Seattle Teachers Union’s Brand-New President on Leave for Abuse Allegations

AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File

A Seattle teachers’ union just elected a new president who is reportedly on extended leave over allegations of abusing a student. It is difficult to fathom the depths of our public education system's corruption.

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It appears that the Seattle Education Association (SEA) has not actually inaugurated Ibijoke Idowu as president yet, but the union did certify its election results, with Idowu in the lead, on Friday, according to information SEA spokeswoman Julie Popper shared with The Seattle Times. Therefore, unless the scandal becomes too big for the union to ignore, the accused abuser will likely be leading her fellow deranged educators.

I could be wrong, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the union members who voted for Idowu had no idea who she was but thought her name sounded “diverse.” It remains to be seen if the union will decide to replace her immediately with someone else or whether they will consider her alleged child abuse immaterial.

The Seattle Times reported on May 11:

According to preliminary election results, Ibijoke Idowu, a special education teacher at Rising Star Elementary in South Beacon Hill, is leading the race to preside over the union representing about 6,000 Seattle Public Schools teachers, paraprofessionals, secretaries, counselors and other staff… [Union] Members are considered in good standing as long as they are actively employed by the district and paying union dues.

The link above now brings up a “404 not found” message, so I was not able to verify Idowu’s winning margin personally. It is not clear if the link timed out because the election is certified or if SEA is trying to cover its tracks.

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From The Seattle Times again:

Idowu has been teaching at SPS since 2021. In December 2025, she was placed on paid leave and is currently being investigated by the district, confirmed Bev Redmond, SPS’ chief of staff and public affairs. In an email to The Seattle Times, Redmond declined to comment on an ongoing personnel investigation, but did confirm that the district notified Seattle Police Department about the allegations, per its own protocols that require the district to report any “suspected child abuse or neglect” to the proper authorities.

It seems that school districts in Democrat-run areas have a serious problem with criminal teachers who do not face justice. California schools have what attorney John Manly calls an “epidemic of sexual abuse,” but they are basically just shifting guilty teachers around. The major Los Angeles teachers’ union has policies explicitly providing for reassignment of teachers who commit rape, pedophilic sexual assault, pornography crimes, or fraud.

Then again, it’s not always Democrat states that have this problem, because teachers around the country tend to be woke activists who support child grooming. Last May, for instance, I highlighted child-grooming educators from Florida to Tennessee to California.

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In Idowu’s case, it seems the school district is once again failing its students, given that she is on paid leave and has been apparently for months. Now, it is absolutely true that there are teachers who suffer from false allegations, but since Idowu first went on leave in December 2025, it would seem that there has been plenty of time to assess whether the allegations are credible or not. If they are, why is she still on paid leave and able to run for president of her union?

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