Broadview-Thomson K-8 School Encampment: Hubris and Inaction May Mean Trouble

Update: now I hear (from a trusted source) that a person who lives in the encampment at B-T K-8 came into the building and tried to take a backpack. The school went into lockdown. 

This is nuts.

End of update

Editor’s note: I apologize for the wonkiness of the look of this story. In the time I stepped away from blogging, I think Blogger changed some formatting and I’m struggling to understand it. 

As most of you know, the district reopened schools and three schools had homeless encampments on or nearby their campuses. 

The district had this to say on the subject back in April 2021 (partial):

Most importantly, we are working with school principals, the schools' Parent Teacher Associations, outreach organizations, and the city to address this issue with the sensitivity that defines Seattle. 

Homelessness has been a crisis in our city for years, and it has only been exacerbated by COVID-19. We support the city's efforts to find long-term solutions for community members who are experiencing homelessness. We take this issue seriously and are actively working with the city to compassionately address encampments of unhoused people near our schools, while keeping the safety of our students and staff at the forefront.

Yes, Seattle can have a level of sensitivity that other cities don’t but that is parallel to the fact that Seattle has a loooong process to deal with many issues. Homelessness is currently the most apparent one.

Lowell Elementary’s encampment got moved fairly quickly and it was the one where the encampment was on school grounds.

Then there was the encampment at Miller Playfield near Meany Middle School. That encampment’s residents were offered other places to stay about mid-April and that site was cleared.

There was this statement from Mayor Durkan’s office on the Miller Playfield situation, via a KING-5 story:

A written statement from the office of Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said the city “has been using every federal dollar possible to move more people inside, and the Mayor spoke with the White House today to ask for additional resources. “

Mayor spokesperson Anthony Derrick continued, “When that is unsuccessful, the City must still address the broader public health and safety concerns, including making sure children can get to and from school, and believe all City Councilmembers, candidates for Mayor and the School Board should support this approach."

Zing! To all candidates running for city and school district offices, I believe the Mayor may have been saying, “It’s harder than it looks.”

Broadview-Thomson appears to be the lone school still facing this issue.

- First thing to know - because Director Hampson points it out every - single - time - this comes up is that the encampment at B-T is not on school grounds but school PROPERTY that she says has a joint-use agreement with the City. 

- This joint use with the City may be why the district and Board feel stuck if both sides have differing ideas on how to solve the issue. But if the district owns the land - and it does - I think it’s on district leadership to get this done. 

- The  encampment is about four dozen tents so not a small one. And the neighbors have tried to help, via KING-5:

After putting up with this for nine months, and it has doubled, tripled in size, it's overwhelming and exhausting and after all that to have the district essentially endorse it and provide safe haven for it that was a little hard for us," said Reimann.

It's not just for one reason, either. He said, at first, neighbors brought people coats and bedding, and there was an attempt to provide social services by local providers. But as time has worn on, those visits have dwindled, and neighbors said safety concerns have risen. 

- The district did put up a fence but later had to change its direction to prevent students from walking in that direction. I’m wondering how many students have to walk extra blocks to avoid an area that the district seems to think is safe.

Via KING-5, some back and forth between the district and the City:

I've been by the camp myself," said Durkan in an interview with KING 5, 

"Two things I think are really important is the vast majority of the encampment is on Seattle Public School property. It is their obligation and their responsibility to determine how they want to deal with it. 

The school board made it very clear that they want to make sure that they bring every person inside and not move people. Two school board members said that they objected to what they called sweeps. So we've offered them assistance in terms of technical assistance on how to do that. It takes a lot for a government to stand up with the City of Seattle is done. But it is the school board's responsibility to maintain their premises in their school yards, so that they're safe for students and safe for families."

In the KING-5 story, the district fired back:

The district continued, "Simply removing them from district property won’t result in a permanent solution for the area. The district will continue to work in partnership with the city, building staff, and families to identify and implement long-term solutions that prioritize the well-being of our school community and care for unhoused Seattle residents."

Then, in an oddity for Board action, Director Chandra Hampson and Director Zachary DeWolf took it upon themselves to “demand” the City not sweep out the encampment. (I cannot say what the rest of the Board thought or if they even knew Hampson and DeWolf were putting out such a statement.) 

So far, in various statements, the district and Board have said that the PTA, the school’s principal, the building staff and families should be working with the City and the district to solve this. 

Nope. If the PTA wants to solicit ideas, great, but that’s not their role. Ditto for principal and staff. I am astonished at the Board and district trying to push off what is THEIR responsibility to get done. 

Meanwhile the KING-5 story ends with unhappy neighbors:

What we're fearing is mid-June coming and the district disappearing for three months, and we have to shoulder this for another three months after dealing with it for nine months to date," he said, "We really need a plan, we need some sort of management from the school district. We have very little confidence they're managing it at all." 

I think the neighbors nailed it. The district has other fish to fry (namely reopening). Plus, Durkan is now a lame duck and if the Board is so very picky on how this crisis should be solved, I can see Durkan turning away and no longer engaging.

- There have been several incidents that have caused neighbors to be alarmed. 

• The Seattle Fire Department has been dispatched to the site about 13 times. One incident was a man reported with a gun (it turned out to be a pellet gun but more on that issue later in the story). 
• This isn’t the first time medics have been called to the camp for an overdose. A woman died there in February. 
• On May 18th, KOMO reported a man had overdosed around 1 pm.
  
  Andrea Suarez founder of We Heart Seattle - a citizen funded coalition helping the homeless - was at the camp as the overdose unfolded just after 1:10 p.m.

I walked back around and some of the other unhoused people came out with Narcan inhalers and intramuscular injections and came down to the gentleman,” said Suarez. “They said he's choking on his blood, he's choking on his blood, he's turning blue and then I pulled my phone out and called 911. The drug Narcan used to treat overdose and a team of medics helped bring the man back to life.

I'm sad that school property is being used for an encampment where people are hanging on for their lives,” said Suarez.  

As well, KOMO reported this the Monday before the latest overdose incident:

This isn’t the first time medics have been called to the camp for an overdose. A woman died there in February. 

- Remember the incident with the pellet gun and the reaction of “oh, it was only a pellet gun?” A little boy in Moses Lake died yesterday from being hit when a pellet gun went off. From KOMO tv:

An 8-year-old boy is dead after being shot in the chest with a pellet gun in Moses Lake, sheriff's officials said.

The shooting is being investigated as a "terrible accident," according to Kyle Foreman of the Grant County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities say a 13-year-old was handling the gun along Scott Road at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when it went off, striking the 8-year-old.

Yes, just a pellet gun. 

At the last online SCPTSA meeting, Director Eliza Rankin seemed mystified about the difficulties of this issue and how to solve them. Isn’t that what she was elected for? 

But just as I think the exit of former Superintendent Denise Juneau was about a clash of personalities and a power struggle, what we are seeing here is the same with Durkan and Hampson. 

And nothing is getting solved. It’s one thing to not be a good problem solver but it’s another thing to make problems worse. Quite the trick for Director Hampson.