Seattle Schools Will Pay Former Garfield Student $16M

 Update

Looking through the Seattle Times' article, I see a couple of things I didn't know about this case.

The district’s athletic director also knew Jones was working as a coach despite not being approved to do so, the complaint stated.

I'll have to look up who that athletic director was at that time and if he is still working for SPS.

The settlement is the largest in the district’s history, a district spokesperson confirmed.

And the SPS statement is just wan and pathetic:

 “SPS remains committed to its preventative trainings and to strengthening its procedures to prevent incidents like this from occurring in the future,” the statement read.

Well, I guess their "preventative trainings" need to do better. Also, they don't need to strengthen their procedures - they need to enforce them. I'd bet there were several people at Garfield who knew the one coach was NOT supposed to be there. And yet, he was allowed access to students. 

Just shameful.

end of update

 From KUOW:

Seattle Public Schools will pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit by a former student who says two Garfield High School coaches sexually abused her for years, the largest-ever tort claim settlement in district history.

Seattle Public Schools will pay $500,000 toward the tort settlement and legal fees, Redmond said. The Washington Schools Risk Management Pool, the district’s insurer, will pay the remainder of the landmark $16 million settlement.

One, I called this long before this day.

Two, just WAIT and see what the settlements will be for the two boys murdered at Ingraham High and Garfield High.

Three, in an article earlier in the year in the Seattle Times, it was reported that the insurance pool that SPS is in with other districts has seen its rates go up. This is not going to help. 

Four:

The former student’s lawsuit against Seattle Public Schools claimed that the district was negligent for allowing Jones to coach because he was barred from working anywhere in the district after being fired from another coaching job at Ballard High School.

At the time of the alleged abuse, Garfield athletic director Ed Haskins “wasn’t certain, but thought he recalled an issue coming up regarding Jones’ background check which prevented him from being vetted as a volunteer,” according to the police report.

Still, Haskins told police that Jones was brought in to work with students independently. Jones was “not supposed to have access” to Garfield athletic facilities but “Jones used their facilities anyways,” the police report said.

Regarding that last statement, NO one should be able to volunteer in SPS "independently" and that should be made clear to all. Just fascinating that Garfield High seems to have this issue happen repeatedly.

“Mr. Hall was aware that another high school coach had previously raped me, and would tell me that nobody would believe me if I ever reported him,” the woman testified in that case.

Hall, 50, was fired from his job as head coach of the Garfield girls’ basketball team in 2022, and resigned from his security staff position, after a different student reported that Hall had told her he had a “crush” on her.

How did this alleged perpetrator  get another SPS position after he was fired?

I am slogging through the district's investigation and it appears that not only did district athletic staff seem to miss/not follow through on these two coaches who were working with SPS students, but Director Michelle Sarju's daughter - then working in SPS - was approached by the vicim about her situation and Sarju's daughter may have either forgot or chose not to do what SPS rules say about reports of this type.