Focus: Adults in the Room · KUOW News and Information

Adults in the Room: Bad Apples

April 7, 2026·38 min·2 clips

Aisha Beck describes how David Erick pushed boundaries with female students through sexualized comments.

1. Adults in the Room: Bad Apples examines teacher misconduct and accountability in Seattle Public Schools. 2. Isolde Raftery, the host and a former Garfield student, reports on Tom Hudson and the district’s handling of allegations against him. 3. The episode asks why Seattle Public Schools protected teachers with misconduct allegations and whether that system still operates today. 4. Cheryl Chow recalled Garfield teachers keeping their doors closed after hearing rumors about Tom Hudson. 5. Chow described a Garfield history of male teachers taking advantage of girls and parents protecting only their own children. 6. Tim Matsui’s old Post 84 recordings gave Raftery access to Chow’s account of Garfield’s culture. 7. Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Rebecca Dunn initially covered Hudson through defenders who questioned the allegations and district investigation. 8. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Seattle Times spent $60,000 to obtain Hudson investigation records through court proceedings. 9. The records revealed a 1994 investigation that district officials had not disclosed to Chow when she became Garfield’s principal. 10. David Erick’s files included complaints from Raftery, Ella Hushagen, and other students about sexualized comments and intimidation. 11. Aisha Beck recalled Erick asking whether Persian women liked anal sex and commenting on her exposed midriff. 12. After complaints about Erick, Seattle Public Schools investigated, imposed 20 days of unpaid leave, required misconduct training, and reassigned him. 13. Erick later moved to Franklin High School and retired in 2019 despite additional complaints and prior discipline. 14. Ella Hushagen and Rosie Bancroft said students today use sexual-harassment language more fluently than students did in the 1990s. 15. Raftery contrasts the Me Too movement’s effect on individual perpetrators with institutions that remain slow to change. 16. Post 84 cited background checks, abuse-prevention training, and two-adult trip requirements as current safety measures. 17. Ben Schuldiner said Seattle Schools’ Human Resources Department was reviewing old cases and teachers who had remained on leave for years. 18. Schuldiner argued that contracts and arbitration can prevent districts from removing teachers without progressive discipline and documented procedures. 19. Listeners tracking Seattle schools, survivor testimony, and teacher accountability may value this investigation. 20. Listeners seeking Guy Fieri’s Flavortown coverage may skip this examination of institutional misconduct.

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