SEATTLE — Parents at Whitman Middle School in Seattle are raising concerns about portables they say are causing safety issues for students. The parents say the portables, which are vacant on campus between the main school building and the Soundview Play Fields, are the root of the problem.
“We’ve got broken glass and clearly dilapidated buildings here just within mere feet of the middle school and if the district’s top priority is to secure that building, [it] feels like the proximity of this is a real problem,” a parent who did not want to be identified, said.
SPS sent a letter back in 2023 that it planned to demolish the portables in the summer of 2024. However, that did not happen.
“Just come in with a bulldozer and take them out. You could probably put three of those portables into one truck with the right equipment,” said Tom Neu, whose grandkids previously attended Whitman.
Parents say their main concerns are for students who have classes just a few hundred feet away from the portables and for community members and young kids who use that area to access the play fields.
“There’s zero reason for these to be here at this point. All it seems is it’s a risk and a liability, and it’s time to do what you said you were going to do and get these off the property,” the parent said.
Steve Schmidt walks his dog through the area regularly and said he wasn’t aware of the problems.
“I’m not really aware of that problem, although it doesn’t surprise me. They’re are a lot of hiding spots,” Schmidt said.
KING 5 reached out to SPS and asked to see inside the portables but was told they could not accommodate the request. KING 5 also asked SPS why the portables were not demolished on the original timeline and has not heard back.
SPS did send a statement saying, "Seattle Public Schools’ (SPS) top priority is the safety of every student. District and Whitman Middle School staff are working together to address the school’s campus safety. We are prioritizing patrols and over the past couple of weeks added extra supports for daily area checks at the school and other nearby SPS properties. The custodial team is also working to remediate any existing litter and the maintenance team will inspect and improve fencing."