A surprise archival interview with a former Garfield High School principal reveals that the teacher abuse problem at the school extended beyond Tom Hudson. Isolde discovers that the district received numerous credible allegations of temper outbursts and sexual harassment about her Garfield journalism teacher, Dave Ehrich, but kept him in the classroom until his retirement in 2019.

As Isolde looks into the district’s recent history addressing repeat allegations against teachers, she finds more examples of teachers who were physically and sexually abusive towards multiple students, but were still allowed to keep their jobs.  

After a conversation with Ella and former Garfield classmate Rosie Bancroft, Isolde sits down with the superintendent of Seattle Public Schools to ask why predators are given multiple chances to stay in the classroom, and how he intends to make schools safer for kids. 

This episode includes an explicit description of a sexual act, and discussion of sexual harassment. Please take care while listening.

Get in touch with the team by email at [email protected]. Support KUOW and projects like this by donating at kuow.org/donate/focus.

Adults in the Room is part of FOCUS, a dedicated documentary channel from KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR network. It is hosted by Isolde Raftery. Original reporting by Isolde Raftery, Jeannie Yandel, and Will James. Our producers are Will James and Alec Cowan. Our editor is Jeannie Yandel. Music by BC Campbell. A special thank you to Ella Hushagen, without whom this project would not be possible.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Isolde looks through records on Mr. Hudson from Seattle Public Schools, she comes across a document describing a photograph of Hudson and two students at a mountain lake near Seattle. All three of them are naked.

Isolde learns that back in 1994, before she attended Garfield, this photo spurred a separate investigation into Hudson's relationship with students. But ultimately, records say the boy told investigators it was no big deal. 

Years down the line, that changes. Isolde finds an email from the same boy, now an adult, claiming he was ready to go on record about how Hudson abused him. While interviewing other Post 84 members, Isolde discovers the student’s identity and interviews him. His account of grooming and abuse matches with Ocean Mason's ... with a surprise revelation. 

Today, he, Ocean, and Jonathan Hill know that Tom has influenced who they are, for good and for ill. So how do they make sense of that influence now? 

This episode includes graphic descriptions of animal cruelty and sexual abuse. If you or someone you know needs support, text the word HOPE to 64673. If you live in King County, you can contact the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center at 888.998.6423. Please take care while listening.

Get in touch with the team by email at [email protected]. Support KUOW and projects like this by donating at kuow.org/donate/focus.

Adults in the Room is part of FOCUS, a dedicated documentary channel from KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR network. It is hosted by Isolde Raftery. Original reporting by Isolde Raftery, Jeannie Yandel, and Will James. Our producers are Will James and Alec Cowan. Our editor is Jeannie Yandel. Music by BC Campbell. Additional music by Alec Cowan.  

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As adults, Isolde and Ella start re-investigating the question of Mr. Hudson’s guilt. For years, they've wondered if they spread unfounded rumors that drove Mr. Hudson to take his own life. 

Isolde digs out a brown manila envelope containing the school district's records on Mr. Hudson, which she requested shortly after college. She tracks down the original school district investigator from 1999, Eddie Hill Sr., and the widow of Garfield's interim-principal at the time, Cheryl Chow. Both reveal things Isolde never knew ... but not about the extent of Hudson's misconduct with students. 

Isolde realizes she must reach out to former members of Post 84. She meets with one former member, hoping they will connect her to others. Instead, they reveal a deeply held story of abuse. 

This episode includes graphic descriptions of sexual abuse. If you or someone you know needs support, text the word HOPE to 64673. Please take care while listening. 

Get in touch with the team by email at [email protected]. Support KUOW and projects like this by donating at kuow.org/donate/focus.

Adults in the Room is part of FOCUS, a dedicated documentary channel from KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR network. It is hosted by Isolde Raftery. Original reporting by Isolde Raftery, Ella Hushagen, Jeannie Yandel, and Will James. Our producers are Will James and Alec Cowan. Our editor is Jeannie Yandel. Music by BC Campbell. Additional music by Alec Cowan. A special thank you to Ella Hushagen, Maria Coryell-Martin, and the King County Prosecutor's Office.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Garfield community -- and, it seems, the whole city of Seattle -- mourns Tom Hudson, remembering him as a great man and teacher. One of the students who was closest to him, Jonathan Hill, spends the weeks after Hudson's death trying to ensure his reputation and legacy go untarnished by the allegations that led to his suspension in late 1999. 

But secretly, Jonathan is still reeling from the weeks before Tom's death. During that time, Hudson repeatedly leaned on Jonathan -- then the president of Post 84, Hudson's outdoors club -- as his personal crisis counselor. Jonathan reveals he’s also wondered if he’s to blame for Hudson’s death. This is the closest Isolde’s ever come to understanding what happened to Hudson in the weeks between his leave of absence and his suicide.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741. Please take care while listening. 

Get in touch with the team by email at [email protected]. Support KUOW and projects like this by donating at kuow.org/donate/focus.

Adults in the Room is part of FOCUS, a dedicated documentary channel from KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR network. It is hosted by Isolde Raftery. Original reporting by Isolde Raftery, Jeannie Yandel, and Will James. Our producers are Will James and Alec Cowan. Our editor is Jeannie Yandel. Music by BC Campbell. Additional music by Alec Cowan. A special thank you to Ella Hushagen.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The school district sends an investigator to Garfield to look into the allegations against Tom Hudson. Isolde and Ella feel like the entire school blames them for Hudson's suspension and the new inquiry into his behavior with students. The investigator questions Isolde and fellow reporter Rosie Bancroft again and again as the Post 84 community closes ranks and refuses to talk. 

Months go by as Isolde and Ella anxiously wait for the results of the investigation. As their lives at school become darker and tension-filled, they wonder: Did they do the right thing, or blow up a respected teacher's reputation over a falsehood? 

Then, a sudden tragedy changes the course of the investigation and shakes the Garfield community.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741. 

Get in touch with the team by email at [email protected]. Support KUOW and projects like this by donating at kuow.org/donate/focus.

Adults in the Room is part of FOCUS, a dedicated documentary channel from KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR network. It is hosted by Isolde Raftery. Original reporting by Isolde Raftery, Jeannie Yandel, and Will James. Our producers are Will James and Alec Cowan. Our editor is Jeannie Yandel. Music by BC Campbell. Additional music by Alec Cowan. A special thank you to Ella Hushagen, Rosie Bancroft, and Maria Coryell-Martin.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Garfield High School is shocked after learning their beloved principal is in an inappropriate relationship with a student.

In the fallout of the revelation about their principal, Isolde and Ella hear a second-hand allegation of child abuse against teacher Tom Hudson from a member of his outdoors club, Post 84. The students debate what they should do and decide to bring the allegation to their journalism teacher, Dave Ehrich, and Isolde’s parents. 

Nothing happens. Isolde and Ella publish a different, anonymized allegation in The Messenger. Hudson is suspended shortly after, and Ella and Isolde wonder if it was because of their story. Dave Ehrich accuses Isolde and Ella of publishing unfounded rumors about Hudson, and demands they resign from the paper.

Get in touch with the team by email at [email protected]. Support KUOW and projects like this by donating at kuow.org/donate/focus.

Adults in the Room is part of FOCUS, a dedicated documentary channel from KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR network. It is hosted by Isolde Raftery. Original reporting by Isolde Raftery, Jeannie Yandel, Ella Hushagen, and Will James. Our producers are Will James and Alec Cowan. Our editor is Jeannie Yandel. Music by BC Campbell. Additional music by Alec Cowan. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1998, a popular teacher at Garfield High School in Seattle — named Tom Hudson — falls into a crevasse while mountain-climbing in Olympic National Park. Hudson is accompanied by six teenage students from the school's outdoor program, who pull off a daring rescue of their teacher using techniques he taught them.

Isolde Raftery, a reporter for the school paper, plans to write about the rescue as a hero story validating Hudson’s leadership. But she learns he cut corners during the climb... and it wasn't the first time he'd done so.

This discovery leads to a confrontation between Isolde and Hudson, and is the first crack in the teacher's legendary reputation at Garfield — which shatters months later.

Get in touch with the team by email at [email protected]. Support KUOW and projects like this by donating at kuow.org/donate/focus.

Adults in the Room is part of FOCUS, a dedicated documentary channel from KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR network. It is hosted by Isolde Raftery. Original reporting by Isolde Raftery, Jeannie Yandel, and Will James. Our producers are Will James and Alec Cowan. Our editor is Jeannie Yandel. Music by BC Campbell. A special thank you to Ella Hushagen, without whom this project would not be possible. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The production team behind Lost Patients returns on February 24 with a new investigative series: Adults in the Room. Seattle, 1999. At Garfield High School, Mr. Hudson is a legend. With a thundering voice and imposing stature, Mr. Hudson — or “Tom” as select students call him — teaches biology and leads an elite outdoors program. But when teen reporters at the school paper start exploring a rumor that he sexually abused students, all hell breaks loose. Adults close ranks, and schoolmates turn on the young journalists. And then one day, a voice on the school intercom announces that Mr. Hudson is dead.

Isolde Raftery is one of the students who first heard about and reported allegations against Mr. Hudson. Three decades later, she is an investigative journalist in Seattle. In Adults in the Room, Raftery re-reports the story to understand what really happened in 1999. Was a whole school community groomed by a charismatic predator? Or was she part of a whisper campaign that cost the life of a great teacher?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lost Patients compares the system for treating mental illness in America to an elaborate house, where every room, hallway and staircase was designed independently by a different architect. So what is it like to be shuttled from room to room? What sorts of tradeoffs are doctors working within this system forced to make every day? And what might it look like to design care around the needs of patients?

KUOW and the Seattle Times convened a forum at the Seattle Public Library to hear perspectives and answer questions. Featured guests included:

Laura Van Tosh, patient advocate and founder and convener of Mental Health Policy Roundtable Carolynn Ponzoha, patient advocate and content creator who goes by @psychotic.in.seattle on TikTok Timothy Jolliff, acting senior director of clinical programs at the Downtown Emergency Service Center in Seattle Dr. Paul Borghesani, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine

You can find resources for people with mental illness and related stories from The Seattle Times and KUOW here:

https://www.seattletimes.com/component/lost-patients-podcast/
https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/lost-patients

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Something is preventing us from building a system that works for people with serious mental illness. In lieu of that, patients are often left to improvise recovery for themselves. They learn to live with their inner voices and build their own support structures. Can their stories give us insight into what a functioning system of psychiatric care might look like — and what might be getting in the way?

You can find resources for people with mental illness and related stories from The Seattle Times and KUOW here:
https://www.seattletimes.com/component/lost-patients-podcast/
https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/lost-patients

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After 10 months at Washington State's largest psychiatric hospital, Adam Aurand is discharged onto the streets of downtown Seattle — ejected into a world shaped by decades of deinstitutionalization and failure to build community-based mental health care. His mother rushes to save him before he gets pulled back into the "churn." A Seattle Times reporter tries to pinpoint where the discharge process failed — and the investigation leads her to new conclusions about the limitations of psychiatric care in the U.S.

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In the middle of the last century, a movement to free patients from state-run psychiatric hospitals swept the U.S. This movement — deinstitutionalization — is widely blamed for seriously mentally ill people ending up on the streets. The real story goes much deeper than a loss of psychiatric hospital beds. It's about how incentives and decisions half a century created the dysfunction many people with serious mental illness are lost in today.

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After Carrie Davidson learned that her great-grandmother died in a psychiatric hospital, she spent years tracking down details of her life there. Was the asylum a refuge? Or a prison? This earlier era hangs like a shadow over our approach to care today. We peer into horror and nostalgia that surrounds our societal memories of these mental institutions — and try to sort out which narrative is true.

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Across the U.S., efforts are underway to make it easier to involuntarily commit people to psychiatric hospitals. It's a reaction to the sight of seriously mentally ill people on the streets and the cries of families who say it's too hard to get a loved one help when they're in crisis. But this gets at one of the most delicate questions our society has faced: When does our belief about what's best for someone override someone's right to decide for themselves?

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Heidi Aurand has watched her son Adam spiral from one psychiatric crisis to the next for about eight years, bouncing between emergency rooms, jails, and homelessness. Now, after treatment at the state's largest psychiatric hospital, Adam was just released back onto the streets of downtown Seattle. A mother asks: How could her son pass through so many institutions and none are able to stop his decline?

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