Neighbors discover county health officials providing needles to homeless campers on Seattle public school campus

Over the past nine months residents living next to Broadview-Thomson K-8 have been living with the impact of the unsanctioned encampment on the shoreline of Bitter Lake in North Seattle.

Neighbors told The Post Millennial that a woman died of an overdose at the encampment in February and that her body lay in the street for hours in almost the exact same spot where King County is now handing out hypodermic needles to other addicts residing in the encampment, less than 100ft from the playground of the school.

A neighbor told The Post Millennial, "the 'drug free zone' signs do not appear to be working." Neighbors and school employees have witnessed campers using narcotics including methamphetamines and other "hard drugs" while school has been in session.

Students who returned to in person learning at Broadview Thomson K-8, on Greenwood Ave. last month for the first time in over a year found a homeless encampment with over 40 tents waiting for them on the campus.

On Tuesday at approximately 4 PM, neighbors witnessed vehicles from the King County Department of Health delivering fresh needles to the encampment. According to neighbors, 4-5 campers availed themselves of the service and exchanged various types of drug paraphernalia with the King County staff.

Residents of the neighborhood have also reported theft and ongoing drug issues in the community mostly populated by families and the elderly. Neighbors had previously photographed King County needle exchange vans near the property.

City officials and school board members have declined to meet with the group of neighbors, parents and employees who are seeking to address the encampments. In emails sent by neighbors and employees to The Post Millennial, Seattle School Board President Chandra Hampson and Director Zachary DeWolf demanded Mayor Jenny Durkan not allow the encampments to be removed from school grounds.

Rather than meeting with neighbors, the school board members met with the individuals residing in the encampment. Following the meeting, the president of the school PTA sent an email out to parents asking for donations to the encampment.

The following day, a man in the encampment was seen by the school’s security guard "with what appeared to be a firearm on the other side of the fence," according to the school’s principal. At the time there were students outside the building. A chain link fence is all that separates the encampment from the school. The school went into their 'shelter-in-place' protocol.

The weapon turned out to be an airsoft pellet gun which one of the campers claimed he used to hunt rats. Dead rats have been seen in the encampment tied to sticks. Other weapons including swords have been spotted next to tents. The encampment is also located on a protected environmental area next to a lake, which residents say is being polluted by the campers. A city employee was threatened by a camper last week while collecting trash from the encampment.

Neighbors told The Post Millennial that the individual remains in the encampment. Parents flooded the school with emails demanding to know why the encampment was allowed to remain. The parent body of the school includes a large number of immigrants families.

Police took almost one hour to respond to the call. SPS opted to provide on campus security for the school rather than remove the encampment, following a decision in June of 2020 to officially suspended their partnership with the Seattle Police Department in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

Hampson and DeWolf published a joint statement condemning any potential removal of encampments from school property or anywhere else in the city "We demand sweeps NEVER be performed on school grounds, adjacent or elsewhere in this City." Meanwhile, SPS superintendent Denise Juneau admitted in an email to neighbors obtained by The Post Millennial that "We realize people living unsheltered in encampments can create health and safety hazards for their occupants and the general public."

King County staff members operating the exchange allegedly told an inquisitive neighbor, who documented the activity for a neighborhood Facebook group, that there is no set schedule for the county’s visits to the encampment.

Federal Way, just south of Seattle, recently instructed the county to pause the activities of needle exchange vans that were setting up in local parking lot and Park N Ride locations without the knowledge of city officials.