Being a parent is nonstop hard work, making it challenging to stay on top of news that impacts families in Washington state. Below are highlights and commentary on key policy updates and headlines from the week of Dec. 1-7.
Do some good together in December
The December holidays and January’s cold-weather needs are two good reasons for the family to step up and do some good together for your community. Check out this month’s “Do some good together” column for organizations and programs eager for the hands (big or small) your family can lend. From clothing, coat, and toy drives to sending smile pictures to seniors, share the joy of giving back with your kids.
This high school should feel great!
This month, Gig Harbor’s Peninsula High School (PHS) received a very special honor, one annually awarded to only one school in each state.
The school was designated as a National Banner Unified Champion School by Special Olympics North America, recognizing its “commitment to inclusion, engagement, and a positive school climate.” Champion schools meet 10 rigorous national standards of excellence developed by a panel of education and Special Olympics leaders. Designated schools go “above and beyond in creating a culture of inclusion, advocacy, and respect for students with and without intellectual disabilities,” according to a Peninsula High School release.
PHS athletics are anchored by “Unified Coaches” trained in both the specific sport and the philosophies and rules of Special Olympics’ Unified Sports model. Unified Coaches guide a mixed-ability team in a way that ensures all teammates — with or without intellectual disabilities — have equal opportunity to participate, contribute, and develop skills. At the same time, coaches promote inclusion, respect, team cohesion, and meaningful involvement — not pitting “able” vs. “disabled,” but treating teammates as equals.
According to Peninsula Unified Coach Wendy Christiansen: “Unified is meaningful inclusion—transforming lives and reshaping the culture in our schools. It’s creating a world where everyone belongs, is valued and loved.”
Bills to mitigate addictive online platform
Two state lawmakers from King County say they will reintroduce bills aimed at companies that peddle addictive online platforms to kids in the next legislative session. The bills would require companies to change their designs and the way they gather data on users to protect kids and encourage them to engage in healthier relationships with the platforms.
Senate Bill 5708 and House Bill 1834 (SB5708/HB1834) were developed in collaboration with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, Rep. Lisa Callan (D-Issaquah), Sen. Noel Frame (D-Seattle), and the statewide children’s advocacy organization, Children’s Alliance. The bills failed to pass during the 2025 legislative session, but Frame and Callan plan to bring them back for another try in the 2026 session, which begins Jan. 12.
If approved by the legislature and signed by the governor, the legislation would require companies that operate addictive online platforms in Washington to design a less harmful experience for kids. To do this they would need to :
- Stop platforms from serving targeted addictive feeds to minors.
- Stop platforms from sending push notifications during school and sleep hours—they interrupt learning, harm sleep, and drive compulsive checking.
- Ensure all users have access to settings that promote privacy and healthy relationships with online content.
Advocates for the mirror-image bills say they are confident that one or the other will pass. Check out the full story at Seattleschild.com.
WA’s ban on assault weapon sales
A Thurston County Superior Court judge has upheld a 2023 law banning the sale of certain semiautomatic firearms classified as assault weapons in Washington, a big win for the state Attorney General’s Office as well as gun control advocates.
The lawsuit – filed by the Silent Majority Foundation, gun sellers and others – seeks to overturn the law, claiming it violates the state’s constitutionally protected right to bear arms. While the statute doesn’t prohibit owning assault weapons, it prohibits their manufacture, importation, distribution, or sale in Washington.
Lawyers from the AG’s office argued that assault weapons are not covered by state constitutional protections, which guarantee that “The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall not be impaired.” Further, the state argued, lawmakers are allowed to regulate uniquely deadly weapons. Assault weapons have been used in a large number of mass shootings across the country, far from the protected use of self-defense.
Although Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christine Schaller sided with the Attorney General, the fight may not be over. The Silent Majority has vowed to appeal Schaller’s decision. Read the full story at the Washington State Standard.
Take action: As lawmakers gear up for the 2026 session of the Washington State Legislature, contact your representatives to share your opinion on gun control legislation. Contact members of the Washington State House of Representatives. Contact members of the Washington State Senate.
Four-day school weeks
Teacher recruitment and retention have been a struggle for most school districts in Washington state, according to the nonprofit research group Learning Policy Institute. That’s a large part of the reason that at least eight rural districts in the state have adopted the fast-growing national trend of four-day school weeks—despite a lack of data on the effects of a compressed week on students, teachers, and families.
A four-day school week is unlikely to be considered in Seattle or other large Puget Sound districts any time soon. Still, as more families consider leaving the City for more affordable locations on the east side of the state, the length of the school week may come into play in their decision-making. At least 10 school districts in Washington have moved to the four-day schedule. Check out Washington State Standard’s look at the 4-day school week trend.
Gas Works Park’s iron structures
Should Seattle remove the steel towers, pipes, and tanks (the gas works) at the city park named after them? I rarely visit Seattle’s Gasworks Park, but was pulled in this week by a New York Times article about the family of a teen who fell to his death there last summer while climbing on the park’s iconic towers.
Seattle parents Adam and Carrie Rees Johnson have filed a lawsuit asking the court to declare the towers and all the pipes, catwalks, and other appendages connected to them a “nuisance.”
The Johnsons’ 15-year-old son, Mattheis Johnson, fell 50 feet to his death last July after climbing on the rusty iron structures, the third death of a child or youth since 2012. It’s sad proof that the City’s decades-long effort to keep kids from climbing isn’t working. The most recent attempt, in which the City earmarked $1.5 million to take down the facility’s catwalks, ladders, and pipes, was rebuffed by architects, design lovers, and the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board. Read the New York Times’s thorough coverage of the issue.
Light rail stretches over 40 miles
Last week, a new public transit option rolled out to Kent, Des Moines, Star Lake, and Federal Way as Sound Transit opened light rail stations in each location. The stations expand light rail access to more than 40 miles from Federal Way along I-5, through Seattle, all the way to Lynnwood. That’s a lot of low-cost travel for families.
The new stations are designed to serve up to 23,000 daily riders. The stations also connect riders with other regional public transportation services, including King County Metro and Pierce County Transit.
What do the new station openings mean? If you live in Federal Way and are taking the family to Seattle Center for a bit of holiday cheer, light rail is likely to save you time: That drive can run upwards of an hour (sometimes much longer) on a tough traffic day, but runs only about 50 minutes on light rail. Moreover, rail travel will absolutely save you money. Parking fees are high even for a few hours in downtown Seattle and can be prohibitive on big game or event days.
Next stop, Bellevue. Completion of the system’s extension to Bellevue is expected in early 2026.
The Must-Read
Here’s one I don’t need to comment on: it’s a must-read if you care about children’s health and the increasing number of notices about cases of potentially deadly but preventable diseases. Yet another one arrived in my inbox last week when Public Health-Seattle & King County announced yet another case of measles in the region. Don’t miss “Kennedy’s Methodical 2-Decade Quest to Dismantle Vaccine Policy” in The New York Times.
OPINION: Afghan families deserve fair treatment
Washington state has welcomed resettled more than 5,000 Afghans over the past two years, many of them parents with schoolage kids and with some of the highest numbers concentrated in King and Snohomish Counties. The vast majority have come here to live peacefully while worrying about loved ones still livng in Afghanistan under the ruling Taliban.
I know at least one Afghan family personally—a father, his wife and three of their four children. This father was an ally to our country, serving as an interpreter for U.S. military stationed in his homeland. He and his wife have done everything they’ve been asked to do to live and work here legally. And they’ve done it carrying the dream that their oldest daughter and their own parents will soon be able to join them.
Instead, right now, this family and many Afghan refugees in our state are fearing for their own safety, worried that the Trump administration will target them for deportation following the fatal shooting of a military member in Washington, D.C., earlier this month — a crime that, as far as anyone knows, was perpetrated by one independent, mentally unstable Afghani.
Let me be clear: We should all be saddened and frustrated by any senseless shooting or violence.
But we should be equally offended by— and push back hard against—President Donald Trump’s use of the tragedy to stigmatize all Afghan residents of the U.S. and to justify barring any more Afghans from entering the country. We should protest the president’s decision to pause asylum decisions for those already here.
One man does not represent a community and culture, Mr. Trump.
The vast majority of immigrants, Afghans or otherwise, have committed no crime in this country. They came here legally, with the blessing of the U.S. government, after the U.S. left Afghanistan in a chaotic and mismanaged exit that left families who helped the U.S. in grave danger. All Afghans (as well as refugees from 18 other countries targeted by the Trump administration) have a right to a fair and just asylum-seeking process. Peaceful Afghanis with connections to family here should have the right to apply and not be discriminated against in the process. The dream of families being united on American soil should not be a pipe dream for anyone.
Immigrants in this country should have the right to live free of fear-mongering and anti-immigrant vitriol as they work very hard to succeed in a new culture and country.
Sadly, vitriol and fear-mongering seem to be part and parcel of this presidency. In the past weeks he has disparaged Afghanistan as a “hellhole,” and demanded immigration officials “re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan.” He’s also aimed his xenophobic rhetoric at immigrant families from Somalia, calling them “garbage.”
My neighbors, who after two years were just coming to believe they are finally, truly safe here, are reeling. While they freely talked about their fears with me, they do not feel safe publishing their names. He is scared to go to work. She is scared to pick up the kids from school.
Of course, they are terrified — wouldn’t you be, especially as a parent? Once targeted by the Taliban in Afghanistan for helping the U.S., our president has reneged on our promise to protect them and instead painted a big red target on all their backs. Yet another shameful and inhumane act in a presidency less than a year old. My heart breaks.
Take action: Make your voice heard on this issue. Call your congressional representatives and share your thoughts about a just, fair, and legal immigration and asylum-seeking process. Find your lawmaker at Congress.gov. Contact the White House and tell the president how you feel about his changes to immigration policy.
*This OP-ED is written by Seattle’s Child Managing Editor Cheryl Murfin. The opinions shared are the writer’s alone and do not represent Seattle’s Child.
