By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and Seattle Public Schools (SPS) Superintendent Brent Jones announced new efforts to bolster student safety and mental health during a press conference at Rainier Beach High School. They detailed substantial new investments aimed at enhancing safety, mental health support, and other resources for the 2024-2025 school year.
The initiative includes a $14.25 million investment—$12.25 million from the City of Seattle and $2 million from Seattle Public Schools. This funding will expand access to mental health services, improve school security, increase staffing, and support gun violence prevention and intervention efforts through community partnerships.
“I want to start by quoting a Masai saying, a tradition,” Harrell said. “When community members greet each other, they ask, ‘And how are the children?’ A powerful reminder that young people are the true measure of a community’s health. At the end of the day, we are fighting for the health and safety of our youth, our teachers, our administrators, and our parents.”
These new investments build on the 100 Days of Action initiative with King County and Harrell’s Executive Order to Address Gun Violence in Schools. The funds will be allocated throughout the 2024-2025 school year to tackle both immediate and long-term safety needs for students and the broader community.
“This is in addition to the nearly $37 million we are investing in violence interruptions and community-based organizations designed to address the root causes of violence,” said Harrell. “This is not just window dressing for one day, one week, or one year. This is part of a sustainable investment strategy to protect our communities. Like all cities right now, violence—including gun violence on school campuses—is out of control and is a complex issue. If it were simple to solve, it would be solved by now.”
Harrell highlighted the importance of data in shaping these initiatives.
“We follow data—that is how we make our decisions,” he said. “About 14 percent of all reported crimes in 2023 and 2024 involved juveniles, either as suspects or victims. Within this year alone, the police department has collected close to 960 guns, building on the 1,533 guns collected last year. That is not a statistic I am proud of. There are too many guns on the streets, and they are in the wrong hands. We have also seen a 20 percent increase in arrests citywide over the last month.”
Harrell emphasized the city’s compassionate approach to addressing these issues.
“We will lead with compassion and empathy, and we will look at root causes,” he said.
The city’s strategy to improve safety and mental health for students is threefold: school-based measures, violence interruption and community partnerships, and a strategy involving the Seattle Police Department (SPD).
“We will target interventions in 11 schools as our initial rollout,” Harrell explained. “We are currently seeing the highest rates of violence in these schools and around their campuses. The schools are Rainier Beach, Garfield, Chief Sealth International, Franklin, and Ingraham. The feeder schools, or middle schools, are Aki Kurose, Washington, Denny, Mercer, Robert Eagle Staff, and Meany.”
A total of $5.6 million will be invested in hiring mental health counselors and care coordinators in 21 schools, managed by Public Health—Seattle & King County. This will fund 42 positions, providing real support for students and families in real time.
An additional $2.5 million will expand telehealth therapy services to serve over 2,000 students.
“Telehealth will be a means to reach many people in a confidential and safe manner,” Harrell noted.
Furthermore, $4.25 million will be allocated for gun violence intervention and interruption resources, focusing on building relationships with students at the highest risk of committing gun violence. The plan also includes expanding safe passage programs in partnership with community organizations.
Superintendent Jones underscored the importance of relationships in this plan, along with implementing a stronger police presence and physical changes to improve school safety.
“The partnership with the mayor’s office is invaluable and enduring as we tackle some of these really tough issues,” Jones said. “We began planning by listening to our students. Following the tragedy at Garfield High School, the mayor and I met with our young people to hear their hopes, needs, fears, and concerns. It’s critical that our students and staff feel safe and are safe so that we can do what we do best: teaching and learning.”
“This leads to action,” continued Jones. “We are here today because we are navigating a new landscape filled with hope, opportunity, and challenges. This new environment requires us to develop a new playbook, and we are developing that together.”
The district’s safety plan aligns resources with the specific needs of schools, aiming to enhance safety starting September 4.
“Because relationships matter, throughout the school day, students will interact more with adults focused explicitly on their safety,” Jones said. “Because of this collaboration with the police, students will see a police presence around school perimeters. This is part of strengthening our collaboration with police and the schools. There will be regular communication between police and school leaders, protection against violence around our schools, and walk-throughs to ensure emergency preparedness.”
Jones also mentioned physical changes to school environments, including new cameras, additional signage, fencing, and access control measures to build trusting relationships and ensure safety.
