Killing at Ingraham High Seems to Slipped from Superintendent's Radar

After the murder of one student by another inside Ingraham High School in November 2022, promises were made by Superintendent Brent Jones about school safety. To wit:

- a district-wide safety and security audit, 

- the creation of a community action team,

-  a child well-being council. 

I haven't heard much about any of this but more importantly, neither has the Ingraham High School Community and they sent a letter to Jones about their concerns. The letter was sent around Feb. 3. Bold mine.

Ingraham High School Community,

A few weeks ago we sent a letter to Seattle Public Schools Leadership, requesting an update on their process to ensure the safety of our students and staff at Ingraham high School. We have had no response from SPS leadership or school board directors.

At the school level, we receive information about safety issues at Ingraham from our own Principal Martin Floe, and we encourage you to attend our Friends of Ingraham meetings where he gives a regular update and stands for questions. Our school staff are working daily to improve the safety and wellbeing of every student at Ingraham, and you can hear about this progress at our FOI monthly meetings. You can attend in person or virtually, or email your question to us at friendsofingrahamhs@gmail.com and we will ask it for you and return a response.

Unfortunately there is nothing we can do to get answers from the district leadership if they choose to not provide them, or even acknowledge our request. After the shooting at our school we were promised not only the safety audit but an open line of communication with regular updates. We have received neither from SPS leadership.

We can’t make SPS respond to us, but we can provide you with information about how you can advocate for your needs, make your own requests for information, and impact the future leadership of SPS.

To ask for updates about the promised safety audit, use Let’s Talk to submit your question to SPS leadership. Let’s Talk messages are tracked and seen by a number of staff, increasing the likelihood of getting a response. Here’s a paragraph you can use when requesting an update:

“I am a member of the Ingraham High School community. I would like to know what progress is being made to improve the safety at Ingraham. I would like an update about the status of the safety audit that was promised and the steps you are taking to provide a safe environment at Ingraham High School.”

Our school board director for our District #1 is Liza Rankin and she can be reached through Let’s Talk or by email at Liza.Rankin@seattleschools.org. Her term as board director expires this year, and if you are not satisfied with the level of service and accountability she has provided to the Ingraham community we encourage you to consider that in upcoming elections.

Three other SPS board directors have expiring terms this year: Lisa Rivera-Smith, Chandra Hampson, and Leslie Harris. Our school board is directly responsible for hiring and evaluating our Superintendent, Dr. Brent Jones. As constituents, our only way to directly impact school board decisions and district policy is by our vote for school board directors. We encourage you to use your vote thoughtfully and vote for school board directors who will represent your values, commit to making your voice heard within the district, and act with integrity.

If you have questions, please contact us at friendsofingrahamhs@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

FOI Executive Board
Shelby Ehren Meengs, Trina Nonis, & Kathleen Zagers