No resource officers, more counselors: How Seattle hopes to improve school safety

Seattle Public Schools students may notice more security staff and mental health supports — but not the return of school resource officers — when they return to classrooms in September.

Mayor Bruce Harrell and Superintendent Brent Jones on Thursday launched a new nearly $15 million joint safety and security initiative for the new school year.

It comes after last school year ended in tragedy, when Garfield High School student Amarr Murphy-Paine was shot and killed in a school parking lot.

The deadly shooting — and other incidents of gun violence throughout the school year — prompted calls to improve student safety at Garfield and across the city and district. Seattle Public Schools officials pledged to consider a range of new measures over the summer, from closed campuses to bringing armed police officers back to schools.

Reviving the controversial school resource officer program is not part of this plan.

But 11 middle and high schools with the highest rates of violence in and around campus — Rainier Beach, Garfield, Chief Sealth International, Franklin, and Ingraham high schools, as well as Kurose, Washington, Denny, Mercer, Robert Eagle Staff, and Meany middle schools — will have more police stationed outside during key times, like during lunch and before and after school.

The district will also hire more counselors, social workers, and school security guards, and create a new executive director position to oversee safety and security districtwide, and work with the city police and fire departments.

Plus, new staff working as "violence interrupters" will be stationed inside some schools.

Deputy Mayor Tiffany Washington said the role of violence interrupters is to build trust with students who are more likely to be involved in gun violence.

"They don't trust everybody," Washington said. "But they trust people in this room that look like them, walk like them, talk like them, and have experiences like them, but have come out on the other side."

Next school year, high schoolers may also no longer be able to leave campus during lunch. Principals at individual schools will decide whether to close campus.

Annie Patu, principal of Rainier Beach High School, has decided to close her campus. She said it was a difficult decision, but she thinks it's the best way to keep her school community safe. Two Seattle students were shot and killed during lunch last year.

"I love my students and I love my community," she said. "I made this decision with lots of feedback from our students, our families, our community partners, and data for incidents that occurred over the last few years during our lunch period.”