SEATTLE — Washington’s first charter school may have a new issue to deal with.
The director of the State Charter School Commission said at a commission meeting Wednesday that during a review of the Seattle school’s efforts to improve its operation he discovered the school’s board includes two people who are related to each other.
State law doesn’t prohibit individuals who are related from serving on the same board, but it isn’t a best practice, said commission executive director Joshua Halsey.
He believes the commission should consider adopting a policy on the issue and he will be drafting a proposal.
The related members of First Place Scholars’ board are Dawn Mason, the board president, and Anisa Mason. The mother and daughter are serving two-year terms that end in August 2016. A request for comment from Dawn Mason was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Their relationship was pointed out to the commission by the school and Halsey said they do not want to jump to any conclusions about First Place being intentionally nefarious.
“We don’t want to hang them out to dry. This may have been an oversight,” Halsey said. “I’ll be curious to hear what they say.”
Halsey also reported First Place Scholars is making progress toward fixing problems the board previously identified at the Seattle school. The school was placed on probation in December for not meeting all the requirements of its charter.
Problems identified at the school included not keeping the commission informed of school board actions, not properly providing special education and not giving proof that every staff member had completed a criminal background check.
Commission staff will be attending school board meetings and making frequent visits to First Place to make sure they are in compliance.
The commission has hired someone to work with the school to make sure children with disabilities are getting the services they need, Halsey said on Wednesday.
The commission is in charge of approving and overseeing most of the state’s charter schools. It has approved seven other charter schools, with six scheduled to open in fall 2015.
