Focus: Adults in the Room: Daily Summaries Delivered

Adults in the Room: Bad Apples

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 focus@kuow.org. 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.

Adults in the Room: The Boy in the Photograph

Adults in the Room: The Bet

Adults in the Room: Jonathan

Adults in the Room: Blame the Messenger

This episode of Adults in the Room revisits a high school journalism scandal from 25 years ago, where two student reporters exposed allegations of abuse by a beloved teacher, only to face institutional gaslighting, social ostracism, and trauma that reshaped their lives. The story culminates in the teacher’s suicide, raising enduring questions about truth, responsibility, and the cost of speaking up.

Adults in the Room: The Price of Belief

This episode of 'Adults in the Room' explores how a high school journalism project unraveled a culture of inappropriate teacher-student relationships at Seattle’s Garfield High School in the late 1990s, exposing systemic failures and the personal cost of speaking out. It’s a reckoning with power, loyalty, and the blurred lines between mentorship and exploitation.

Adults in the Room: Mounting Danger

This episode of Adults in the Room introduces a decades-long reckoning with power, truth, and memory at Seattle’s Garfield High School, centered on biology teacher Tom Hudson. What begins as a heroic mountain rescue story unravels into a complex investigation of institutional trust, adult behavior, and the cost of speaking up.

Coming Soon: Adults in the Room (Trailer)

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.