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. 

The state education board is responsible for vetting and selecting applicants to serve on the commission, which has the power to open new charter schools and close failing ones. But members of the education board did not interview Mandado or reach out to his former employer – DreamHouse’s governing board – before recommending him to serve on the charter school commission. Had they done so, they may have gotten an earful. 

DreamHouse’s governing board unanimously voted last spring not to renew Mandado’s contract as head of school after he failed to address repeated concerns about the school’s finances and ability to pay off a $26 million campus building, Seder said. Mandado has refuted these claims, arguing that he left DreamHouse on good terms when his position was cut during leadership restructuring.

The debate around Mandado’s nomination highlights potential gaps in how the state education board vets candidates to serve on the charter school commission. Under current procedures, an investigative committee of the board reviews the applications of prospective commissioners before making recommendations to the board as a whole. 

“I don’t really think it’s a high priority for them,” said John Thatcher, a charter school advocate and former principal. The education board lacks the staff needed to thoroughly vet candidates and may face difficulties in finding quality candidates to fill positions, he said.

In total, six applicants applied for three positions this year. Along with Mandado, the committee is recommending that Brandon Bunag and Lehua Veincent, both current commissioners, continue to serve on the charter school commission for another three years. The new terms start in July.

The board won’t vote on the nominees until its June 18 meeting. At the meeting, board members can publicly question the finalists and discuss the nominations. 

The board is scheduled to vote on the nominees the same day. 

Conflicting Stories

In his application for the charter commission, Mandado highlighted his experience helping to start DreamHouse in 2019 and managing the school’s $7 million budget. Most recently, he said, he oversaw a major construction project that allowed the school to move into a new building for its high school students. 

“I am fully prepared to engage constructively with fellow members and hold our body to the highest ethical standards of transparency and fairness,” Mandado said in his self-nomination letter to the board. 

But members of DreamHouse’s governing board said Mandado’s time at the school was marked by financial uncertainty and poor leadership. 

Last year, DreamHouse’s governing board began questioning if the school was capable of paying off its $26 million building, chair Shaylan Arneho said. Despite repeated requests from the governing board, Mandado failed to produce a plan that showed the school was on stable financial footing and could increase its student enrollment, which determines how much DreamHouse receives in state funds.

“I need somebody who is going to do the business and focus on the academics, and Ryan just fell short of doing both,” she said. The governing board ultimately intervened with its own initiatives to improve the school’s academics and put DreamHouse on track to pay off its high school center, she said. 

By last spring, the governing board unanimously voted not to renew Mandado’s contract as head of school, Arneho said. When the board offered him a smaller administrative position with lesser pay, he declined the offer. 

The same day Mandado said he planned to leave DreamHouse, he purchased a flight to Florida and registered for a charter school conference in Orlando using school funds, Seder said. The $2,265 trip ran from the end of June to early July – a few days after Mandado ended his contract with DreamHouse. He later paid the school back for his travel expenses.

Mandado also approved a July professional development trip to Indonesia for another administrator who ended her employment with DreamHouse at the end of June, Seder said. The board intervened before the employee went on the trip, he said, but some school funds went toward her travel expenses. 

The employee later paid back the money used to cover her international travel. 

“Every layer of the onion as we kept peeling it just got worse and worse and worse,” Seder said, adding the governing board reached out to the Department of the Attorney General to flag the travel expenses last summer. 

Mandado denied the claims from governing board members. While he left DreamHouse at the end of last school year, he said, it was only because the board eliminated his position as chief education officer during leadership reorganizations and offered him another job with lower pay. 

He did not receive negative evaluations as head of school, Mandado said, and worked with the board to improve student achievement and strengthen DreamHouse’s financial standing during his tenure. He was also realistic about the DreamHouse’s finances, he said, including how much it could grow its enrollment in the next few years to increase how much it received in state money.  

Although he initially covered the trip to Florida using school funds, Mandado said he believed at the time that he would continue to work with DreamHouse through the end of the summer.

“I felt like I left on good terms,” Mandado said. “I have a good relationship with people on the board. They helped me start the school.”

Mandado also received support from educational advocacy groups and school leaders during last Thursday’s meeting. In a letter to the state education board, the Hawaiʻi Public Charter Schools Network argued Mandado’s firsthand experience establishing a new charter school and grappling with the complexities of charter school management made him a good fit for the commission. 

“Ryan’s professional trajectory demonstrates a rare balance of high-level leadership within the charter sector and foundational experience within the DOE,” the network said in its written testimony to the education board. 

More Vetting Needed?

Despite Mandado’s frequent mention of DreamHouse in his nomination letter, the education board didn’t call the school’s oversight body, which served as his employer while he was head of school.  

Mandado said no one from the education board interviewed him before recommending him as a commissioner. While he put former DreamHouse employees as his references, Mandado said he doesn’t know if the education board reached out to them. 

It’s surprising the education board’s investigative committee wouldn’t reach out to Mandado during the vetting process, said Catherine Payne, a former educator who previously served on the charter school commission and state education board. The committee should want to develop a strong understanding of candidates’ qualifications, she said, while also making sure applicants know the demands of the volunteer position. 

Members of the board’s investigative committee did not respond to requests for comment. 

Seder said he would prefer prospective commissioners to receive Senate confirmation hearings, similar to the process of selecting members of the education board or the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents. The Senate confirmation hearings can provide more transparency, he said. 

But some long-time observers of the charter school system said they prefer the current system, which shields the commission from political pressures. Selecting commissioners requires familiarity with charter schools and a unified vision for the public education system, Thatcher said. If appointments fell to lawmakers, Thatcher said, the process could become overly politicized and subject to changing legislative priorities. 

“I’d hate to see the people that are on the commissions become these ping pongs,” he said, “people that have to coddle politicians.” Thatcher also serves on the Hawaiʻi Public Charter Schools Network, which submitted testimony in support of Mandado before Thursday’s meeting. 

Payne agreed. Requiring nominees to go before the Senate Education Committee could discourage people from serving on the commission, she said, and members of the education board may have a better understanding of charter schools. 

“I just think it needs to be done with careful, thorough vetting,” Payne said. “That’s really, really important.” 

Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.