SEATTLE — Washington’s first charter school is struggling months after opening its doors.
The Seattle Times reports the principal of First Place Scholars resigned in November. More than half of its board of directors has left. And the Washington State Charter School Commission has identified more than a dozen potential problems the school must fix.
Those problems include not hiring a qualified special-education teacher for the about two-dozen students who need those services. The school also has failed to complete background checks on some nonteaching staff.
The commission, which meets Thursday in Tacoma, is in charge of approving and overseeing most of the state’s charter schools. The commission has approved seven other charter schools, with six scheduled to open in fall 2015. Spokane Public Schools, which also has been approved to authorize charter schools, has approved two more schools scheduled to open in 2015.
