Video Shows Child On Roof Of Shoreline School

SHORELINE, WA — A Shoreline resident captured a harrowing video of a young girl moving around the roof of a local school Friday morning. But what appears to be a dangerous, unsupervised act was done under the careful watch of teachers at the school, the school's director told Patch.

The video was recorded from the balcony of an apartment overlooking the Pacific Learning Center, 14550 Westminster Way North. The school is "a private special-purpose K-12 school serving students identified with autism, emotional disability, specific learning disabilities, and other health impairments."

School Director Dan Hanson told Patch there were at least six staff members watching the girl to make sure she didn't fall. Those staff members appear to be on the other side of the building out of view of the camera.

Patch edited portions of the video to avoid inadvertently identifying the child:

Hanson said the school is a closed campus, but the doors are not locked, so it is possible for children to leave. If they do leave, however, they are always supervised.

"If a kid leaves our building, we follow them. We knew what was going on while it was going on," he said, referring to the girl on the roof.

In general, Hanson said, getting physical with a student — for example, grabbing her off the roof — is sometimes more harmful than not, which is why staff made no attempt to reach her. Hanson said the school has one staff member for every two students to ensure the students' safety.

The woman who took the video — who asked not be identified — said she called Shoreline police about the girl, but "nothing was done." The woman said she would post the video of the incident on her Facebook page to make it "go viral." Shoreline police did respond to the scene around 10:30 a.m., but the girl had come down from the roof by the time they arrived, spokeswoman Sgt. Cindi West said.

"I was cleaning my windows and I looked over and saw this little girl on the second story of the school, and she jumped over to the church roof and was dangling over and I freaked out and called cops," the woman told Patch.

The woman also provided a photo of a ladder up against the side of the building. Hanson said the girl was able to climb up the roof without the ladder, likely using a tree or the shape of the building. Shoreline police advised the school to place the ladder there to offer a way for the girl get down.

Hanson said he was more concerned that the girl's image was being shared on social media.

"We do our best to be a quiet neighbor, but there's no guarantee that these things are not going to happen," he said. "I can assure you we take these incidents seriously."

Photo provided to Patch by unnamed source who recorded video