“They’re our teachers, and that’s all they should be.” Those were the opening words of Isolde Raftery’s editorial on student-teacher relationships in the November 23, 1999 issue of the Messenger. Over 20 years later, Raftery is now the Managing Editor at KUOW, and is in the middle of producing a podcast called “Adults in the Room”, where she revisits the story that inspired her editorial.

While in high school, Raftery reported biology teacher and POST84 leader Tom Hudson to the authorities after hearing about his sexual misconduct with students. The case was eventually dropped, so, multiple decades later, Raftery has taken it upon herself to explore the truth in her seven episode podcast.

Last week, the Messenger spoke with Raftery and her high school best friend, Ella Hushagen, about the focus of the podcast. “This kind of stuff is still happening,” Raftery said. Her goal is to “tell the story of how a system failed students as a way to shed light on systems today, and to hope, not to make sure, but to hope that abuse doesn’t keep happening.” 

However, abuse will keep happening as long as a single abuser is present. “One predator can prey on a lot of kids and cause a lot of damage,” Raftery said. Abuse in schools does not typically begin with obvious signs of inappropriate behavior. Instead, it begins with distorted boundaries and power dynamics between adults and students in an environment built on trust. As a result, Raftery claimed that “predators are going to be [like a] moth to a flame” to educational settings. The podcast inspects how these dynamics came into play at Garfield decades ago, and how Raftery and Hushagen exposed these relationships. 

In addition to covering Hudson’s impact on Garfield, Raftery touches on wider themes, such as the normalization of objectification and abuse. “I really wanted to showcase the culture at the time,” Raftery said. “I mean, we were really expected to be objectified and be okay with it.” To Raftery, the additional stories contribute to the overall purpose of the podcast. “It’s really to showcase what it was like and what we were up against.” 

The podcast also explores how, looking back decades later, Raftery and Hushagen see Hudson’s abuse in a clearer light. “It’s easier for us to call out some of the things we were told as kids and really examine them,” Hushagen said. When reflecting, Hushagen now knows that her initial thoughts about Hudson were accurate. “If your gut says ‘this doesn’t feel normal… you should trust that feeling,” she advised. Both Raftery and Hushagen preach that abuse cannot be prevented by students alone. “I believe it’s not on you guys,” Raftery said. “This is why the podcast is called Adults in the Room. I believe it’s on the system to identify predators right away and kick them out.” Hushagen emphasized that abusers can only be truly stopped by adults taking action, regardless of the reputation of the accused educator. “When communities aren’t willing to confront the truth, people can get away with abuse.”