Ann Dornfeld
Reporter
About
Ann is a reporter on KUOW's Investigations team. Previously, she covered education stories for KUOW for a decade, with a focus on investigations into racial and socioeconomic inequities.
Her ongoing series exposing Seattle Public Schools’ lenient discipline of staff who abused students has won investigative reporting awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Radio Television Digital News Association, and the Education Writers Association. She was also lauded for her years of work covering disparities in the amount of recess and P.E. time students received in low-income schools.
Previously, Ann worked at Alaska Public Radio Network in Anchorage, and KLCC in Eugene, Oregon. Her freelance work, focusing on science and environmental issues, has appeared on national outlets including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Marketplace and The World.
Ann’s marine and underwater photography has appeared in the American Museum of Natural History and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
She lives with her husband and two children in South Seattle.
Location: Seattle
Languages Spoken: English
Pronouns: she/her
Professional Affiliations: Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors
Stories
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Education
Former student sues Seattle Schools after teacher punched him in the face
Seattle Public Schools faces a lawsuit from a 2018 incident in which a math teacher at Meany Middle School punched an eighth-grader in the face in front of the entire class.
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Crime
Family sues Seattle nonprofit over shooting at violence prevention meeting
The family of a young man shot dead at a Seattle violence prevention program meeting in 2021 has filed suit against the nonprofit organizers.
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Crime
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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Crime
Too many King County sexual assaults are pleaded down to lesser crimes, advocates say
Advocates for sexual assault survivors say King County is letting too many defendants plead guilty to lesser charges - often, to non-sex-crimes.
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Education
Tukwila School District faces fiscal crisis; state steps in
The state education department has stepped in to help Tukwila School District avoid insolvency. The 2,700-student district south of Seattle ended its fiscal year with a negative fund balance and faces an estimated budget shortfall as large as $4.5 million.
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Government
King County says its contractor failed to pay $1.1 million to child care providers in subsidy program
Fawsia Diriye, a child care provider in Kent, has been waiting on $1,400 from King County to cover some of her clients’ monthly bills. The payments are part of the Best Starts for Kids levy that King County voters approved in 2021. Diriye is among 330 childcare providers the county said were missing payments for the children they serve.
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Crime
Viral teen car theft trend has some Seattle 'Kia Boys' facing adult consequences
One teenager's charges for allegedly stealing cars using a simple trick popularized on TikTok technique raises questions about how to handle the flood of recent youth car theft cases - especially when they land in adult court.
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Government
UW's Burke Museum working with Native tribes to repatriate tribal objects
Northwest museums may no longer display some Native artifacts without permission under a new federal rule.
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Education
Seattle child care teacher secretly dosed toddlers with melatonin, state finds
A longtime teacher at a Seattle child care center secretly gave 1-year-olds melatonin to sedate them, according to findings by the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
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Law & Courts
Group homes would replace youth jail in King County under plan to close detention center
King County would replace its youth jail with a receiving center and network of group homes under recommendations from an advisory committee sent to the county council Wednesday. It’s the first plan announced for how the county might replace its controversial youth detention facility, which opened in 2020.