Editor's Note

 The following posts are on subjects I think worthy of consideration. I would hope this information is relevant for your consideration. That being said, nothing posted should be construed as to what I believe. It is my hope to open up the dialogue about various aspects of education.

Birth of this blog and the Melissa Westbrook connection 

USS Liberty incident

 Click here to get the latest seattle public school's FOIA request log      New June 2023 file

BOX OF SHAME   <<<<<< take a peek !

View OSPI's SPS citizen's complaints here     Full list of SPS parents complaints here

Seattle School Board Elections    More local stories     H1B impacts Parr-Franconia warehou

Seattle Public Schools Face a Shrinking Enrollment Problem — and a Growing Empty-Space Problem

SEATTLE — Seattle Public Schools is getting smaller.

After years of declining enrollment, the district entered the 2025-26 school year with 48,957 students, according to district figures. That is down from 50,187 students in 2021-22 and represents a loss of more than 1,200 students in just four years.

The decline has not stopped.

District officials say enrollment is expected to continue falling over the next several years, creating a difficult financial and logistical problem: Seattle Public Schools is maintaining a school system built for substantially more children than it now serves.

The mismatch is particularly visible in the district's buildings.

Two North Seattle Shootings Put Focus on 143rd Street and Aurora Avenue Corridor

 

SEATTLE — Two separate shooting incidents involving North 143rd Street this month have renewed attention on public-safety concerns in North Seattle, including the longstanding problems surrounding the Aurora Avenue corridor.

The most recent incident occurred Thursday, Sept. 24, near N 143rd Street and Greenwood Avenue North. Multiple residents reported hearing a large number of gunshots around midday, followed by a heavy police response and a vehicle pursuit northbound.

Preliminary reports indicated that at least one person had been shot and that officers pursued a vehicle toward Shoreline. Residents reported seeing numerous police vehicles traveling through the Greenwood area. Reports also described a dark-colored Mazda and a pursuit that continued toward the 160th Street area, although those details have not been independently confirmed.

The Sept. 24 incident came just over two weeks after another shooting near North 143rd Street.

A Police Station That Never Came: Seattle Fences Off Long-Vacant Aurora Property

  

 

SEATTLE — More than a decade after Seattle purchased property at North 130th Street and Aurora Avenue North for a new police station, the planned precinct has yet to be built. Now, the city-owned property is once again drawing attention as fencing is being installed around the site.

The property was acquired by the City of Seattle beginning in 2013 specifically for the construction of a new North Precinct police station. On Dec. 16, 2013, the Seattle City Council unanimously approved legislation authorizing the city to acquire parcels at 12800 Aurora Ave. N. and 1155 N. 130th St. for municipal purposes, including construction of a new North Precinct station

Can We Trust Our Judges to Keep Us Safe?

When a judge releases someone accused of violent crime, and that person later commits—or is accused of committing—another violent crime, the public is left with a question that is difficult to avoid:

Can we trust our judges to keep us safe?

That question has returned to the forefront following the latest arrest of Allen Hollingsworth.

Hollingsworth was just 18 when he opened fire in downtown Seattle in 2016, wounding five people. He was eventually convicted of first-degree assault with a deadly weapon.

In 2019, prosecutors pushed for a substantially longer prison sentence. Judge Averil Rothrock instead imposed nine years, explaining that a lower sentence would give Hollingsworth an opportunity to improve himself.

Hollingsworth was ultimately released from prison in February 2026.

Less than seven months later, Bellevue police arrested him following a confrontation in which officers say they found him in possession of a loaded, stolen handgun.

That does not prove Rothrock's sentence caused Hollingsworth's subsequent conduct. It does, however, raise a fundamental question about judicial discretion: When someone has already demonstrated a willingness to use a gun against innocent people, how much weight should rehabilitation receive compared with the obligation to protect the public?

And Hollingsworth's case is not occurring in a vacuum.

Police Chief Andre Sayles, Who Used the Term "Known Trigger Pullers"

 "Gang  Violence"  becomes "Gun Violence" and "Shooter" becomes "Trigger Puller"

"Six people were shot in Seattle during a 24-hour period and Interim Police Chief Andre Sayles made clear police are looking for the ‘trigger pullers’ who opened fire.”

The article, published by reporter AWR Hawkins, details three separate violent incidents over a single weekend in Seattle: 

Street Takeover Incident: A fight broke out at an illegal street takeover early Sunday morning, leaving one person dead and multiple others injured.
Belltown Homicide: A woman was discovered in her vehicle with fatal gunshot wounds to her head and torso.
Monday Shooting: An additional shooting left a 17-year-old boy dead and a 21-year-old man in critical condition. 

Local Leadership Response

The phrase originated during local press updates where Chief Sayles emphasized that the department is actively hunting down known shooters within the community. Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson also released a statement calling the three fatalities "incredibly tragic" and confirming that the Seattle Police Department is actively investigating the active crime scenes. 

Shooting on Aurora Avenue Leaves 20-year-old Woman Critically Injured

 When an Altercation Turns Into Gun Violence

A 20-year-old woman is fighting for her life after what police say began as an altercation at a North Seattle hotel and ended with her being shot on Aurora Avenue North.

That transition—from an argument to gunfire—is disturbing not only because of the severity of this particular incident, but because it happened in an area that has seen repeated shootings over the past several years.

According to Seattle police, the woman and a man became involved in an altercation at a nearby hotel Thursday night. The two separated and left the location. But police say the confrontation didn't end there. The man later pulled up to the woman in a black SUV while she was in the 12500 block of Aurora Avenue North and shot her before fleeing west on North 127th Street.

The woman was found critically injured and taken to Harborview Medical Center. The suspect remains at large.

The tragedy is made even more troubling by the history of gun violence along this stretch of Aurora Avenue.

When Gun Crime Has No Consequences, Everyone Pays the Price

The tragedy at the Bite of Seattle should force Seattle and Washington state to confront an uncomfortable question: What happens when young people repeatedly encounter a criminal justice system that is unwilling or unable to impose meaningful consequences for illegal gun possession?

On July 26, gunfire erupted at Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle festival. Three people were killed and at least four others were wounded, including a two-year-old child. Police say the shooting involved multiple firearms and at least three shooters. A 15-year-old was arrested and charged with first-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm.

This was not simply a story about one teenager making one terrible decision. The circumstances raise much larger questions about how our justice system handles people who repeatedly demonstrate a willingness to possess illegal firearms and participate in violence.

Still No Arrest in the String of North Aurora Shootings

May 23, 2026 — Aurora Ave N & N 98th St.: Police reported more than 30 shots, found roughly 40 shell casings, and recovered video evidence. SPD said the Gun Violence Reduction Unit was investigating, but its public report does not announce an arrest.

June 23, 2026 — near N 93rd/Aurora: A 15-year-old boy was seriously wounded. SPD initially received conflicting accounts and later determined the shooting may have occurred inside a vehicle. The public SPD report says detectives were investigating; it does not report an arrest.

January 3, 2026 — N 128th St & Aurora: A woman was shot in the leg after gunfire near Aurora. SPD explicitly stated that no arrests had been made at the time of its report.

Early August 2026 — 14100 block of Aurora: SPD reported another shooting in which a person was shot in the leg. As of the August 4 report, detectives were still investigating, and the report does not identify an arrest.

A Run Around Green Lake Doesn't Make the Storm Controversy Go Away

There is nothing wrong with Seattle Storm players getting out into the community.

Running around Green Lake, meeting fans and promoting fitness is exactly the kind of positive community activity professional athletes should be doing.

But timing matters.

Just weeks after a Seattle Storm co-owner was accused of verbally berating two teenage girls at a home game, Storm players were back in the spotlight at Green Lake, participating in a community run that attracted hundreds of people.

It was a feel-good story.

And perhaps that is exactly what the Storm needed.

Because the team's image had taken a serious hit.

During the Storm's July 28 game against the Indiana Fever, two teenage fans were holding signs supporting Fever player Sophie Cunningham and her position on protecting women's sports. According to reporting on the incident, Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted the girls and used profanity toward them. The Storm subsequently apologized, and the WNBA suspended Keaton from attending the team's next five home games and fined her.

One of the teenagers said the confrontation left her in tears.

Think about that for a moment.