41 Replies to "Update: Why police are at Gatewood Elementary"

• JLS October 8, 2014 (2:37 pm)

  Yikes!!!!!!

  This would also explain the news helicopter circling around.

  • WSB October 8, 2014 (2:39 pm)

    Yes, that is mentioned in the story, as my co-publisher noticed it while there to find out what was happening. – TR

• Franci October 8, 2014 (2:39 pm)

  Thanks! I just happened to be home this afternoon and was wondering what was going on.

• LincParkWay October 8, 2014 (2:40 pm)

  Thank you. I was wondering what the chopper was doing up there.

• Elise October 8, 2014 (2:41 pm)

  Thanks for the report. I always know if I go to the WS Blog I will be able to find out why there are helicopters flying about West Seattle. You are quicker than the news! Johnny on the spot!

  • WSB October 8, 2014 (2:44 pm)

    Thanks, we *are* the news (as are hundreds of other online-only independent neighborhood publications around the country), so it’s our job. At least one TV crew was already there on the ground, following up on the teacher-funding story we’ve been covering since last Thursday (latest update here, including a new statement from the district), so this will likely get more regional-media attention than it would have if not for that context … TR

• morgan October 8, 2014 (2:56 pm)

  This makes me really nervous about sending my child to Gatewood because of the EBD program. My child is only 16 month old. We live very close to Gatewood so it would be very convenient in a few years. However, I think it is potentially a big negative having the EBD program mixed with the other children. I’m sure I’ll feel very different if my child does end up being EBD himself. Seattle public schools tend to teach to the lowest common denominator. I think Westside private may be a better option.

  • WSB October 8, 2014 (3:24 pm)

    Morgan – Just one thing re: ‘lowest common denominator.’ EBD kids are not less intelligent. What the parents we have heard from say is that it’s more about extra time and attention, and that’s why the resource allocation was such an issue.

• HTB October 8, 2014 (3:22 pm)

  Agree with Morgan on this one. We have a child in APP at Fairmount now but our home school is Gatewood. I really question the wisdom of integrating EBD into the mainstream classroom. If we cannot get our youngest into Gatewood next year I think it’s private school for us.

• Anon October 8, 2014 (3:30 pm)

  Yes Morgan, please take more funding out of the public school system….that always fixes the problem (sarcasam)….

• BrassyMomma October 8, 2014 (3:36 pm)

  There’s far more EBD parents than kids I’m worried about in the world. Don’t shun the EBD kids.

  I came face-to-face with a rifle a kid of nine was holding in South Philly. Want to qualify him as EBD or as a kid from a bad situation who only knew at that time to perpetrate more bad situations? You don’t know the whole story.

  I’m po’d this happened, but parents need to be more responsible for their kids’ actions and interactions at school. My son had a bunch of bullies and a biter at Gatewood. Nothing was done. We took him out of there. Guess what? There’s bullies and biters at the other school. Only, now he’s older and knows he’s gotta defend himself as well as demand help from us and teachers.

  I implemented a LOT of tactics for him to turn to if he’s getting bullied, if there’s an active shooter, if there’s an earthquake, if a kid or adult is inappropriate, if one of these damn flashers comes around – My Job as a parent is to prepare for the worst and guide for the best.

  I’m sorry this kid felt the need to be a threat. But, I’m sorry – there’s another side to his behaviour. Hurt people hurt people. EBD kids or not.

• MS October 8, 2014 (3:36 pm)

  Tracy, you are right on. Thank you for the above post.

• Lox October 8, 2014 (3:39 pm)

  Ignorant comment, Morgan.

• F16CrewChief October 8, 2014 (3:39 pm)

  My children have been attending Gatewood for years. The EBD program has not interfered with my children’s education. Matter of fact, the teachers there are so great, we went 3 for 3 having our kids nominated for the APP program because of the EXCELLENT education they get there. Very proud Gatewood parent. Our youngest is in 5th grade there now.

• Gatewood Parent October 8, 2014 (3:49 pm)

  Gatewood is awesome and the all inclusive program works. As a parent whose kids range in age from 27 down to 7 and have attended both private and public schools in West Seattle I can tell you there is no perfect classroom. The special needs children were just as welcome at private school and their problems were just as apparent, if not more so with the smaller populations. GO GATORS!

• Noelle October 8, 2014 (3:51 pm)

  Seems odd for a 9 year old to pull a knife on a teacher unprovoked. He/she must have had something very upsetting going on. I hope the student gets good help. Could not help but notice this story and am wondering if the two are connected beyond location. Perhaps the student was taking issue with the way the adults at the school were handling this.

  https://westseattleblog.com/2014/10/were-being-held-for-ransom-anger-voiced-by-gatewood-elementary-parents-told-to-raise-90000-to-keep-a-teacher/

• WSEA October 8, 2014 (4:14 pm)

  @Morgan and @HTC – I’ve always resented parents and students who make others feel less intelligent. So you are saying that an APP (or regular) student should have more rights or special schools. They integrate students for a reason. You can also integrate APP, regular and EBD students and still challenge them individually. My learning disabled brother (with some behavioral problems when young) was always made to feel inferior by the likes of you.

  The kid in question may come from a bad environment but in need of others to show him a positive way to deal with things.

  The word of the day for you is empathy. Learn it and practice it.

• WSMom October 8, 2014 (4:22 pm)

  I agree with @WSEA. No child should be made to feel inferior or less than just because they are EBD. As a parent of a Gatewood child, I have always felt the school does a wonderful job at integrating all children of all learning levels in the classroom. I have also never questioned my child’s safety at this school. @Morgan and @HTC, your comments are unfair and extremely judgmental. I doubt you would be making these comments were you to have an EBD child.

• Another WS Mom October 8, 2014 (4:31 pm)

  Heaven forbid that Morgan’s child have any issues. I really hope not.

  As for what happened I think this gives Gatewood even more reason why they must keep that teacher and the district should pay for it.

• Gabby October 8, 2014 (4:32 pm)

  I hope this child gets the help he needs. And I’m seriously relieved to hear he was taken to a hospital and not into police custody.

• steve October 8, 2014 (4:36 pm)

  Stuff happens. It’s over. I’m sure the parents are shaken up. and I’m glad no one was hurt. It’s nice to see the comments here are quite civil. Komo news is another matter, unbelievable.

• GW Mom October 8, 2014 (5:12 pm)

  Now can we please keep our much needed teacher?!?!

• Gabby October 8, 2014 (6:01 pm)

  Morgan and HTC, the best place for most EBD kids is inclusion in the mainstream classroom, WITH adequate tools and support so that it’s a great experience for everyone (teachers, EBD students, all other students).

  It sounds like the Gatewood teachers acted swiftly and smartly in this situation.

• Ellen October 8, 2014 (6:22 pm)

  I have been a GW parent now going on my seventh year. I have never, ever felt that my first or second child are/were unsafe there. Couldn’t this sort of thing happen at ANY public or private school, regardless of an EBD program? Of course! I’d be more worried about the kids out there–at any school–who are not known as having issues, but who, indeed, need extra attention and help. At least at Gatewood, with EBD, teachers and administrators are prepared and can watch kids in need more closely.

  I would hate to think that parents wouldn’t send their kids to Gatewood, an excellent school with a recently shown fierce community of support, based on something that could happen in literally any academic situation.

• Wsparent October 8, 2014 (6:31 pm)

  I wholeheartedly agree with WSEA.

• Paul October 8, 2014 (7:00 pm)

  @Anon – totally ignorant of reality. Parents who elect to send their kids to private school still pay taxes… which fund public school. No funds are “leaving” the district. There are other arguments to be had about the dichotomy of public vs private, but the reality is that we are not in a voucher state.

• Sarah October 8, 2014 (7:29 pm)

  Schools DO lose money when kids are sent to private schools. Schools are paid per student, per day. Student absences also hurt a school’s income; as they get less each day a student is absent.

• HTB October 8, 2014 (7:57 pm)

  All

  Thanks for the responses.

  I think it’s fine to talk about empathy right up to the moment your 8 year old has a knife pointed at him/her.

• L October 8, 2014 (8:00 pm)

  I think it speaks to the success of the EBD inclusion program that I didn’t even know there was such a program, and I am an involved GW parent.

• raisinghand October 8, 2014 (9:05 pm)

  Was today’s incidence at Gatewood Elementary the first time a child has drawn a weapon of any kind against a teacher there?

  If no, then was this the first police response ever to a West Seattle elementary school of any configuration for a student threatening a teacher with a weapon?

  • WSB October 8, 2014 (9:43 pm)

    Don’t know and don’t know.

• JanS October 8, 2014 (9:57 pm)

  a question..and I realize that chidren can be secretive at times. …how does a 9yo kid get by it’s parents with a knife in his belongings (besides a butter knife, I mean). Yes, I know that it’s not a perfect world, and crap happens, but having a child in the EBD program means you know that as a parent you have to be observant (even if the kid is not in EBD)…I guess I’m just..”wow….this child really does need some help”. And I’m assuming that this was more than a butter knife, I guess. There’s that word ASSuming.

  and to the fact that some feel they shouldn’t be integrated into the general population in school. …they will learn by example of those around them…they shouldn’t be exiled into a “special” group where they will only be treated as “special”, and not as just another kid…just IMO, of course

  • WSB October 8, 2014 (10:06 pm)

    At this point, we have absolutely zero details on whether this was a pocket knife, butter knife, or what, nor on how the incident played out. So we really can’t make any assumptions whatsoever. Not even as to whether the item was brought from home, found at school, found along the way to school …

• jtd October 8, 2014 (10:31 pm)

  I find it disturbing that the District’s update via Twitter disclosed it was a “special-needs student” instead of simply describing him/her as a “student.” I don’t feel that level of detail was necessary or appropriate.

• rob October 9, 2014 (2:44 am)

  I agree. It seems ridiculous to me that with the limited detail provided, someone thinks we need to know it was a special needs student, but we don’t need to know whether the knife was brought to school by the student or it was something that was already in the school.

• Bonnie October 9, 2014 (6:48 am)

  As a mother of a special needs student (non Gatewood) I agree it is disturbing that the district has to let everybody know it’s a special needs student.

• Community Member October 9, 2014 (8:55 am)

  There all kinds of special needs.
  .
  About 10-15 years ago, I knew at that time that Gatewood’s behavioral needs class included a student who had seen one parent murder the other parent, and another student had survived an attempted murder by his own parent. I don’t know whether the current classrooms include children adjusting back to normalcy from extreme experiences, but children who have been through extreme situations are certainly in the school district, and are entitled to a normal education in a normal school building.
  .
  JanS wondered how a child gets a knife past his parents. I don’t know ANY parents who search their child’s back pack every morning before school.
  .
  For anyone who would want to keep their child separated from children with difficulties, consider that the teachers who know how to manage severe problems are able to address regular minor classroom issues with ease.

• TM October 9, 2014 (9:39 am)

  I find most of these comments to be so offensive that it has taken me all night to calm enough to write this. Are these comments really coming from the same community that just pulled 92K out of a hat and attributed it all to how much the community loved what happens at Gatewood and how the Gatewood community is so very caring as shown by the fund raising? This incident and others like it are not a Gatewood problem or behavioral problem, or a parenting problem or an EBD class problem. THIS IS A SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS ISSUE. Children are evaluated before being placed in an EBD room and resources should be allocated to that students needs. If a child needs one on one the entire day then that is what should be provided. I am pretty sure that No Child Left Behind is supposed to apply to all children and address these exact issues. If we are to follow through on that promise then this same community that raised 92K to keep a teacher because they were up in arms at the thought of losing one, should also be up in arms that there are any other needs not being met within their school and district. The pride shown in that fund raising effort should also be pride felt for knowing that the Gatewood community and all SPS communities have done everything possible to secure funding for and create a space for each and every student within the district – regardless of what type of classroom or school they are in.

• Tom Stoner, Gatewood grandparent October 9, 2014 (10:24 am)

  I think all schools must have EBD kids. Some may provide better than average accommodations for them due to extra efforts by parents and others. I would not avoid sending children to Gatewood because of EBD kids. I would choose to send kids to Gatewood because their inclusion program for EBD kids is evidence of an overall excellence for all kids.

• Paul October 9, 2014 (3:46 pm)

  The first time I heard about full inclusion I was taken back. Not my school, won’t the student require more time. Then I got to watch the other kids learn from others. Some students pick up a subject easier and they help out with the others. This reinforces a positive learning environment. After 8 years at Gatewood it been impressive to see how the kids have grown.

  We have seen many parents pull back to private schools. We have had more interaction with Gatewood and it community then most of our friends in private schools.

  Public schools show kids what the world is like.

• Ms. Sparkles October 9, 2014 (4:45 pm)

  This is just a guess, but maybe SPS included the info that the child from Special Needs to explain why the child was taken to the hospital instead of into custody.
  .
  While I understand everyone else’s reaction to morgan & HTB’s comments – my philosophical belief in inclusion and equality comes to an abrupt halt when someone I love is assaulted. In the viceral reality of that moment, I don’t care what issues the perpetrator has.
  .
  My sister, who teaches middle school in another WA school district, was assaulted last year by a boy in her class. This boy, who was as tall as and weighed as much as my sis, was an IEP (special needs) student. A non-IEP student interviened and pulled the IEP student off my sister; the IEP student suffered no consequences, yet the non-IEP student was suspended for “fighting”.
  .
  That really made me question the value of inclusion.

Sorry, comment time is over.