‘Parents deserve a seat at the table’: Jake ties the Edmonds school scandal to the broader parental rights fight

KIRO host Jake Skorheim said the Edmonds School District (ESD) scandal between an assistant and a student strengthens the case for parental rights, adding that voters will have a chance to weigh in on the issue when Initiative I-001 hits the ballot in November.

Earlier this year, a teaching assistant in ESD was arrested for allegedly having a years-long inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old student.

Jake noted that the assumption that schools are always safe, professional environments where administrators know better than parents has been repeatedly undermined, and the Edmonds case is a prime example.

“Time and time again, we see that schools are not always faultless, and oftentimes, they will look the other way if it benefits the school,” Jake said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “And what I’m saying is, parents deserve a seat at the table for just exactly this type of reason.”

He pushed back on the argument that trained school professionals should be trusted over parents in conversations with children about sensitive topics.

“The argument is always like, well, these people are trained professionals, and if they’re going to have conversations with your kids over the age of 13 about medical procedures or their choices in life about this or that, they know better because they’re trained,” Jake said. “I know that there’s going to be some bad parents out there, but that number is so tiny and so small. The vast majority of parents, regardless of what their kid is going through, even if they disagree, love their kids and want the best for their children, and want to be part of those conversations.”

Greg connects Edmonds to the November vote

Fill-in host Greg Tomlin said the Edmonds case feeds directly into the statewide debate over parental rights and whether children should be able to have confidential relationships with school staff that exclude their parents.

“I do think this story out of Edmonds plays into the broader discussion about parental rights, and at the heart of that debate is the question about whether or not kids should be able to have confidential relationships with adults at school, including staff and administrators, and be able to exclude parents from that equation,” Greg said. “Seems pretty basic and fundamental to guys like us, Jake. I know there’s some disagreement, but we’ll see how this plays out with the November vote.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3