No one has interviewed former charter school principal Ryan Mandado or called his former employer, and he left his last job amid questions about his leadership. Nevertheless, he could soon have a hand in deciding which charter schools open and close in Hawaiʻi.
Mandado is one of three individuals who were recommended last week to fill three vacancies on the State Public Charter School Commission. His candidacy has attracted scrutiny and is raising questions about the process through which members are selected to a body responsible for overseeing 40 schools.
In an unusual move, one current and one former leader of Mandado’s former school, DreamHouse ʻEwa Beach, spoke out against his nomination at a Board of Education meeting last Thursday, arguing that he failed to address the campus’s academic and financial needs while running the school.
“I shudder at the thought that somebody who has exercised such poor judgment in leading a school, whether financially, operationally or academically, would then be in a position to either authorize a new charter school or make decisions on whether a charter school has their charter renewed or not,” former governing board member Richard Seder said in an interview…