r/SeattleWA • u/HighColonic Funky Town • May 17 '26
Education Bothell High students plan walkout after board vote to end SRO contract in 2026-27
https://komonews.com/news/local/bothell-high-students-plan-walkout-after-board-vote-to-end-school-resource-officer-contract-in-2026-27-northshore-school-district...board directors cited concerns that the program does not align with district systems that support all students.
In other words, the SRO was a problem for the kids who wanted to commit crime at the school. We must also consider their needs!
25
u/wraithkelso317 May 17 '26
So let me get this straight. Walking out to protest ICE should get kids in massive trouble, but walking out in support of an SRO program should be applauded??
7
u/Cerulean_IsFancyBlue May 17 '26
Yeah, I was wondering how the conservatives would handle the tension between two things they hate: student activism, and a cut in the funding for police oversight.
I should’ve known that the money would win.
5
u/Hotmicdrop May 17 '26
I support both as long as they are non violent and the schools stays out of it. Some schools and teachers were assisting with anti ICE signage and several including nearby in Issaquah got violent. I dont know this SRO but these kids clearly have a bond and they're protesting for someone they know and care about first hand.
0
u/Hopsblues May 17 '26
You got a link regarding this violence?
2
u/Hotmicdrop May 17 '26
https://www.issaquahwa.gov/m/newsflash/Home/Detail/6367
4 arrests - assault. Not violent enough for you? Juveniles arrested - aka students. I swear this city and Reddit avoids facts like the plague.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 26, 2026
Update on February 9 Incident at Student-Led Anti-ICE Demonstration: Issaquah Police File Charges
On February 9, 2026, officers with the Issaquah Police responded to an incident in front of City Hall during a student-organized anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) walkout. During the event, a disturbance occurred that subsequently escalated into an assault.
After becoming aware of the situation, officers on scene quickly intervened and took decisive action to resolve the matter and restore order. The case was forwarded to the department’s Detective Division for further investigation.
Following an active and thorough investigation, detectives have filed charges against four individuals in connection with the incident. Charges have been submitted to the City of Issaquah Municipal Prosecutor and the King County Juvenile Prosecutor for review and prosecution. Consistent with past practices and due to the involvement of juveniles, the department will not be releasing the names of those charged.
In general, Issaquah Police maintain a presence at demonstrations within the City of Issaquah, including student-organized walkouts and protests, to help ensure public safety and preserve peace. Our role is to support the safety and well-being of all participants and the broader community, while respecting individuals’ rights to lawful expression.
4
u/Hopsblues May 17 '26
Pretty vague information
6
u/SnarkMasterRay May 17 '26
It legally has to be with juveniles involved. Can't do anything that exposes identity.
2
u/Hopsblues May 17 '26
so we get a descoption of a disturbance that became an assault.....and you believe it 100% without any video or accounts of what happened. You do realize that the police are famous for lying and exaggerating their version of events? Like saying a sandwich was thrown at an officer and his life was threatened kind of BS.
5
u/Hotmicdrop May 17 '26
There are videos all over. Search
0
u/Hopsblues May 17 '26
Link one, the onus is on the person making the claims, basic stuff.
3
u/Hotmicdrop May 17 '26
5 seconds on Bing. Let me guess bad source etc. etc. This is why I dont like linking. Ill grab a source, then the denier says bad source even if there's video (whick is linked as if Im supposed to guess a source you'll believe (a police press release isnt even enough) instead of wasting my time. I dont bother anymore because reddit downvotes facts and links even if it's also all over reddit...
The Onus is on me to prove something AFTER linking the official police report/announcement? ffs can you all get more head in the sand?
→ More replies (0)4
u/SnarkMasterRay May 17 '26
Where did I say any of that? I said they can't provide anything that might identify the juveniles in question.
-2
1
u/Top-Average412 📟 May 17 '26
One supports systems of power while the other questions it.
4
u/DuckWatch May 17 '26
Both are protesting actions taken by politicians wielding power. That's why they're protesting. You can't just say "My team doesn't have any power so anything we do is fine."
1
u/Top-Average412 📟 May 17 '26
Nope. Willful misreading on your part. Arguing for police presence in schools is arguing for authority. Arguing against an unaccountable army hunting down anyone brown or non english speaking is arguing against authority.
The fact that politicians are the gatekeepers of the political process does not render all protests the same.
1
u/Unique_Statement7811 May 28 '26
SROs are arguably not supporting the system of power in a school. The system of power in a high school are the school board, administration and teachers. The SRO is primarily there for student safety from all threats to include the school employees themselves.
-1
u/anxious_ca77le May 17 '26
They aren't really walking out to protest anything. Most of them just want to get out of class for a bit.
14
u/MisterIceGuy Belltown May 17 '26
Is there any info on the percentage of students walking out? Do 80% of students want the SRO or does this walkout represent 20% of students?
1
11
u/Jbrahms4 May 17 '26
Garrett is also very well liked. I got to know him well through his best friend, and there is a reason people are rallying around him.
6
u/11fitguy May 17 '26
You deserve the school board you vote in.
8
u/Hotmicdrop May 17 '26
I know you're being downvoted but youre not wrong. From what I know every candidate was clear on their stance with one blasting their anti cop hate everywhere and they all won their boadd spots. Each and every one the won appears to have had max or near max donor support from the 1st LD Dems from my donation search and massive support from the teacher's union... That's hard to compete with in a local board race. Sad when either big political party has their feet on the scales when it comes to education and our kids but they'll do it if they can.
0
u/PleasantWay7 May 17 '26
Two people who ran against the current board last year were absolutely psychos, full on patriot mom shit. You don’t really have a choice when you’re choosing loose stool over violent dehabilitating diarrhea.
2
u/General_Equivalent45 Seattle May 18 '26
Unfortunately, school board jobs attract activists from both extremes. Very few “middle of the road” people want to do it.
4
u/Old_fart5070 May 17 '26
Does “support all students” include criminals (drug dealers, gangbangers, and the cream of the crop) as well? Do you really need them to feel safe practicing their craft on school grounds?
5
1
u/BonneyLakeResident May 17 '26
Saw this on the news and what I’d like to know is what students are not being served by the SRO? I’m lost at that point.
-1
-26
u/bruceki AI Dependent May 17 '26
Resource officers have been problematic in all sorts of school districts. I'll give you some examples, like example 1, example 2, and here's an auburn wa officer as example 3. Excessive force, direct pipeline into the criminal justice system, everything looks like a nail when you have a hammer, etc etc.
The school can choose to call the police at any time if they think its warranted. Having armed, immune officers at the school and in close contact with students has been a problem all over the nation. Glad the school board made this call.
15
May 17 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
4
0
u/PNWSomeone May 17 '26
Do you have anything to respond to the real examples of the real problems SRO officers create that the other comment documented? Or does your ability to think just stop when you experience the euphoria of licking boot?
12
u/Hotmicdrop May 17 '26
You can look up hundreds of stories where they saved lives responding or helping with medical aid. You think the science teacher is breaking up a fight between 6'+ kids?
Yeah they have issues, fix them. Leaving our kids and teachers without security is ignorant and dangerous.
-2
u/PNWSomeone May 17 '26
Google returned zero results. (Well, technically it mostly talked about the cowards in Ulvade, but I assume you weren't talking about that) Perhaps you can spend 30 seconds linking one or two, since there are "hundreds"?
8
u/Hotmicdrop May 17 '26
Google suppressing results for a narrative, you dont say.
https://keyw.com/kennewick-school-resource-officer-saves-student/
Here's the SRO that was just voted out, he isnt gone and responded to a knife incident.
https://www.theedadvocate.org/school-resource-officers-can-prevent-tragedies-but-training-is-key/
Might want to consider another browser. Have a good night, weather is starting to turn.
-5
u/PNWSomeone May 17 '26
LOL "school-resource-officers-can-prevent-tragedies-but-training-is-key"
I love how even the URLs you posted admit they *might* prevent tragedy, but aren't willing to actually claim they do.
I also enjoy that the only example of an SRO officer actually helping a student is an incident that happened near the school and not actually at the school.
6
u/Check_Me_Out-Boss May 17 '26
This is like arguing that teachers shouldn't exist because of a few examples of teachers sexually abusing children.
-2
u/bruceki AI Dependent May 17 '26
There are hundreds of thousands of teachers, and only thousands of SRO. Yet the SRO are implicated in crimes against children more. The rate of charge and conviction of SRO officers is higher than for teachers. Any profession that has problematic interactions with kids should probably be scrutinized, and if they're not needed, removed. the school board made the right call.
2
u/allthisgoodforyou May 17 '26
The rate of charge and conviction of SRO officers is higher than for teachers
this is not supported in any way
0
u/bruceki AI Dependent May 17 '26
I provided examples, including a local one, in my post. Other than your opinion do you have anything to back up your claim?
1
u/allthisgoodforyou May 18 '26
do you have anything to back up your claim?
what is my claim?
1
u/bruceki AI Dependent May 18 '26
you claimed "this is not supported in any way". I provided a peer-reviewed study and over 100 examples in response. You lose, sorry.
1
u/allthisgoodforyou May 21 '26
the study you linked doenst back up the claim you made. please try to not be dumb.
→ More replies (0)-1
u/bruceki AI Dependent May 17 '26
approximately 23000 SRO in this study. they get they show a rate of between 3 and 6 officers charged per year per 10,000 officers.
approximately 3.8 million teaches in the same timeframe. they get 300 charges per year, leading to a rate of less than 1 per 10,000 teachers.
school resource offices are between 3 and 6 times more likely to commit a crime and get charged for it than teachers.
3
1
u/allthisgoodforyou May 18 '26
school resource offices are between 3 and 6 times more likely to commit a crime and get charged for it than teachers.
where are you getting this from?
1
2
u/allthisgoodforyou May 17 '26
real examples of the real problems SRO officers create that the other comment documented?
Nothing posted shows that SRO's "create" problems. Only 1 of the 3 links provided shows an SRO being harmful.
1
u/bruceki AI Dependent May 17 '26
Oh. You want more examples of school resource officers harming children? How many would you like?
- Marion County, Alabama: In April, a Marion County grand jury indicted Mardrea Dawshawn Massey, a 31-year-old temporarily serving as an SRO for the Hamilton Police Department. He was indicted on charges of a school employee engaging in a sex act with a student and distributing/soliciting obscene material.
- Mack's Creek, Missouri: In May 2026, a federal judge sentenced 52-year-old Darrin Marshall Skinner, a former SRO for the Camden County Sheriff's Office, to nine years in federal prison for the receipt of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).
- Marion County, Florida: In May, 36-year-old Christian Linan, a former Marion County SRO at Dunnellon High School, pleaded guilty to three charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a child. He received a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for an inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old student.
- Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: A former middle school SRO, Officer Alestas, was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison for institutional sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, and invasion of privacy after an ongoing relationship with a student and recording video up an 11-year-old's skirt
Would you like more? I got you:
1
u/allthisgoodforyou May 18 '26
There are about 20k-23k SRO's across America.
Youre picking example that dont even include people who are active SRO's.
Then you link to a generic google search lol?
Try harder.
1
u/bruceki AI Dependent May 18 '26
I provide you with more than 100 examples of SROs getting charged/convicted with crimes aganst children, including one in auburn washington that happened on 5-15-26 and your entire reply is "try harder"?
I think i've won the argument.
-6
5
u/Hotmicdrop May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26
So fuck anyone that had their lives saved by them I guess. Those people should be dead because of a few problematic ones?
You realize theyre more than shooting responders right? They've saved kids and teachers choking and being first responders for medical issues. In the world we live in we need security, so fix the issues with SROs. Removing security is ignorant and you're helping create more victims with your ideology.
Id love a world where we dont need them, but we do.
0
u/bruceki AI Dependent May 17 '26
If there is a need for more medical interventions, the police aren't the best choice. They don't have the training that a nurse does, and they don't have the experience or in some cases even the temprament. Look at how many suspects die in custody because the police just ignore their medical issue. Police are a very expensive way to solve a pretty mundane issue.
-1
u/Accomplished-Eye9542 May 17 '26
Spend literally 5 minutes watching body cams and you'll quickly realize how insane anti-police takes are.
-11
u/RandomFleshPrison May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26
Weird. When I was in HS we threatened to walk out if they added SROs. And that was shortly after a stabbing at a school assembly. We even made Nazi analogies (the principal suggested this would be to keep unwanted youth off campus; we suggested he use stenciled forearms tattoos instead.) We understood rights curtailed were rights denied.
1
u/Spiritual-Author-209 May 17 '26
Students will walk out for anything bc no class is better than school
1
u/BonneyLakeResident May 17 '26
Can you explain “unrated youth”?
1
u/RandomFleshPrison May 17 '26
Oops! Typo. Should be "unwanted youth". I will fix that now, thank you.
-23
u/joeydimaggio May 17 '26
The SRO at my high school married a girl that graduated with my class (3 years after graduation, he was in his 40s. Looked like dale Earnhardt which was weird even back then.
I bet the board does not want more pedos in schools, even if half of the parents support pedophiles in office.
18
u/SpongeBobSpacPants May 17 '26
In WA alone there have been dozens of examples of teachers and administrators getting arrested for actual underage relationships or child porn.
Should schools stop hiring teachers too?
-8
3
u/Hotmicdrop May 17 '26
Since they protect Pedo teachers all the time, I doubt that.
A teacher colleague of his posted on Facebook defending him...
There's so many stories of Pedo teacher's your comment is batshit insane and comes off as you protecting them by diverting the issue and attention.
The vast majority of teachers are awesome and care about our kids. Same with SROs. Stop painting everyone with your hate and biases because of a few horrible ones when it supports your crackpot ideology.
7
u/SeattleHasDied May 17 '26
So three years after graduation she would have been 21? So, an adult.
-14
-5
u/MoneyMACRS May 17 '26
Ew dude. You don’t see anything odd about a mid/late 40s adult marrying someone in their early 20s whom they have know since they were a teen? Even if it’s not illegal, there’s still a huge power imbalance; it’s gross.
-3
-3
u/DCAmalG May 17 '26
This is a risk with any school employee. Duh.
-14
u/joeydimaggio May 17 '26
Much higher risk with right wing police officers. They literally elected a pedophile, check out the seattle police union socials sometime.
6
u/Careful-Advance8513 May 17 '26
Uh literally 100s of teachers are caught and convicted for assaulting minors every year. Far more than school resource officers. Mercer island just had a huge scandal with the district hiding a groomer teacher.
1
-1
u/bassrooster May 18 '26
Kids don’t walk out to support an SRO. ACAB
Kids walk out because any excuse to walk out is an excuse to walk out.
Usually it is adults grooming no kids to walk out.
acab
-12
u/SeattleHasDied May 17 '26
Oh no, kids throwing a tantrum and walking out of classes AGAIN?/s Oy vey... Don't those days have to be made up ?
6
5
u/FamousMortimer23 May 17 '26
You mean students exercising their constitutionally protected rights as Americans? I know it’s hard to recognize actual patriots when you’ve been convinced it’s masked dudes who can barely fit into their bulletproof vests while they kidnap children and shoot nurses.
1
u/Jimmy_ijarue May 17 '26
No, everyone in the us has the same high school experience as the person you’re responding to. Same economic status, same ethnic background, same home environment.
The original commenter had nothing to complain about, so no one else in the world should either because all humans have the same lived experience
0
u/SeattleHasDied May 17 '26
You mean kids using any excuse possible to skip out on school...
3
u/FamousMortimer23 May 17 '26
You may not believe in anything you’re willing to stand up for but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other people with convictions.
0
u/SeattleHasDied May 18 '26
These are CHILDREN who should stay in school and hopefully LEARN something tangible. If they want to protest, do it on the weekend when they aren't missing school, for crissakes... They aren't accomplishing a goddamn thing by fucking with their own education and it's appalling so many of you support this pointless and performative bullshit being done by children. And, hey, how do Seattle public school test scores compare to the rest of the nation despite all of the school levies we pass, etc.... ?
-7
u/BWW87 Belltown May 17 '26
While I'm a fan of SRO programs both sides could be correct here. Most students like SROs and it isn't a problem having them there. Some students have valid reasons for not liking them and the Board should be protecting their interests as much as the others.
3
u/Hotmicdrop May 17 '26
The SRO program isnt perfect but this seemed to be a near universally acknowledged great SRO and great program. Instead of learning from it and improving upon it the activists on the board killed something working well.
Students can complain all they want but if a handful of loud students got together and said they needed electric fences at schools or armed teachers, doesnt make them right does it?
2
u/BWW87 Belltown May 17 '26
Yes, I agree and think the SRO should stay. But the point remains that the Board shouldn't be just doing whatever the majority wants. They have to protect the minority as well.
I'm being downvoted for saying that so I guess not everyone agrees we should protect the minority from the majority. Lots of bullies in here I guess that are mad I suggested the Board has to think about everyone not just do what the majority demands.
2
u/Hotmicdrop May 17 '26
Maybe the board should be smarter and better at their jobs by trying to solve the issues and gaps while providing security. It's great to listen to everyone but the mature adult needs to do what's best for the community first which is do their best to keep the kids and teachers safe. We are stuck with activist ideology in this state instead of common sense. Maybe SROs aren't the answer, but removing all security while or IF you figure it out is dangerous and irresponsible.
The board's reasoning and quotes were all ideological. They took no action to solve the issue just their way out.
One thing this tells me is the board isnt worried about losing the community's support. Because as long as theyre getting max donations and endorsements from a political party and teacher's union they win a local election where to margins are razor thin.
1
u/BWW87 Belltown May 17 '26
You’re still ignoring what I actually wrote to go off on some rant. Please stop pretending I said what you’re implying
62
u/RobSchommer May 17 '26
Is it a money thing or some DEI reason?
Oh ... here it is ...
"Despite these results, board directors cited concerns that the program does not align with district systems that support all students."