School Abuse
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Garfield High School sex abuse allegations reveal weaknesses in staff oversight laws
A coach allowed to work at a Seattle high school – despite being barred from the district. An abandoned sexual abuse investigation. Inconsistent standards for school district employees to report suspected child abuse. No requirement that school districts report abusive coaches to the state to prevent their hire elsewhere.
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Two former Garfield High School athletic coaches accused of sexually assaulting student
A former volunteer weight-training coach at the Seattle high school faces felony charges for allegedly serially raping a female student athlete. Separately, the former girls' basketball head coach was fired in 2022 following allegations of sexual misconduct involving the same student.
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Seattle Schools reaches $1.3 million settlement with family of boy locked outdoors
In 2019, the principal at View Ridge Elementary had a disabled second-grader padlocked in a fenced playground sports court multiple times to prevent him from leaving school.
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Seattle teacher was fired for abusing kids. State says he can keep his teaching license
A former teacher found in a state investigation to have serially physically abused children at a North Seattle elementary school was allowed to keep his teaching license with a reprimand.
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Denise Juneau, Seattle superintendent, to leave district
Denise Juneau, superintendent of Seattle Public Schools, announced on Tuesday that she will leave the district in June when her contract expires.
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Seattle Special Education PTSA votes no-confidence in district after Black child was repeatedly locked in isolation
The Seattle Special Education PTSA took a vote of no-confidence in Seattle Public Schools a day after a KUOW story revealed that a student with disabilities was repeatedly locked outdoors.
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Locked in ‘the cage.’ Report finds disturbing discipline measures at Seattle school
Investigators found that the principal of View Ridge Elementary School in northeast Seattle told staff to lock the gates around a second-grade boy to manage his behavior issues. District leaders called the situation “egregious” — but the district had approved of it as a suitable space for the child.
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Two families seek $4 million in damages after abuse by Seattle Public Schools staff
Two families have each filed $2 million tort claims against Seattle Public Schools after their children were physically abused by staff members. Both of the children are special education students, and were 7 and 9 years old when the incidents occurred.
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Seattle school security guard fired for restraining second-grader, as she screamed ‘I can’t breathe’
Seattle Public Schools has fired a security guard after finding he improperly used physical force against a 7-year-old student at Stevens Elementary School, then lied about the incident to district investigators.
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'I can't breathe': A 2nd-grader. A security guard. A Seattle school.
The Seattle School Board has voted to suspend the placement of police in schools in response to police brutality, especially against Black people and children. Security guards, however, far outnumber cops in Seattle schools. Some say the district should also reexamine the way it uses security guards to police student behavior - even in the youngest grades.
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Seattle math teacher who punched student in the face is leaving the district
James Johnson had been on paid administrative leave from Washington Middle School since January, when a KUOW investigation revealed his history of abusing students, including punching a boy in the face at Meany Middle School in 2018. After the story ran, the district said new allegations had emerged against Johnson, and pulled him from the classroom.
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‘My first-grade teacher was my first bully.’ More allegations surface against Seattle teacher
After a KUOW investigation revealed a Seattle elementary teacher’s history of discipline for physical abuse, eight more individuals and families have come forward with similar stories in Martin McGowan’s classroom. It raises new questions about why some reported incidents don’t show up in the teacher’s discipline record.