Seattle Public Schools (SPS) and the City of Seattle will invest $14.55 million to “align, strengthen, and expand student safety and mental health support for the 2024-2025 school year,” according to a recent announcement delivered by Mayor Bruce Harrell and SPS Superintendent Brent Jones. The proposal has been sent to the Seattle City Council for approval.
The investment—$12.25 million from the city and $2.3 million from the SPS budget—will help students and families access more mental health support while at the same time expanding school security, staffing, and violence prevention and intervention services through community-based providers. According to the city, the school district partnership is part of the city’s ongoing strategy for reducing violence by addressing the root causes of violence and increasing access to youth enrichment programs, including mentorship, academic support, sports, leadership development, and teen centers.
“Students and young people need to feel safe to learn and to grow – this comprehensive set of programs, investments, and actions will support the safety of our youth and community,” Mayor Harrell said of the district collaboration in a release. “By strengthening access to mental health care, improving safe passages to and from school, and enhancing community-based supports, we are both acting on the priorities of our city’s young people and taking proactive steps to support their safety and wellbeing.”
A pilot will be implemented at 11 schools
The City and SPS will pilot a three-pronged strategy — school-based measures, violence intervention and community partnerships, and law enforcement support — to promote school safety, reduce school violence, and support student mental health. Focused interventions will be piloted at 11 high schools and middle schools with the highest rates of violence in and around their campuses. Those schools include:
- Rainier Beach High School
- Garfield High School
- Chief Sealth International High School
- Franklin High School
- Ingraham High School
- Aki Kurose Middle School
- Washington Middle School
- Denny, Mercer Middle School
- Robert Eagle Staff Middle School
- Mean Middle School.
“Seattle is coming together to make critical safety investments because we collectively believe life’s opportunities begin in Seattle Public Schools for our nearly 50,000 students. It made the difference for our mayor and for me,” said Dr. Brent Jones, Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools in the release. “Through sustained support starting with what we are bringing forward today, we have the power to protect and transform the lives of our students today and for years to come.”
Increasing access to mental health care
To support these efforts in the 2024-2025 school year, the district and city’s investment includes:
- $5.6 million towards hiring additional mental health counselors and care coordinator positions in 21 school-based health centers managed by Public Health – Seattle & King County. These 42 new positions will provide in-person support to students who need clinical interventions while also being able to make referrals to other services as needed. This new investment builds on the over $51 million the City funds in school-based health centers through the seven-year Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy.
- $2.4 million to expand access to telehealth therapy services to over 2,000 students — improving the capacity in the youth mental health system and providing a better representation of race, ethnicity, and language of providers — key challenges identified in the City’s comprehensive report on the youth mental health landscape.
Leaning into community-based partners
As part of the partnership, $4.25 million will go to fund community-based partners to provide a range of interventions as part of this pilot. Services will be equitably implemented over the course of the school year at focus high schools and middle schools. City funding will:
- Fund new Violence Intervention specialists to work inside focus schools to build relationships with current school staff and students who are most at risk of being impacted by gun violence.
- Expand safe passage programs to all 11 focus schools in partnership with community-based organizations. Safe Passage programs connect students with trusted individuals who can offer immediate safety interventions, get students safely home or wherever they’re going next, and provide a reliable, long-term presence for support.
- Expand case management for students directly impacted by gun violence and their families. Case managers will help students and families navigate state and federal support programs and connect to other service providers, including the new Family Resource Fund if needed.
- Establish a new Family Resource Fund – a flexible pool of funds designed to support students and their families at the highest risk of gun violence who are participating in case management at focus schools. This fund will serve as a tool for providers to mitigate risk factors for students, offering assistance with essentials like clothing, food, utilities, and transportation to alleviate the burden on students to provide for themselves and address behavioral health challenges related to unmet basic needs.
SPS vowed to invest $2.3 million to add staffing capacity, evolve operations, and upgrade school infrastructure through upgrading cameras, access control systems, perimeter fencing and gate improvements, and interior classroom door lock enhancements.
Starting with five high schools
The Seattle Police Department (SPD) will focus its patrol officers on five high schools during critical times (before school, during lunch, and after school). Rainier Beach, Garfield, Chief Sealth International, Franklin, and Ingraham are those five schools. For its part, SPS will send out additional school-based safety specialists. The district will also hire an executive liaison to improve collaboration with first responders and law enforcement agencies to implement a unified student safety plan.
“Keeping students safe is the top priority for everyone in our community. Police can’t do it alone, and schools can’t do it alone. It is crucial that our entire community steps up and works together,” Interim Chief of Police Sue Rahr during the public announcement of the investment program.
Student mental health and well-being are closely connected with their sense of safety and support. In 2023, 50% of SPS 8th graders and 71% of 12th-grade students reported experiencing feelings of anxiety, with one in three 12th graders reporting feelings of depression. Although Seattle has historically had lower rates of homicide and juvenile crime compared to other cities, about 14% of all reported violent crimes in 2023 and 2024 involved juveniles, according to the city. Juvenile-involved violence has remained higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic in Seattle, and nationally, student mental health challenges have risen.
The new and expanded interventions will be implemented over the course of the 2024-2025 school year and evaluated to understand their impact, then scaled to more schools and neighborhoods based on data, available resources, and successful outcomes.
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