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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

State’s first charter school on probation

Seattle’s First Place Scholars hasn’t met requirements

Donna Gordon Blankinship Associated Press

OLYMPIA – Washington’s first charter school has been placed on probation for not meeting all the requirements of its charter.

The Washington State Charter School Commission informed First Place Scholars in Seattle of a list of requirements it must fulfill. 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 told school leaders they will be making frequent visits to First Place to make sure they are in compliance.

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.

Spokane Public Schools, which can authorize charter schools, has approved two more schools scheduled to open in 2015.

Commission executive director Joshua Halsey said at a meeting Thursday that the decision to put First Place on probation is step three in the commission’s due process procedure.

The school will remain on probation until it fulfills all the requirements of the commission’s corrective action plan, which will continue at least until the first month of the next school year.

“I’m hopeful that First Place will fulfill their obligations,” Halsey said, after reporting on a meeting with school leaders earlier in the week.

Halsey described the action plan as being focused on moving forward.

First Place was the first charter to open in Washington in part because it wasn’t starting from scratch. It had long been a private elementary school, founded initially to serve homeless students.

Becoming a charter is helping it expand from about 45 students to up to 100 children, who are dealing with all kinds of issues, not just homelessness.