Seattle Schools Community Forum

I'm sorry to report that a Denny middle school student was robbed at knifepoint this morning.  From the SPD Blotter: The student was reportedly walking in the 2100 block of SW Thistle St around 7:30 AM when two teenage boys approached him. One suspect brandished a knife, demanded money from the victim, and forced him to empty out his backpack. Both suspects then fled with the student’s cell phone. The student ran to school and contacted staff, who called 911. Here's something the City can do if it wants to help with public education.  This is just one of numerous incidents for students at Denny and Chief Sealth.  You have to wonder how parents are feeling. As well, from the West Seattle blog, the principal of K-8 STEM sent home this letter to parents of both K-8 STEM and Arbor Heights:

From the West Seattle Blog: Police are investigating three incidents reported in this letter going home to families of students at Chief Sealth International High School and Denny International Middle School . From SPD: We have had 3 incidents involving middle school to high school age victims today ; from the descriptions t hese are not related to the earlier robberies, the last of which occurred a week ago today. We are going to continue the early-morning emphasis patrol where we are bringing additional officers that are assigned to this problem, and CPT officers will be the lead on working on the stairwell at 26th and Trenton SW, where one of today’s incidents occurred. I will update you as things progress, this is a different series with a different suspect or suspect(s). In this series young female students are the victims , so whenever possible please have them walk together with friends so that they are less vulnerable, and if they have a cell phone have the...

 Update: here's a link to ACLU Washington's page on youth issues. This ruling may be a subject you might want to talk to your kids - especially teens - about at some point. In a 9-0 ruling, the Supreme Court today ruled that police must have a warrant to search the cellphones of people they arrest.  From the NY Times: The old rules, Chief Justice Roberts said, cannot be applied to “modern cellphones, which are now such a pervasive and insistent part of daily life that the proverbial visitor from Mars might conclude they were an important feature of human anatomy.” The courts have long allowed warrantless searches in connection with arrests, saying they are justified by the need to protect police officers and to prevent the destruction of evidence. From Chief Justice Roberts ruling:

In yet another odd police report for SPS this week.  From SPD: Three juvenile burglars arrested.  This morning at approximately 1:30 a.m., officers responded to Eckstein Middle School at 3003 NE 75th St to an alarm. Officers arrived and contained the area.  Three suspects were observed inside with flashlights attempting to steal musical instruments.  All three suspects dropped the equipment and fled out of an exit door. The suspects were taken into custody without incident.  They were fingerprinted and photographed.  All three juveniles were later interviewed and released to their parents.

Roosevelt principal Brian Vance sent home a letter to parents about the rape at Roosevelt (it is also posted online). I plan to write a detailed thread about this incident because it raise a lot of issues that all parents should understand about what can and can't happen in our schools. It may inspire us to tell our legislators to change notification laws. But to address this letter, I have a continuing troubled feeling here. On the one hand, the district was very clear, in its statement to the press, that the school knew of this student but did not tell the district. (The law requires the Sheriff's office to notify the school, not the district. Dumb? Yes.) My first reaction, because I worked with Brian for two years when I was co-president of the RHS PTSA, is that there is no way Brian wouldn't have done due diligence on this work. He is a good principal, a decent man and a detail-oriented person. I find it very hard to believe he overlooked telling the district ...