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Seattle Hall Pass
A podcast with news and conversations about Seattle Public Schools.
Seattle Hall Pass
S2 E10 - Community Voices on Student Safety
In this episode of Seattle Hall Pass, we discuss school and student safety in Seattle Public Schools, featuring interviews with students, staff, and parents. We explore concerns about balancing physical safety measures with the need for mental health support, sharing perspectives on a $20 million initially promised from the city for mental health. Voices from the community highlight the role of telehealth, community organizations like Community Passageways, and the controversial possibility of the return of School Resource Officers (SROs). Interviewees offer suggestions for improving safety, including wellness rooms and better communication between students and administrators.
Community voices featured in this episode include:
- Rafi Brewer, a sophomore at Garfield High School
- Fatra Hussein, a junior at Franklin High School
- Isaiah Parker, a student at Ingraham High School
- Kaz Hill, a student at Ingraham High School
- Shraddha Shrudde, a math teacher at Cleveland High School
- Lexi Awdziejczyk, a counselor at Franklin High School
- Alicia Spanswick, co-president of the PTSA at Garfield High School
- Kathleen Zagers, president of the parent organization at Ingraham High School
See our Show Notes
Contact us: Send corrections, suggestions, and comments to hello@seattlehallpass.org.
Disclaimer: Seattle Hall Pass features a variety of voices. Each person’s opinions are their own.
Seattle Hall Pass S2 E10
Community Voices on Student Safety
See our Show Notes
[00:00:00] Christie Robertson: Welcome to Seattle Hall Pass, a podcast with news and conversations about Seattle Public Schools.
I'm Christie Robertson.
[00:00:14] Jane Tunks Demel: I'm Jane Tunks Demel.
[00:00:16] Jasmine Pulido: And I'm Jasmine Pulido.
[00:00:18] Jane Tunks Demel: The episode that we have for you today is a collection of community voices talking about school and student safety. We've been collecting these interviews for several weeks now, and here we weave them together into a story that reflects many points of view.
[00:00:33] Christie Robertson: In Season 2, Episode 1, we reviewed the safety changes proposed for the new year at Seattle middle and high schools. And today we hear from students, staff, and parents about their experience on the ground. So we're going to let them have the floor.
[00:00:50] Jasmine Pulido: Before we get started, just a reminder that Seattle Hall Pass features a variety of voices. Each person's opinions are their own.
[00:01:00] 1. A student experience
[00:01:00] Christie Robertson: Let's ground ourselves with Rafi Brewer, a sophomore at Garfield High School who shares his experience from the day Amarr Murphy-Paine was tragically killed last June.
[00:01:10] Rafi Brewer: It was during lunch. I was in the library hanging out. I remember being near the front of the room, and there was some sort of loud noise. It was gunshots, but I didn't know that at the time. And because the library is on a balcony, I kind of went out onto the balcony. And you can see the front entrance and a flood of people were coming in through the commons. And then, over the PA, it’s like, “We are in a lockdown.”
The library was probably not the best place to be because the doors are all glass, and the entrance is all glass. And so there was a little back room that it kind of hidden like an office. But it was pretty scary. And obviously, the first thing I did was text my friends, make sure they were okay. And then I texted my parents and let them know. And then followed up on social media.
Because at that time, we didn't know whether there was somebody inside the school, because that's usually what a lockdown means. It usually means that there's an active threat inside the school versus a shelter in place where it's outside. And so, I thought, “Oh, there's somebody inside the school.” A couple minutes later we found out online that that turned out not to be the case. And then it was just waiting there for four hours while SPD got there, the FBI got there. And then at 3:40 pm, which is when school's supposed to end, they started bringing people out because it was safe to exit the building.
We'd had a couple of shelter-in-places before. I think in November there was an altercation out on the parking lot right in front of the school, and that was also during lunch, and that lasted like an hour. There was another one that I forgot exactly what happened.
And then there was a third one that was in March, where right after school ended, and all the students were leaving, and there's a bus stop right outside the school. A lot of students were waiting there, and then there was a drive-by. They shot a student in the leg that had no relation to anything. And I've actually met her, but she was just waiting for her bus, and she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was very scary, especially since that's the bus stop that I use every day to get home from school. That could have easily been me.
[00:03:08] Christie Robertson: Rafi's student experience highlights the need for comprehensive safety measures at schools.
[00:03:16] 2. Mental Health
[00:03:16] Jasmine Pulido: Many educators and community members emphasized that addressing students' mental and emotional well-being is equally important for creating a truly safe school environment.
[00:03:26] Christie Robertson: Shraddha Shirude, a math teacher at Cleveland High School, speaks to the critical role of mental health support.
[00:03:34] Shraddha Shirude: The biggest change for safety for us has been. Our lunch schedule has been changed.
With regards to safety at Cleveland, our biggest issues have genuinely been mental health safety, and far less about physical safety. And I know that the district's current plan, it really is more about addressing the physical safety issues that we have had, which is unfortunate because it's not really addressing the root cause.
The city had promised us $20 million to address these concerns of safety. That's what that is — mental health is a safety concern. These things root from mental health. Now they've promised us $10 million, and then the district was like, “no we need $2.75 million for supporting security and supporting our police departments to come into our schools with extra security and protection.”
So I know that they're claiming that it's $12.75 million, but I still stand by the fact that you cannot say that you're supporting mental health safety by putting adults in the building who are just there for physical safety concerns.
[00:04:37] Christie Robertson: Here's Alicia Spanswick, co-president of the PTSA at Garfield High School.
[00:04:44] Alicia Spanswick: This was a $20 million grant that the district counseling community worked really hard to put together and ask the city for — about getting additional mental health and social work supports. And it was approved for $20 million, but there was some implementation and planning. And then it stalled out. And so it just sat there. So the idea that this is like new money that got like pulled together is patently false. But also, where's the rest of it?
[00:05:18] Jane Tunks Demel: This is Jane, and I'm just going to interrupt Alicia for a minute to mention that it was also thanks to the Seattle Student Union and the thousands of students they led. All of them who rallied together on the steps of City Hall for this $20 million. This was in response to the Ingraham High School shooting in 2022. Okay, let's go back to Alicia.
[00:05:28] Alicia Spanswick: And we've now taken what was supposed to just be mental health and we've added security and safety elements to it while simultaneously reducing the overall spend. So where is the rest of the money? None of those questions about the entire dollar value have been answered.
I also am curious about how are they bringing on board all of these people. how long do they think that's going to take? We know there's a resourcing issue on the back end — there aren't enough mental health counselors licensed in the state of Washington. And if we can't fill all of those positions in a timely manner, where does that money go? Is it reserved to be applied for the same thing next year? Or does it get pulled back up into whatever pot of money it came out of?
[00:06:34] Christie Robertson: Here's Kathleen Zagers, president of the parent organization at Ingraham High School, where a student was killed in a shooting two years ago.
[00:06:44] Kathleen Zagers: Most of these students who are struggling, they're not unknown to staff and the administration. It's just that they run out of resources, and like this year, we're supposed to have extra resources. And yet at Ingraham, we're going to go from four counselors down to 3.4 or 3.6, and that's somebody who would be a point person to help a student who's struggling.
Any time that there's more adults in the building who can lend a helping hand and a listening ear, that's always gonna help school safety improve because it's helping the kids who need help the most get some help. I mean, at Ingraham, we got our first social worker after the shooting. Our social worker came in like March of that year. Otherwise, we've never had a social worker.
[00:07:40] Christie Robertson: Here's Lexi Awdziejczyk, a counselor at Franklin High School.
[00:07:44] Lexi Awdziejczyk: I also want to talk just a little bit about the $20 million demand that the Seattle Student Union had for City Council, and I know that that has been most recently reduced. I think that's disheartening because that is an ask that came directly from the youth. And I think a big part of our work as counselors and adults and educators is centering their voices, right?
And who better to ask than the youth what they need? I know that they're kids, right? And I don't think they get the respect that they deserve because they know what they need, and they've been asking for it, and they've been quite steadfast in their demand of more counselors.
[00:08:23] Christie Robertson: Are the counselors mental health counselors or career or …
[00:08:28] Jane Tunks Demel: …academic?
[00:08:29] Lexi Awdziejczyk: That's a great question. So all counselors in Seattle Public Schools, we serve three main tiers. College and career readiness, academic, and social-emotional. It's kind of hotly contested, even within our professional learning community, whether or not we are mental health support or workers. Many counselors have backgrounds in licensed mental health or do that in addition to their school counseling practice. But per our role as school counselors, offering short-term or longer-term counseling or therapy is not something that's in our wheelhouse.
However, what I always say is [that by] connecting students and families to resources around housing and food and clothing, I think we definitely do a lot of mental health work that is addressing those very basic needs, so students can come to school ready to learn. But not necessarily providing direct mental health services in the form of counseling or therapy.
[00:09:27] Jane Tunks Demel: Next, we'll hear from Alicia from Garfield and Lexi from Franklin on telehealth.
[00:09:35] Alicia Spanswick: So one of the other pieces of the mayor's plan is a pretty significant investment in telehealth. My understanding, through conversations, is that the kids have not taken advantage of the telehealth services that are currently available. I don't have the data on hand, but I'm curious if it's available.
I also, I have teenagers, obviously, and they and a lot of their friends, most of these students are not super-interested in telehealth, mostly because they had such bad experiences with teleschool during Covid.
I've heard from other adults through the PTSA that their kids feel the same way that they're not actually that interested in telehealth. They're not at capacity. So why are we investing more toward that?
[00:10:23] Lexi Awdziejczyk: I think availability and access is very different question than usage. Students always report wanting to talk to people in person, as like the number one request. And even with the availability of the online counseling, I kind of just go back to that access piece.
I don't think that's a tool that students are accessing. They want adults who they see daily, who they know are a part of their community, rather than just showing up for them to talk about mental health needs.
[00:10:54] Christie Robertson: Let's hear from Fatra Hussein, a junior at Franklin High School, about her experience with mental health resources.
[00:11:03] Fatra Hussein: I feel like mental health is something that is kind of like there, but nobody's really talking about it at our school like that. I know that I have worked with one of the mental health counselors at my school. And I've heard that some students are taking advantage of it. I think one of the biggest struggles students are having is not being able to access it in person. It's more online right now with the therapy. So I know that's a big struggle that they're trying to fix.
[00:11:39] Jane Tunks Demel: And here's Lexi, the counselor from Franklin again.
[00:11:43] Lexi Awdziejczyk: At Franklin, we definitely take far more advantage of our community-based resources when it comes to mental health needs. Connecting students with Asian Counseling Referral Services, El Centro de la Raza.
Yeah, telehealth, I think students see it as a last resort or, if they're in crisis, there's a text line, there's Teen Link. So I think that is used when students are extremely escalated or contemplating suicide. That is often a resource we recommend. But for longer-term counseling, students have definitely reported wanting to be in group or in person with their therapist.
[00:12:23] 3. CBOs and security guards
[00:12:23] Christie Robertson: Community-based organizations are a critical part of safety in our schools. And they were part of the superintendent’s and mayor's plan.
[00:12:32] Jasmine Pulido: Let's hear what our teachers, parents, and students had to say about these community organizations, as well as security systems that are separate from police at our schools.
[00:12:43] Jane Tunks Demel: Here's Alicia from Garfield.
[00:12:46] Alicia Spanswick: We also have Community Passageways. And their goal is to help make sure that kids are leaving school and getting home safely. So they're around campus, and they're in a couple of other strategic blocks: 23rd and Union, usually 23rd and Jackson. Some of these other high-visibility, high-traffic locations.
And really, they're just kind of standing there. They'll talk to the kids, and they build that rapport over time, and they just have eyes on. And I think what they're doing is incredibly important work.
On the day Amarr was killed, Community Passageways happened to be at a gun violence prevention work conference, and it was pretty well advertised. And it was very obvious that they were not going to be on campus that day. And then they were also not there the day that Sophia was shot at the bus stop, right? And they would normally be right there. And again, it was pretty public knowledge that they were not going to be on campus that day. I would never say that they were responsible for what happened in any way. The breakdown comes because they didn't tell the school. They didn't tell SPD. There was no accountability between the organization and the school so when they weren't there, we could backfill with additional security resources.
[00:14:27] Lexi Awdziejczyk: Safe Passageways is at Garfield. I know they're at [Rainier] Beach and Franklin. I'm unsure if they're at Cleveland or other schools. They'll also be referred to as Blue Jackets. They all have blue jackets that say Community Passageways. The essence of this program is to ensure student safety outside of school and particularly during transition time. So before school, getting from the link or the transit center by Franklin into Franklin after school during lunch.
So they're in our commons, they're in our halls. After school, they're always out in the front. Just, you know, chopping it up with students, getting to know them. And then, if and when conflict arises, they are often the first folks to just kind of be there and get in between and create some space and distance between students.
[00:15:43] Lexi Awdziejczyk: I actually was able to sit down with our principal and our social worker, to hear a little bit about the status of the CBOs at Franklin this year. Every year, community-based organizations have to revisit their memorandum of understanding with Seattle Public Schools. So I believe tomorrow will be the fourth full week of school. And it sounds like every single one is still waiting to get their MOU [memorandum of understanding] approved.
And we do not have any community-based organizations inside of Franklin yet. El Centro [de la Raza], Community Passageways, they are outside of the school. They're on the premises, and they're able to engage with youth outside of Franklin, but they are not yet in our building.
We do have a restorative practices coordinator. She does things like runs groups, will have restorative circles when there's conflict — whether that be between student and student, or student and staff. I think that is a huge part of restorative relationships, knowing the youth that you're working with and being in the same environment as them. So students are now learning how to do that work of having restorative conversations and being able to call folks into conversation when a conflict is rising or when things are escalating.
[00:16:57] 4. SROs and Police
[00:16:57] Jasmine Pulido: The presence of actual police in schools, sometimes known as school resource officers or SROs, has been a contentious issue for a long time. Let's hear the wide range of perspectives on this topic, starting with Alicia again from Garfield.
[00:17:13] Alicia Spanswick: One of the issues that happened around Amarr's death is the chaos that ensued and allowed the shooter to get away. Having officers trained in that kind of response right there can help control immediately, whether it's getting the right units out, stopping people from running off that shouldn't, identifying witnesses. That's part of a police officer's training and not necessarily part of a teacher or an SPS security personnel's training.
[00:17:51] Christie Robertson: I want to ask you how you and other parents are feeling about the increased police presence around schools.
[00:17:59] Alicia Spanswick: It really depends on who you talk to and when. So, at the end of last year, in particular, everybody was really scared and grieving very acutely. And so, if you'd asked, then most of the people that I talked to were pretty adamant that additional SPD presence was necessary, both outside and inside the school.
And so the PTSA, we actually put up for a vote within our membership to work with the district and work with the school board to at least discuss bringing the SRO program back online at Garfield. Historically, that program has been very successful at Garfield, building those relationships with students and having that sort of direct line between the community and law enforcement from an intervention and an enforcement perspective. But those are ongoing conversations.
SRO is one type of officer that commonly works on school campuses, but they're not the only type. And there's community police. There's the school engagement officer. There's other groups that actually exist within SPD that might be able to provide the type of support I really think might be beneficial, which is building that relationship, the rapport with the students so when there is a problem, somebody can hear them and maybe prevent something from happening. Which is apparently historically something that did happen. Previously, students would do things like give weapons to the SRO on campus because they knew they weren't going to get in trouble, but they could dispose of, safely, a weapon. That's a huge thing. And I don't know that something like that exists right now. I don't think it does.
[00:20:05] Christie Robertson: Yeah, that was my question: what can an SRO do that another school staff can't do?
[00:20:12] Alicia Spanswick: Right. So there's also just the fact that, they then have radio communication directly to the entire SPD apparatus. So in the event of an emergency, we don't have to radio to the front office to then call or do any of those other interim steps.
They also have training on things like emergency response. So I think it's something that we should be exploring, but I think it needs to be done with the care and consideration that there is a context within this community and more broadly nationally, even between Black and Brown people and particularly Black and Brown students and police. And so, we should be really thoughtful.
[00:21:03] Jasmine Pulido: Here's Rafi again, student at Garfield High School.
[00:21:07] Rafi Brewer: So I got invited to do a focus group on safety about a week before the school year started in late August. And there were, I think like six or seven other students. And then there were two people from SPD [Seattle Police Department]. The principal was there. An assistant principal was there. A teacher was there from Garfield. There were two people from a city department, and then there were also one other SPS district person, an assistant superintendent or something like that.
And we talked a lot about student safety, kind of asking like where do you feel most safe at Garfield, where do you feel least unsafe, kind of probing us because the city had that $12 million or something, that money that they were going to allocate toward student safety, and so they wanted to know what to do with it.
They definitely talked about solutions, and one thing that came up was SROs, Safety Resource Officers, which was a program that they discontinued after COVID and the BLM [Black Lives Matter] protests. And then they didn't really replace it with anything. I know there was an SRO at Garfield before, Officer Bennie. I wasn't here at Garfield when he was there, but I heard he was a really good guy, and students liked him.
They talked about that program, and they have a group of officers that are specially trained and have passed background and psychological checks to make sure that they're good with kids. And then they pick one to go to a specific school, and that's their daily job.
And so, they're not full uniform with weapons on their belts and stuff. They're wearing a polo shirt. Their weapons are mostly covered. They're carrying two handcuffs, a gun, a taser, something like that. But, like, not, not, like, a crazy amount, the minimum legal requirement for an officer.
And it just sounded like really well thought through, which, you know, not expecting from city government. And all the students were on board with like, “one SRO, please”. Near the end, we went around. The question was, “If you had one thing to say or add about student safety, what would it be?” And like half the people said SRO was their main priority. So it was unanimous support from students.
They said, “We're going to listen to students and actively consider their input.” And so then they had the news conference a week later, and I was really disappointed that they didn't announce that.
I know students of lots of different backgrounds, and none of them are opposed to SROs. I think student wishes, especially when you're talking about high schoolers and high school safety, should be included in these conversations. And I'm upset that our feedback about SROs didn't go through in the focus group,
[00:23:41] Christie Robertson: Let’s hear From Fatra Hussein, a junior at Franklin High School.
[00:23:45] Fatra Hussein: Franklin is a very balanced school. There are lots of white students, lots of Black students, Brown students, Asian students. And personally, being a Black girl who is also a hijabi, I don't think bringing police back could do any good. And I would see why adults think, “Yeah, let's bring police back on campus.” But I think that would only make it feel more dangerous because that would bring to students’ minds that there's something unsafe that we need to be protected from. Does that make sense?
If I see a police parked up on campus, I'm thinking — I just don't think it's productive at all. I don't think it could literally do any good. I think it could bring more harm. Personally for me, it's something I take with a grain of salt because, I don't know if it could bring any good. Because I feel like our school is pretty safe. I think with admin and our five security guards, I think it'll be fine at the end of the day.
[00:24:56] Christie Robertson: Let's hear from Shraddha Shirude, a math teacher at Cleveland High School.
[00:25:01] Shraddha Shirude: I love our security team at Cleveland, like they're super-great people. Their focus is not on discipline. Their focus is very much on building relationship with the students and talking with them about their decision-making and playing, you know, a security role when you're in security versus a school resource officer.
You just show up in a really different way because you're showing up in a way that's like, "Hey, listen, I'm just here because you're kind of being a little shit. Let's talk about what's going on." And that's very much the approach. And because it's that kind of relationship, the physical presence is not threatening. There is not an inherent threat of fear or repercussion when you meet with them, right?
You know that when if you're acting up or whatever or something happened and security had to come get you or pull you off somebody, you know that they are not in any way going to harm you. There's never a fear of that. But when it's a school resource officer, there always is. It doesn't matter what your race is here. It doesn't matter what your gender is because we've all seen what can happen in those situations, right? And the experience of our students with police officers is really, really varied depending on their lived experiences.
I'm not a fan of bringing in school resource officers into school. I would much rather be approaching it from a level of: we need to bring in more mental health-trained security, kind of like the ones that we have at Cleveland.
I don't know if they're trained, but their presence doesn't entice fear in any way. And I know that when I was at Garfield, we had a school resource officer who I really liked too. He was a great person. And at the same time, I still know that his presence felt different than the presence of just our regular security at Garfield too. Even though I really liked him, right? It's not about the person. It's about the position in that way.
[00:27:06] 5. Other Security Policies and Tactics
[00:27:06] Christie Robertson: Security that are separate from staffing include things like requiring student IDs, having cameras around buildings, cell phone policies, shortened lunches. Here's what our interviewees had to say about these.
[00:27:23] Jane Tunks Demel: First up, we have Rafi from Garfield and Fatra from Franklin talking about student IDs.
[00:27:33] Rafi Brewer: Their new policy is student IDs. You're supposed to wear them on you at all times. We haven't seen it cause they haven't given us the new student IDs yet. I'm sure that'll happen, maybe next week.
[00:27:44] Fatra Hussein: At the end of last year, we had, almost a mandated thing where they wanted students to have name tags. Basically, wanting students to bring their student ID cards, show them to teachers before entering and then before exiting as well. And I think that was their way of not letting students from other schools or other people generally come into the school.
I personally feel like that was a huge miss in my opinion, because, first of all, if a student doesn't bring their ID, what are you going to do, lock them out? I don't think that's effective in any way because again, attendance matters, right?
And I do know that Franklin has cameras everywhere in the school, so wherever you're at, a camera can see you. I low-key thought that it was a myth. Kids would be like, “Yeah, they have cameras everywhere.” And I was like, “You're lying; that’s not something they would do.” But no, like they actually do.
[00:28:45] Jane Tunks Demel: And here's Lexi, the counselor from Franklin High School.
[00:28:50] Lexi Awdziejczyk: I think one of the biggest safety measures that has changed or is new that jumps out to me that might not come across as a huge safety measure is our new cell phone policy. And I think that has had really positive ramifications on safety, just because I know last year, super easy to send a text like, "Hey, Jane, come join me in the bathroom right now. We're not in the same class, but come out and be in the hall with me."
And I think just by virtue of not having them in the classroom, students are more engaged with their learning but also more willing to build community with people they don't know. And I know that that is a huge skill that we have seen “defrosting” is how I like to explain it, since Covid.
It was something we put on the shelf for a very long time. Like, I'm just going to sit here and text and call my friends, and I don't have to be at school with my camera on or get to know the people in my biology class. I think it was this hyper-individualized time and not intentionally so, but, you know, students were, by proxy of being in a global pandemic and on lockdown, unable to form those new relationships or practice those daily social skills.
And cell phones were a huge residual part of that. And so I think having them away really just more naturally prompt students to be present and to be making connections and talking with classmates And having those relationships. We always talk about trusting relationships and education and having safe adults or, you know, friends and whatnot. But I think trust is also just like, I trust that the others in this room will keep me safe while I'm in this class, or I trust everyone at my school that we're going to keep us safe while we're here.
I know at Franklin, and in the high school scene for a while, — and this was born out of the Black Lives Matter movement back in 2020 — was this huge move toward counselors, not cops. And so I, you know, I want to uphold and center what I've heard from students. And I know that some students do feel safer with police, but there's been a pretty unanimous ask of more funding for counselors, be it mental health or school counselors.
I am also in contact with a student who is waiting to be enrolled in the schools. He left for a while for another state, and he's like, “Oh, I was watching the news, and they were talking about clear backpacks." He's like, “Is that really happening in Seattle?” And I was like, “No, not yet. It's something that they are continuing to discuss."
But I think whenever I talk with youth about those additional safety precautions that the district is providing, I think we have to just be really intentional about not over-policing students. At the end of the day, I want to trust my students, and I want my students to trust me, and I want them to trust one another. And so how can we kind of move toward that without doing things that seem punitive or punishment-based? Yeah, that doesn't seem to really tackle root cause.
[00:31:50] Shraddha Shirude: Unfortunately, the district's response has actually caused more harm at Cleveland because the result of the safety measure to shorten all lunches to be exactly 30 minutes has resulted in our students having way shorter lunches. Our biggest struggle at Cleveland is mental health. When we talk about how youth are up to no good, we've left them nowhere to go. There's home, there's school, where are they going to go, and now we're taking away their lunchtime.
If we really look at fundamentally what is human nature, safety is choice. And we do not allow students any choice. Most of our high schools offer a six-period schedule, and for four years, that's 24 credits. We need exactly 24 credits to graduate. These kids have no choice in their lives.
In the eyes and minds of our leaders — whether that be the district leaders or our Seattle City leaders — control is safety because it's safe for them. They do not see safety as an experience held by the young people. Safety to them is if they can control the youth, tell them how to do what to do, then they are safe. And if they are safe, the kids must be.
[00:33:03] 6. Student and Staff Ideas
[00:33:03] Christie Robertson: And lastly, let's hear some of students and staff's own suggestions for improving school safety.
[00:33:12] Fatra Hussein: I'm part of FEEST, which is an organization that's really focused right now on the mental health of high school students specifically, but generally students as well. And right now, one of the campaigns we're running are opening wellness rooms in schools so that students have a like safe space at schools.
So right now we're thinking a lot about what we would have in it, how it would look. And so one of those things would be like: comfy chairs, comfy sofas, pillows, fidgets, snacks. And then we're also thinking about if students wanted to access this, how would they access it?
Because we know that it is high school, so you do need to be in your classes and actually getting education that you need, but then also taking care of your mental health. So what would that look like?
And then we were also looking at who would be supervising the room and how would students feel with the people that are supervising the room. Because personally, I know that if I walked into a wellness room and admin was there, I'd feel kind of weirded out. Because it feels, “Oh, why are you not in class?”
[00:34:24] Christie Robertson: That's a really interesting idea. I love that.
[00:34:29] Fatra Hussein: Yeah, I'm excited to launch it.
[00:34:33] Lexi Awdziejczyk: I think in this moment specifically, students are talking about wellness in a way that is more collectivist-minded. And rather than seeking those individual solutions, it’s like, “Well, yes, my mental health is important and I need access to therapy, but how are we making sure that there is community wellness?” And I think getting an operational definition of what that means can be really powerful in moving toward what is the ask from the youth? What is it that they need to feel safe?
Right now we're really headed back toward this moment of “my wellness is directly linked to your wellness.” And what does that mean? And how can we all be taking care of ourselves, but also one another? So that's been really beautiful to watch and be a part of.
[00:35:22] Kathleen Zagers: This will be my solo plug the district has the Seattle Public Schools app.
So on the app is a tip line. And if you tap on the tip line, if you have a safety concern, you can report it and you can send it anonymously. Mr. Floe would say, “Don't send it anonymously unless you absolutely need to.” Because if you type in something and it's not perfectly clear to the security team what you're trying to communicate, if you can provide your name, email, and phone they can come back and ask you follow up questions so that they can try to actually like resolve the issue, not just have this tip that's looming out there that they can't do anything with.
You know, if you know something or you see something, that's how you can say something.
[00:36:12] 7. Communication
[00:36:12] Christie Robertson: One issue that came up repeatedly in our interviews was the question of communication and how students, staff, and families find out about safety and security measures or incidents that are going on.
[00:36:27] Jane Tunks Demel: And we had talked to Fatra from Franklin, about a week after there had been some online threats to her school.
[00:36:37] Fatra Hussein: The safety, security, and all these things, it's very like, behind closed doors. I think they talk about it with teachers and higher-ups. It isn't brought to students’ attention at all. I don't know why that is. I don't hear a lot about things. Unless we hear it from our own teachers and even that they don't tell us.
[00:37:02] Christie Robertson: How do you as students find out what's going on? Are there like texts to you or are you just like talking to other students and trying to figure it out?
[00:37:12] Fatra Hussein: No, some people follow other people, and then everyone has different avenues in their social medias. I didn't personally see any of the threats until the morning. I was in my first period, and then I saw the threats.
[00:37:28] Christie Robertson: So you're not finding out through any kind of official channels.
[00:37:31] Fatra Hussein: No, I mean, I wish.
[00:37:33] Christie Robertson: That seems kind of scary to be just trying to talk to each other and figure it out and not have any official word.
[00:37:41] Fatra Hussein: Yeah, I would say it is a little scary. But, at the end of the day, I feel like you never know.
[00:37:48] 8. Feeling of Safety
[00:37:48] Christie Robertson: Despite the challenges. Many students report feeling generally safe at school. Let's hear their overall impressions.
[00:37:57] Jasmine Pulido: We'll hear from Rafi Brewer, our Ingraham parent Kathleen Zagers, two students at Ingraham — Isaiah Parker and Kaz Hill — and finally from Fatra Hussein.
[00:38:11] Christie Robertson: So would you say all put together that you and your friends feel safer at all than last year?
[00:38:15] Rafi Brewer: I think time will tell. Depends on how many shelter in place and lockdowns we go into this year. That's the real test. I mean, I trust my fellow students.
What does scare me though is that the possibility of somebody who's not a student, like anybody can just prance up on the school. And so I think that I think they're kind of eliminating that with the student ID.
[00:38:39] Kathleen Zagers: One of the things I'll say is that at Ingraham, I don't think at this time, if there was any thought that a student was that much of a threat that anyone would hesitate for even a moment to say something. And in that way it feels safe because everyone's still alert.
Teachers and the administrative staff, they were all there, and they continue to stay. And you know, they were as scared and upset by everything as the students were, if not more. And so they're still on alert, they're still paying attention. And it's still, I don't want to say top of mind, but it's still, if there's something going on, they're going to say something. And they stand outside their doors during passing period.
There's just a certain level of connection and awareness that they've prioritized. And that's the piece that makes me feel like the school is safer.
[00:39:40] Jasmine Pulido: And then how do you feel in general about the new safety measures?
[00:39:52] Isaiah Parker: Yeah. I definitely feel safer from last year.
[00:39:55] Jasmine Pulido: Is there anything else the district could do to help students and families feel safe and be safe at school, in your opinion?
[00:40:04] Isaiah Parker: Nah, I think my school's doing what it needs to do.
[00:40:09] Jasmine Pulido: Is there anything that they're doing really well that's already made you feel pretty safe besides the additional security guards?
[00:40:16] Isaiah Parker: Maybe the cameras. There's a couple of new cameras around the school.
[00:40:20] Jasmine Pulido: I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about the security measures that are available at your school this year. What new safety measures are there?
[00:40:28] Kaz Hill: I'm not really sure. I don't really pay attention that much to the security, but there's two new... there are a couple more security guards this year.
[00:40:40] Jasmine Pulido: how do you feel in general about new safety measures?
[00:40:44] Kaz Hill: Nothing's really happened and everybody at my school was just like, pretty chill. So I'm not really worried about anything.
[00:40:51] Jasmine Pulido: And do you feel that students have sufficient mental health counselors and other intervention staff that you're aware of?
[00:40:58] Kaz Hill: There's always a counselor you can talk to, and all of our counselors are pretty nice, so yeah.
And there's a lot of teachers you can talk to, too.
[00:41:05] Jasmine Pulido: And what else could the district do to help students and families feel safe and be safe at Ingraham?
[00:41:11] Kaz Hill: I don't really feel unsafe at school. Like, we just go class to class, like there's no breaks, there's no nothing really. And if you're out in the hallway, like my football coach will get an email of me being in the hallway. So it's really straightforward. There's nothing really going on that much.
Last year our security was fine, and they just gave us more. So they don't really talk. They just stand in the parking lot. I don't even think they've really done anything yet.
[00:41:39] Christie Robertson: I'm really glad you feel overall safe. That's really good to hear.
[00:41:44] Fatra Hussein: I think students feel pretty safe as well. Yeah, I think everyone feels pretty safe. Other than if a school shooting threat is to be made, and if it actually does end up happening, I think that's when something can take a huge turn. But I think, yeah, for the most part, I think everything's safe.
[00:42:04] Jane Tunks Demel: And is there anything else that you think the district could do to help students feel safe or be safe at school?
[00:42:11] Fatra Hussein: I know our school, the student body has a good connection with our principal. Mr. Weiss is very attuned and really does listen to students, and I think that's something all schools should have. I think that's what makes the school a really safe place to be because when the principal is very intuitive with what the students do want. I feel like that's when everything follows. So yeah.
[00:42:41] Jane Tunks Demel: Yeah, relationships, right?
[00:42:43] Fatra Hussein: Yeah.
[00:42:46] Jasmine Pulido: Thanks so much to each of our guests for coming onto our show and sharing all of their insightful thoughts around safety and security.
[00:42:54] Jane Tunks Demel: And that concludes this episode. Our show notes are available at seattlehall.pass.org.
You can also support us by donating at seattlehallpass.org.
We are part of the way toward funding our costs, but not quite there. So we really appreciate any help that you can lend us.
I'm Jane Tunks Demel.
[00:43:16] Jasmine Pulido: I'm Jasmine Pulido.
[00:43:17] Christie Robertson: I'm Christie Robertson. And we'll see you next time on Seattle Hall Pass.