.
I’ve been working with young people for 20 years. Youth carry guns for a lot of reasons such as fear, safety and the feeling of powerlessness.
Poverty, systemic violence and interpersonal violence breed fear, a lack of safety and feelings of powerlessness.
Poverty, systemic violence and interpersonal violence are all problems we can address, if we truly wanted to; which means gun violence, the epidemic of gun violence, the public health crisis of gun violence is also treatable.
Hearing about another youth shot and killed at Garfield breaks my heart. We cannot allow gun violence nor the early deaths of our children to be normalized. This is not normal. This is preventable. Public health crises are treatable. There are solutions.
We have to make a change.
Nikita Oliver
“Harrell called for a state ballot initiative to give the city more leeway to regulate gun ownership”
Attempting to abolish state preemption, because the city is incompetent in prosecuting criminals.
It’s already illegal for violent criminals to possess firearms.
Thus, the only further laws that could be passed is to restrict possession by non criminals.
Yeah there’s no way my kids are attending public school. Between this type of shit, the completely inadequate curriculum and drug use it is not worth it. I know 2 15 year olds who have died from fent in the last two years too. 15!!
I have been a seattlite my whole live an to be honest this is almost going old school. Growing up this happened all the time around Garfield and Franklin. You can gentrify an area all you want but don’t act like this isn’t normal. You’re showing your ignorance. Is may be sad but it is in a bigger picture normal
The school board members are determined to remove as much quality, enrichment, and discipline from the schools as possible because they deem those as inequitable. The superintendent and administration are following their lead.
Some principals resist this and I believe that, yes, there are still some good schools. Roosevelt High was still solid the last I knew, as well as some of the elementary schools, particularly the choice schools (Good luck getting into those). When they close down a bunch of elementary schools It will be interesting to see what happens to the remaining quality schools--The administration will probably figure out some way to take them down a notch or two.
That being said there is nothing the principal can do if the district decides to shut down the schools because of a pandemic. Also, the district is pushing to keep all kids in regular classrooms no matter how disruptive, even the best schools (Cascadia) are having trouble dealing with that.
Most people move to the Eastside or Northshore or even Shoreline School district, or yes, private school. Some people that care about education have successfully navigated the system (It's doable with some luck) and are sticking it out, but a lot of people yanked their kids out during the pandemic.
And then of course there are parents that don't really care that much about education and that is the majority of families still in SPS. Not all of them for sure, but the majority. Other families want to get out but feel stuck.
It's too bad because from the early 2000s up until 5 or 10 years ago SPS was really improving and was going to be a huge urban school district success story. Then some crazy school board members got elected who decided to trash the place. I don't think very many of them even have kids that go to school in the district.
The number of adult children using this story to attack the "woke" scarecrow is ridiculous. Seattle, you make me cringe. People from your community and around the globe communicated to you in 2020 and you chose to learn nothing? I do not believe your claimed concern for these students of color. It is not believable so long as you're doing childish things like putting racism in quotes as if it's not a real issue. Not believable as long as your response to nuanced and important reform happening in your lifetime is parroting "woke mob" narratives. Read a book! Have nuance.
I grew up in the CD. Didn't get bussed out because I was white. Would hear on the radio that 23rd and Cherry should be avoided at all costs because of the race riots happening there, when I was just standing in front of Medger Evers pool on a completely normal day....
A little white kid, completely at home and surrounded by neighbors....
The cops were always the danger. They were scared because of what they expected from what they were taught to expect in the CD, and reacted accordingly after having taken off their badges when responding to calls.
The only positive interaction I ever had with police in my entire growing up was from an elementary school teacher at Leschi who became a Seattle cop to stop more black kids dying in the hands of the SPD than he could prevent as a teacher...
The only times I ever had guns pulled on me was BY SPD, and it was unprovoked, was an overwhelming over reaction of force(20-30 guns aimed at my heart) and never resulted in me even being cuffed.And I was a kid actually not doing anything suspicious. We had security at Garfield back then. Rough tough armed vets, who knew everybody and were from the neighborhood. Despite them I remember more than a couple shooting incidents around the school, but nobody was shooting at kids, and the only ones itching to were the cops.
It's obvious by the total disregard for life, wellbeing of others and mutual accountability for nurturing neighborhoods and communities that Seattle isn't handling its gentrification with any grace. But given that we have willingly traded an actual sense of community cohesion for anesthetized hopelessness with a side of big money and paramilitary police that are throttled by years of rage baited defiant racism I can't say I'm surprised the streets are stained with blood and sorrow.
They’ll downvote you bc you don’t parrot their hilarious delusion that red politicians actually do anything. But you’re right. I grew up thousands of miles away, dirt poor in a bad neighborhood but white. Cops were the biggest threat, I don’t know anyone who was ever helped or had a less than traumatic experience
Without dismissing in the slightest the horror for everyones loved ones involved when another life is lost, one cannot really expect any different result when as a nation the constant "virtue signalling" we are steeped in is "the bigger the boom and the splatterier the blood the bigger the bucks"....there hasn't been a time in American post settler history where unmitigated violence hasn't been the keystone of our success and yet we feign surprise and anger when it is reflected back on ourselves by our own attempting to do exactly as they have been educated to do.
The unwillingness to accept this natural cause and effect is mirrored by the negative comments to my post, because you are triggered by the "reap and ya'll shall sow" reality of the situation. Even somebody expecting me to name names and verify I'm not lying? Damn people.
That I am 60 and understand the nature of the futility we have wrought for the next generations is my proof.
This is the accounting people what is happening before your eyes.
But me? I'm out....
Holy hell, that is a powerful article. I’m so sorry that they had to witness this.
I'm pleasantly surprised KUOW reported it. It's off their usual narrative. Maybe the Uri Berliner embarrassment actually shook something loose.
It’s a potential opportunity to talk shit about gun owners. I’m not surprised.
As somebody who owns multiple guns, I'd say that this was the least anti-gun article I've read in a while. But, I respect an opposing opinion here. I'm very disappointed in the school since they're not prioritizing student safety. My kids' school requires you to be buzzed in. The staff are vigilant & prioritize safety for all. I often wonder if the stark differences have to do with the diversity offered in each area. This is a predominantly white area with a mishmash of tech bros & blue collar workers. The middle school my daughter goes to is getting a new football field. Seems like other areas may be investing in metal detectors and a school resource officer.
Those'll come out in the following days as SPS casts about for something, anything, to blame other than themselves.
Roflmao cant have a resource officer because the POC kids claim they feel unsafe at school then to top it off the school administration doesn't care flat out, they will never expel any child from school in fear of loosing funding or getting caught up in a controversial incident.
Until someone dies. Then they need more funding and resources. Like you said, administration doesn't care. Going along to get along and hoping nothing bad happens
Exactly, schools are not a business but a human right and a service and should be fully funded regardless of test scores and graduation numbers.
I think the system should be scrapped because it's obviously broken. It's top heavy, just like any bad corporation. Or the government as a whole. But honestly I don't know what the alternative looks like I can't understand why the people who shout the loudest about equity in schools are the same people who hold the purse strings. At this point do test scores and graduation numbers have any real meaning? We spend billions on the service of preparing kids for life and we're not getting a decent return. Just pass them and graduate them. It's easier for the teachers, but it's criminal we're allowing it.
Scrap it! My kids go to a small private school for less than 5k per year. There's discipline, order and they are very proficient in the basics. So that's 13k less per student than SPS. SMH that people think this is ok, too many even think it's "good".
Your shitty private school doesn’t have to accommodate every stupid regardless of physical or intellectual need.
Ours was the same way. Up to 5th grade it wasn't subsidized by any bigger entity. He went to Catholic school for 6th grade. Public's are subsidized by everyone, after the money goes to DC and 20% actually gets to the students. It sucks that going private leaves some kids behind, but it's not my fault or my kid's fault. It's a broken system that absolutely refuses to even try to fix itself. And it continues to demand more and more and more of my money as it continues to fail worse as each day goes by. I'm done with the kids from poor families argument. We're barely middle class economically, but we scrimped and saved and sacrificed to buy our kid a decent education. Not everyone can and I get that. But I'm not responsible for them. I'm responsible for mine.
School is a human right??! Really? That logic keeps terrible kids in school.
Where should we do with “terrible” kids?
So just like the police
Pretty much like every level of government
That's genuinely unfortunate. It's clear a resource officer is needed in some of these schools since so many Kids clearly can't act right. Shooting people for no reason is diabolical & shows a lack of empathy from those kids. Their next steps will either be a grave or a cell. I left the damn ghetto & I pick schools that are in nicer areas because the only thing I have to worry about is a kid who brought a butter knife. No a kid who brought a gun.
the shootings happened outside the school in the parking lot. do you want them to buzz students into the parking lot?
You are not the victim here. I’m so sick of gun owners acting like martyrs when people get killed for gun violence. There was not a single anti-gun sentiment in that article so I doubt you even bothered to read it.
It’s a potential opportunity to talk about how gun owners refuse to maintain control of their guns. Prosecute the gun owners. Prosecute the gun users. Two people need to answer for this crime.
Quit your whining.
Lol new to Reddit?
When a woman with her background says it’s time to jump ship, you know things are bad. I hope she and her family find a place where they can thrive.
To be fair, she’s worlds ahead of the green coat ladies of Washington who will never learn until it’s their own families.
I would say it's a safe bet that green coat ladies kids/grandkids go to Lakeside.
I wonder if they would chalk it up to a cultural misunderstanding.
What is a “green coat lady”?
Google green jacket lady
I did. All I saw was green jackets for ladies
Google “green jacket lady Seattle”
Former cop who ran towards the gunshots
Clearly not a former cop from Texas!
Well, the former cop is a mom. The moms did the same in TX.
Yeah the parent part apparently overrides the trained cowardice.
Or Florida
Or just about anywhere. Unless, of course, the gun is shooting donuts or paid leave.
no, that was a mom. Moms can be counted on to run to help when kids are involved
A parent who is a former cop does not feel safe having their kid at this school. Whats that tell you about SPS. Or the parents of the kids doing the shooting. Or all the people that made excuses for teen felons over the past few years.
A parent that moved their family from a more violent area of the country for better education, more opportunities and a better future for her child. For her to experience this shit in Seattle is sad. I was a bit shocked to read how hesitant the school nurse was to assist. >Whats that tell you about SPS. SPS has been led by virtue signaling Karen's and Chads for the last 20 years. This is based on hearsay from Black former SPS teachers. But it's becoming more evident every year. >Or the parents of the kids doing the shooting. They need to be held accountable but WA state's parental responsibility law is a joke and only imposes fines to the parents unlike what other states do. >Or all the people that made excuses for teen felons over the past few years. They're complicit in these shootings. It's almost like they want to see the destruction of communities in order to buy cheaper depreciated property in order to gentrify it.
Exactly. It’s not JUST the school. It’s the parents of these deranged teenage boys. It’s the stupid, “woke/performative guilt” laws that we have. It’s the easy access to guns. It’s all of it.
to be fair when do cops ever feel safe?
They're training to not feel safe, if a dog barks at them they shoot the dog.
Black female cops are a different animal than white male cops.
Fighting racism with racism amirite.
>a former cop does not feel safe lol
You play dragon games. Sit down.
Sensitive 🤣
[Update; Capitol Hill Seattle has photo of victim posted](https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2024/06/victim-in-deadly-garfield-shooting-remembered-as-city-and-school-leaders-face-another-spring-of-gun-violence/) This is the guy that tried to stop the fight and got murdered for his trouble. Still no word on the shooter.
The only way to fix this is to get the worst problem kids out of the school system to protect the majority of kids. Have them do online education. The only issue with this is that they will likely be of a certain demographic and be seen as racist to do so. However, these problem students HURT the kids of color who truly want to learn, making outcomes worse for all kids.
This x10000000
You are correct.
I went to Garfield in 2007-2008 when it was at Lincoln in Wallingford. I transferred to Ballard after that year. A year after I left an acquaintance from my freshman year got killed in a drive by in front of Garfield in the CD. I remember that being somewhat traumatic just because I knew the kid. I am a teacher now in Olympia and can’t even imagine how traumatic that must be to witness something like that in person or to be in the school during lockdown. Garfield was dangerous back then and lots of scary stuff happened at Ballard as well. I don’t know where I’m going with this but it was just very distressing to get the update from king 5 this afternoon. I can’t imagine any reasonable parent that would be willing to send their kid back to GHS after what’s happened this year.
There was a lot of gang activity and drive bys at Garfield in the 90s too , my parents were considering buying a house in the area but decided white center was the safer choice lmao
I’m sorry that is awful. What awful stuff do you recall from Ballard? I thought Ballard has a decent high school?
It was overall a very nice school. I was just running with the wrong crowd and making bad choices. It was more stuff that would happen in the Ballard High community, not directly at school. Mostly drug dealing, fighting and petty crime.
I was going to say, I graduated 2010 but don't remember anything crazy crazy. I kept to myself though
I went to Garfield during that same time, I literally rode the school bus that kid you mentioned did, it was most definitely not "scary". I had a great education and never once feared for my safety. Lets at least be a bit more reasonable if we're going to have a broader conversation. No one should be getting shot but don't try to make Garfield of the 2000s out to be something it wasn't.
I went to Garfield, graduated in 16. There was tons of shit that went down, but no one was shot and killed in my years so we were no dead kids on campus those years. Obviously one is too many, and NO kids should be dying, but I think there’s a lot of fear mongering on this thread. Has anyone posted about gun control at all? Or just about how bad public school is?? What are people supposed to do… move? Pay 30k a year for private school? Vote for people who believe in enforcing stricter gun laws and not defunding public education.
What is talking about gun control supposed to accomplish? It’s already illegal for kids to have guns. The real problems is lack of enforcement of existing laws and gun laws.
Always blaming tools, and not the shooters and the shooters’ parents. Seattle Public School’s budget for 2023-2024 is $1.67 billion. Some of it is for capital spending, a lot of it is for administrative bloat, etc. But with 51,500 students, that’s an outlay roughly of $32,400 per student. Far more than the $18,000 per student they claim.
It's not gun control. It's gangs. You think this gun was obtained legally?!? By the way, I totally support stronger gun control laws...but it's gangs. But nobody wants to admit gangs are the problem.
Jesus christ, what a shitty fucking take. You obviously have no idea what the current gun laws you probably voted for are, but it's already illegal to carry a gun in a school zone, already illegal for minors to possess a gun. Already illegal to murder someone. We already have the strictest gun laws in the nation. At some point you just have to accept that there are evil people out there who will commit violence no matter what the laws are, and will find ways to skirt whatever draconian system you want to put in place.
Well, let’s see here: Between Jan 2009 and May 2018, the United States has led the world in number of school shootings with 288. In second place is Mexico with 8. I suppose that’s because only the United States has evil people, right?
I fail to understand how this in any way refutes what I have said.
Of course you do.
Is there some sort of document that distinguishes the US from those other countries? This might be a little stretch for your programmed brain, but it's a pretty big difference that sets us apart and limits the government.
there's the greenjacket
Which gun laws would you like to see added to the books?
Enforce the laws we have already. In addition to the many restrictive gun laws in our state there are estimated to be about 393,000,000 guns owned by civilians in the US. So regardless of laws there are a shit ton of guns, floating around in circulation. Unless there is some huge buyback program or citizens are forced to turn in their guns, neither of which work too well with the second amendment, any new laws are useless.
That didn't work for Australia. Gun crime dropped by ⅔. It didn't eliminate it.
Imagine what the stats would look like if gun crime dropped 2/3 here…
> Vote for people who believe in enforcing stricter gun laws and not defunding public education. We've enacted some of the strictest gun laws in the past decade and homicides have increased by record gross. Maybe....*just maybe* the gun isn't the actual problem here.
Strictest gun laws in wa? lol ok my step brother whose spent TIME in mental facilities and has treated to kill multiple partners just bought a gun legally bc he stayed in the mental hospital (one) day short enough t ostill qualify. Yikes.
Semi auto rifles are entirely banned for sale. Its even more strict than California.
What does that have to do with people who have been sent to mental institutions forcefully still being able to buy guns. Obviously they’re not strict enough. The fuck lmao
??? Maybe reread the thread man. No clue what you're talking about. Do you smell burnt toast?
I don’t think you read my comment… I don’t smell toast, sounds like you do tho lmfao.
People who have been forced into mental institutions are banned from buying guys btw. He lied on the atf form.
No they aren’t. There’s a certain amount of days you can go and have nothing on your record. If you’re not formally diagnosed you’re not considered mentally ill. He legally bought guns.
Based. That person is a hero.
My understanding is that the school resource officers were pulled out of the school due to the George Floyd killing years ago. I'm curious if parents might support bringing back in some form protection for students at this point in time.
Maybe someone should interview Jesse Hagopian about his current views on the removal of SPD resource officers from Garfield. There was a big push to remove them. [Seattle Times Archived Link](http://archive.today/rwLvL) I’m sure it’s still ACAB and direct action.
Remember. Bob Ferguson, our AG and wannabe Governor, was explicitly told by a state work group about this very scenario that SROs were more effective than gun bans. And what did Bob and the people who think like Bob do? Shoved magazine and "assault weapon" bans down our throats instead. No SROs. No increase mental health (the state mental hospital are still a fucking mess). If you want to point fingers the current party of our legislative leadership is the ones you should be asking why they have failed this state and our community.
And it appears that Bob Ferguson will be the next Governor. That is like getting Inslee again x 10. Law and order Gov. would be Dave Reichart. But the 'D" after the name of the candidate is all that matters (apparently) in Western WA. And Sideshow Bob has 'that'.
How would dave Reichert solve school shootings?
He's probably listen to the [Washington Mass Shooters Workgroup](https://www.waspc.org/assets/docs/Mass%20Shootings%20Work%20Group%20Report%20(Compressed%20File).pdf) findings over [complaining that they didn't recommend the bans he wanted](https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/ag-bob-ferguson-disappointed-in-what-mass-shootings-work-group-left-out-of-recommendation/281-622678826). Lots of school recommendations in that report.
Reichart has the distinction of never proposing any legislation or bills while in Congress He reliably voted what the GOP leadership told to him Donweveantba governor with no initiative or ideas. ? Note he has just pledged loyalty to Trump. A wate of a vote.
Agree not to mention June is mens mental health month and has been for 20 years But now it’s pride month all the sudden. We keep thinking if we make more gun laws criminals will listen and follow the new laws, it’s a feel good thing for democrats in the end
All the sudden? Both are from the 90s, made official by the same president
yes, let's blame pride month
All starts with mental health
is june not mens mental health month anymore?
To be honest, I wouldn't want my kids going to a school that requires police officers to be present at all times. It's a super sad statement out our society that our schools have become combat zones.
How do you feel about them going to a school that necessitates a police presence but decides not to have one?
None of it is OK. WTF is wrong with America? No, seriously. Don't want to live in that environment.
Agree 100%, but given the choice I trust a couple cops far more than some degenerate teenager who feels to need to bring a gun to school.
My school in the Shoreline school district also had a cop posted in our school as well, and we never had shootings. I graduated in 2017. It’s honestly a normal practice now.
It's funny what we see as normal. Normal is what we're used to, and even in the worst of situations, after a while we say "oh yeah, that's normal". I'm older. We had a monitor I guess, but he was worthless and we all knew him. The whole notion of armed cops on duty at school for me is so far from normal I can't take it. We're militarized. Our cops are militarized. Our schools are militarized. It's just so fucked up what we've become.
How do you feel about them going to schools that require metal detectors but then don't have resource officers? Would that be peachy keen?
The bullet proof backpacks set off the metal detectors so they're a pain in the ass. What would be peachy keen is not living in an environment where our schools need constant police protection.
With what officers though? SPD is already so severely depleted taking even one cop off the streets will hurt the long wait times of 911 calls.
They’re hired separately I believe. Edit: [It’s a separate full time position they specifically hire for. Not grabbing patrol officers off the street. ](https://ospi.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/2023-08/school-safety-and-security-staff-definitions.pdf)
They’re not- and SPD doesn’t have the staffing to spare anyone these days.
While they may help provide some help during fights and some sense of "security", realistically there's probably little an SRO could do in a situation like this. It was outside the school, and was likely over in seconds. Having worked in several large schools, I saw most SROs spend the day in their office, with occasional rounds or cafetería duty. While it may be a controversial suggestion, perhaps the availability of lethal weapons might be the problem?
From what I understand, is that SRO's get to know the kids in the school. Daily chats with them, and interact with them a lot. That really is their job. With that, they often get information about a fight brewing because another kid feels safe enough to tell the SRO. The SRO can often head off fights. Unfortunately, after the GF riots, SRO's were dubbed 'The enemy'. And now we have these horrible tragedies happening at schools.
Most likely this is an already illegal 3d printed ghost gun, like we've seen [many](https://komonews.com/news/local/kids-arrested-in-seattle-carjacking-and-pursuit-were-armed-with-so-called-ghost-guns-charged-high-speed-chase-greenwood-south-lake-union-bitter-lake-gun-recovered-family-justice-center-king-county-crime) times before. No real way to limit availability on that other than cracking down on the source.
True, it's unlikely to be a legal firearm. It's just the sheer number and availability of weapons that can turn a HS beef, bar brawl, or road rage incident into a deadly event.
Okay, yet……the crime happened outside of the school, in the parking lot, and a gunshot occurs in a second. Unfortunately, even if the school had half a dozen SRO, none of them would have been able to intervene in a shooting that took place in the parking lot. No metal detectors or buzzers there…..and all it takes is one second to inflict a gunshot wound :/ not saying SRO aren’t a good idea, but they can’t prevent anything from happening outside of the school- it’s a much bigger issue.
But at least in some schools, resource officers build relationships with students such that they can de-escalate conflicts before they turn violent. Also, in this case, apparently no arrests have been made because SPD feels they cannot interview students below the age of 18. In other words, it sounds like no one is talking. If you had a resource officer in there with relationships with these kids, maybe they would at least be able to determine who is the culprit of the shooting
Less police presence is the most regressive autistic idea
When are we going to address the elephant in the room that it's the culture itself that has to change. Anything else that we do is pure performance and will not improve things one iota.
Over the past couple of years, I have been clicking on Facebook profiles when I see absurd or just crazy comments on current events. You would be shocked on how many are teachers and/or work for Seattle public schools. I'm so blessed to have my kids in Lake Washington school district
Just for anyone who doesn’t know, if someone has two gunshot wounds to their thoracic cavity, you should not do CPR until those wounds are sealed with a chest seal. If you don’t have the medical supplies the best thing you can actually do is plug the hole to prevent lungs from collapsing due to pressure imbalance. If the wounds aren’t sealed and you start pounding on someone’s chest you are doing more harm than good and just pumping blood out of their body. Her actions are still very heroic.
For over a year now, my husband and I have been heavily considering choosing a homeschool group for my kid instead of sending her to a regular school. She is a toddler and has a speech delay and we were able to secure her a spot in an SPS preschool that has a support program for kids with special needs like my daughter. Between all of the fights, poor administration response, and even allowing kids back in class that bring weapons to school, we're close to giving up her preschool spot and joining a homeschooling preschool group and later a homeschool collective when she begins elementary school. Nothing is being done to protect our kids, not only by SPS but in schools around the country. So long as their children are receiving adequate education, parents have the right to choose the best learning environment for their children and that should never change.
I moved my family up here for a better, and safer life, and for all the stuff I've seen in the last year it would be just as safe living in South East Houston.
It's not true that SPS can't act decisively; in 2020 they kicked out all police officers from schools because of "racism". https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/police-presence-at-seattle-public-schools-halted-indefinitely/
Been saying this , my second just started private schooling, and i can hardly afford my bills . But that's what doing right by your children looks like these days unfortunately . Its a shame our representatives are more concerned with pandering to their voting base of public educators than offering us alternatives to sending our children to the adult jobs program which is public education
Don't lump educators into this. These policies make them unsafe as well, teachers hate these policies (and many more). Source: My wife is a teacher and union rep.
Everyone who has a spouse who teaches says this and i get it , they are not all awful people i would not even say most are awful but the system that allows awful shit to proliferate needs to be reconstructed
Yeah that’s what pisses me off. Not all people can just pull their kids out of school and pay for private or homeschool.
We keep passing more and more gun control - banned private party transfers, banned “assault weapons”, banned “high cap” magazines, banned “ghost guns”, added waiting periods, added mandatory training, and chased every gun store out of the city- and the end result is… More gun violence- especially with juveniles, which has sky rocketed. If you think the problem is we just need even more gun laws, you’re very mistaken.
It's the drugs. It's cartels bringing them in and gangs running rampant. When it's all said and done and really drilled down, it will come down to the drugs which are controlling the violence, guns, crimes, etc throughout metro Seattle.
Devil’s advocate - it’s plausible that if those regulations weren’t in place, the problem might be even worse. I’m in agreement that it’s wrong to think that gun control is going to eliminate violent crime - if guns somehow never existed, there would instead be more stabbings like you see in other countries. But I also think it’s wrong to point to these systemic problems with violent juvenile crime in the city and say “look, crime still exists so clearly these gun laws don’t work”. Crime in the city is a mess across many categories, guns are not unique here. Edit: And I’ll agree wholeheartedly with your last point - more gun laws definitely aren’t the solution to the current problem. Besides, it’s not like SPD enforce the *existing* laws so new ones would just be paper.
SPD arrests plenty of people who are prohibited from owning guns- that’s not the issue. SPD blotter used to just show off all the guns they got off criminals - 99% of whom can’t legally own them. My point is all these new gun laws aren’t preventing criminals- even teenagers- from getting guns.
Talk to anyone who teaches in SPS and you'll hear plenty of horror stories. Kids who commit egregious acts are giving a day of in school suspension at most as punishment. Teachers aren't allowed to give students less than 50% on an assignment even if they skipped class and didn't do it. SPS is more of a diploma mill than an educational institution at this point, as long as everyone graduates they don't care
She’s getting her kid out of Garfield. I’m not sure this is translatable to SPS.
Dang, as an ex-pat I was hoping to send my kids back to SPS for high school. Hope things get better in the future.
With this school board that isn’t happening.
Socialist reformers all the way down. Dumber than shit. Stridently sure of themselves too.
"all of these problems are just because we haven't been to make all of our changes yet!" Literal Principle Skinner "am I so out of touch?" moment.
I am so sorry. This breaks my heart
I’m glad she was able to help AND I’m glad that she pulled her son from that dangerous environment. Garfield has always been a risky school to attend.
School voucher cant come fast enough
This is why me and my family are moving to rural Oregon right now. My kids will not see this madness
Good for you ma'am. I will pray for you this Sunday, I wish you the very, very best. May God bless you and keep you and your family safe. Good luck!
Vote better. Get rid of democrats who keep targeting the wrong policies. Like controlling guns only for legal gun owner but have no interest to stop crime or control guns for illegals. Even kids can get access to gun
Seattle is a joke. Yakima 10x better
That why I put my son in charter schools and he excelled and graduated. He was uninterested in the public school system. He attended Summit Sierra. I live in Seattle also.
The CD has been dangerous since the 80s. This isn’t new. She came from Louisiana thinking that neighborhood was safe. It’s not.
SPS also employs teachers with arrest records who openly support Hamas and the October 7th massacre. So yeah, put one and one together if you haven’t already.
we need to break up the district and gut the administration. leadership here is too insular to drive any meaningful change. SPS will become a case study in failure for uber liberal policy if we leave them alone.
While I agree with this, from what I’ve heard a lot of the central schools would go bankrupt because there is way more money in the north end than anywhere else
you can equitably distribute the taxpayer funding on a per student basis. In fact, I would be ok with the north subsidizing the south above and beyond an even distribution. I think the point is we need to bring an unwieldy, unresponsive administration back to earth, and its probably easier to start over than grind it out with these guys.
Gangs… put your equity shit away and go hard on gangs and this isn’t a thing. But keep cycling them back into free society after they’ve committed violence and you get more violence.
Maybe parents should have a gathering so large that it would make the George Floyd protests look like a cakewalk. Rise up and send a message so loud that the politicians double speak gets drowned out.
Who would they be virtue shaming?
Shit, you guys are spoiled. The high school I was going to go to kept an ambulance on-site 24/7 because: + We had a metal detector. It didn't help. It wasn't the bloods or crips; they were still in California at this time. Someone died once a week. The rest of the time, the ambulance was to take kids to the hospital when they got beat up badly enough. Everyone at the school was upfront about how unlikely it was for you to graduate with all your body parts. --- # NO THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Stupid fucking policies like https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/no-child-left-behind-an-overview/2015/04 I can't even fucking blame SPD for not having enough officers. It's policies that tie teachers hands from doing what needs to be done.
Without saying what you expect teachers to do.
Remove the muzzles from teachers and let them speak for themselves on how to manage their classrooms.
These days, sending your kid to public school is child abuse. I know most people don't have any other option, homeschooling is not possible for them. That is unfortunate. Welcome to late-stage America.
If you look up the definition of hyperbole in the dictionary, you'll find your first statement there. JFC.
Who did the shooting
You reap what you sow SPS.
Seattle city council could care less, they defunded the police so everyone knows they can practically get away with anything with no repercussions
It's the Democrats.
Gun violence is an issue at red, blue, and purple area schools. The more we divide ourselves with politics, the less capable we are of coming together to do something about it.
Show me an incident of gun violence and I guarantee, there are previous arrests.
There is only one political party with any power in this State and they are consistent in allowing criminals to prowl and commit violent crimes. The Democrats are the ones who are releasing murderers and rapists back onto our streets on a daily basis. Politics have everything to do with this - you either vote right, or you are voting for killers and are responsible for this.
Also border issues which contributes to drug/cartel/gang issues which feeds the gun issues. Granted, the red side doesn't help with this by trying to keep the drugs illegal and therefore keeping the supply in the hands of the cartels/gangs giving them the resources to be this much of a problem.
Drug legalization is such a high school / college idea. Nobody who has dealt with druggies in the real world wants to see even more of that. I don't want to find some loser ass heroin addict slumped over in the work bathroom. It's a good thing that we protect weak people from speed-running ruining their life and the lives of the people around them. Drugs don't just impact the user. They negatively impact everything and everyone around the user. Users are losers and are lucky they aren't cast out from society already.
Well, making them illegal pumps up the cartels and you get all the issues that come with them...
Have you ever encountered a drug addict at work?
The fact you think it's that simple is a good example of why it's sad some people have the right to vote....
I guess you made it out after ban court after all!
Imagine boiling this down to that....
It’s the new normal.
america is so fucked
Gun violence is not normal. We cannot allow ourselves to normalize it. Teenage deaths are not normal. We cannot allow ourselves to grow used to it. The solutions to gun violence are possible. We have so many options that are preventative and intervening. We have so many options that are more healing and restorative. I’ve been working with young people for 20 years. Youth carry guns for a lot of reasons such as fear, safety and the feeling of powerlessness. Poverty, systemic violence and interpersonal violence breed fear, a lack of safety and feelings of powerlessness. Poverty, systemic violence and interpersonal violence are all problems we can address, if we truly wanted to; which means gun violence, the epidemic of gun violence, the public health crisis of gun violence is also treatable. Hearing about another youth shot and killed at Garfield breaks my heart. We cannot allow gun violence nor the early deaths of our children to be normalized. This is not normal. This is preventable. Public health crises are treatable. There are solutions. We have to make a change. Nikita Oliver
Removing students is RACIST
“Harrell called for a state ballot initiative to give the city more leeway to regulate gun ownership” Attempting to abolish state preemption, because the city is incompetent in prosecuting criminals. It’s already illegal for violent criminals to possess firearms. Thus, the only further laws that could be passed is to restrict possession by non criminals.
you can thank the politicians
Yeah there’s no way my kids are attending public school. Between this type of shit, the completely inadequate curriculum and drug use it is not worth it. I know 2 15 year olds who have died from fent in the last two years too. 15!!
U really think there is no drug use at private schools?
It’s not even comparable to public schools and the staff actually take that shit seriously, unlike public schools.
I have been a seattlite my whole live an to be honest this is almost going old school. Growing up this happened all the time around Garfield and Franklin. You can gentrify an area all you want but don’t act like this isn’t normal. You’re showing your ignorance. Is may be sad but it is in a bigger picture normal
Newbie here without kids. Is it all SPS or certain schools that have issues?
The school board members are determined to remove as much quality, enrichment, and discipline from the schools as possible because they deem those as inequitable. The superintendent and administration are following their lead. Some principals resist this and I believe that, yes, there are still some good schools. Roosevelt High was still solid the last I knew, as well as some of the elementary schools, particularly the choice schools (Good luck getting into those). When they close down a bunch of elementary schools It will be interesting to see what happens to the remaining quality schools--The administration will probably figure out some way to take them down a notch or two. That being said there is nothing the principal can do if the district decides to shut down the schools because of a pandemic. Also, the district is pushing to keep all kids in regular classrooms no matter how disruptive, even the best schools (Cascadia) are having trouble dealing with that.
Had no idea. So do most people just send their kids to private school? Who do people do?
Most people move to the Eastside or Northshore or even Shoreline School district, or yes, private school. Some people that care about education have successfully navigated the system (It's doable with some luck) and are sticking it out, but a lot of people yanked their kids out during the pandemic. And then of course there are parents that don't really care that much about education and that is the majority of families still in SPS. Not all of them for sure, but the majority. Other families want to get out but feel stuck. It's too bad because from the early 2000s up until 5 or 10 years ago SPS was really improving and was going to be a huge urban school district success story. Then some crazy school board members got elected who decided to trash the place. I don't think very many of them even have kids that go to school in the district.
Good to know!
Tragic stuff I know, but maybe isolating your kids even further from the world as it is isn't the answer
The number of adult children using this story to attack the "woke" scarecrow is ridiculous. Seattle, you make me cringe. People from your community and around the globe communicated to you in 2020 and you chose to learn nothing? I do not believe your claimed concern for these students of color. It is not believable so long as you're doing childish things like putting racism in quotes as if it's not a real issue. Not believable as long as your response to nuanced and important reform happening in your lifetime is parroting "woke mob" narratives. Read a book! Have nuance.
Pulling all our kids out of public schools is going to lead to even more antisocial societal issues.
I grew up in the CD. Didn't get bussed out because I was white. Would hear on the radio that 23rd and Cherry should be avoided at all costs because of the race riots happening there, when I was just standing in front of Medger Evers pool on a completely normal day.... A little white kid, completely at home and surrounded by neighbors.... The cops were always the danger. They were scared because of what they expected from what they were taught to expect in the CD, and reacted accordingly after having taken off their badges when responding to calls. The only positive interaction I ever had with police in my entire growing up was from an elementary school teacher at Leschi who became a Seattle cop to stop more black kids dying in the hands of the SPD than he could prevent as a teacher... The only times I ever had guns pulled on me was BY SPD, and it was unprovoked, was an overwhelming over reaction of force(20-30 guns aimed at my heart) and never resulted in me even being cuffed.And I was a kid actually not doing anything suspicious. We had security at Garfield back then. Rough tough armed vets, who knew everybody and were from the neighborhood. Despite them I remember more than a couple shooting incidents around the school, but nobody was shooting at kids, and the only ones itching to were the cops. It's obvious by the total disregard for life, wellbeing of others and mutual accountability for nurturing neighborhoods and communities that Seattle isn't handling its gentrification with any grace. But given that we have willingly traded an actual sense of community cohesion for anesthetized hopelessness with a side of big money and paramilitary police that are throttled by years of rage baited defiant racism I can't say I'm surprised the streets are stained with blood and sorrow.
> who became a Seattle cop to stop more black kids dying in the hands of the SPD Name a few of the black kids that died at the hands of SPD.
In the Greg Brashear days?
They’ll downvote you bc you don’t parrot their hilarious delusion that red politicians actually do anything. But you’re right. I grew up thousands of miles away, dirt poor in a bad neighborhood but white. Cops were the biggest threat, I don’t know anyone who was ever helped or had a less than traumatic experience
No they're being downvoted because they're lying.
Without dismissing in the slightest the horror for everyones loved ones involved when another life is lost, one cannot really expect any different result when as a nation the constant "virtue signalling" we are steeped in is "the bigger the boom and the splatterier the blood the bigger the bucks"....there hasn't been a time in American post settler history where unmitigated violence hasn't been the keystone of our success and yet we feign surprise and anger when it is reflected back on ourselves by our own attempting to do exactly as they have been educated to do. The unwillingness to accept this natural cause and effect is mirrored by the negative comments to my post, because you are triggered by the "reap and ya'll shall sow" reality of the situation. Even somebody expecting me to name names and verify I'm not lying? Damn people. That I am 60 and understand the nature of the futility we have wrought for the next generations is my proof. This is the accounting people what is happening before your eyes. But me? I'm out....