Seattle Schools Community Forum

The issue here, over the building of a new juvenile detention center has brought a firestorm of an argument.  (In August 2012, the King County ballot had a levy for a new “Children and Family Justice Center,” which ended up passing by 55.42%.) It would seem to be a two-fold argument:

In Washington state, the law says that school districts get notification when a state facility releases a sex offender BUT it's only for release from juvenile facilities . If a 15,16, 17 year old gets released from an adult facility, no notification. Randy Dorn, our State Superintendent, found this troubling and got a bill introduced on behalf of all the school districts in the state to provide that notification. It would provide that if a juvenile sex offender who was incarcerated in an adult facility is released, facility officials must notify the district that said juvenile will be residing in 30 days before release. This is Senate bill 5428 and the companion House bill is 1549.