‘They’re creating a divide’: Jake argues schools shouldn’t keep parents in the dark as Spike defends student privacy

A Let’s Go Washington initiative to restore the state’s parental bill of rights will be featured on the November ballot after lawmakers declined to hold hearings on the measure during the 2026 session.

The initiative would reinstate a requirement that schools must notify parents before a student receives non-emergency medical or mental health services on campus, a provision removed by House Bill 1296 in 2025. Under current state law, children 13 and older can consent to their own mental health care without parental knowledge.

Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill, co-hosts of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, found themselves on opposite sides of the issue, debating whether it is OK for a school official to withhold information from a parent or guardian.

Jake says the idea of hiding information from parents ‘fundamentally seems so wrong’

Jake said he was caught off guard by the scope of what schools can withhold and argued that parents are the single most important party in a child’s well-being.

“You are aware of what’s going on in your kid’s life most of the time,” Jake said. “You’re kind of looking at it from a 30,000-foot view, but you are intimately the closest that they have in life should be, hopefully, their parents. And the idea that they’re going to be able to go in and have a conversation with somebody who is deemed a healthcare professional, and that somehow is more important than your right, as a parent, to know what’s happening with your child — who you are by law required to take care of until they reach the age of 18. The idea that they can hide information from you just fundamentally seems so wrong to me.”

Jake added that schools keeping information from parents risks doing more harm than good, and can create an unhealthy divide.

“They have gotten themselves into a situation where they’re now saying, ‘We are your closest confidant. We’re speaking to you on a level that your parents can’t,'” Jake said. “If the school is not telling the parents what’s going on, they’re now creating a divide between the child and the parent. Do you think that’s going to be healthy for that relationship going forward?”

Spike believes kids need a safe space to be honest

Spike acknowledged the issue is sensitive but argued that a child’s ability to speak with a trained professional can depend on knowing that conversation stays private.

“There are reasons that doctors aren’t allowed to share with parents with regard to certain situations, because kids have to feel comfortable and safe in speaking honestly to a doctor or a mental health provider,” Spike said. “But if the kid feels like everything they say to my therapist is going to be told back to my parent, they’re not going to be open with their therapist.”

Spike noted that there are times when withholding information from a parent is the right call for a child’s mental health.

“I say there are times when it’s in the kid’s mental health best interest to have a safe place to talk to somebody who’s trained and seek guidance and information,” Spike said. “Yeah, I think it’s a good thing. Often times parents aren’t ready to deal with situations.”

When Jake questioned Spike on whether schools are inserting themselves between parents and children, Spike flipped the framing.

“If a kid is talking to a counselor and not their parents, the school’s not creating the divide,” Spike said. “The divide’s already there.”

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