Unauthorized Puyallup school to close. Parents complain of mold, shoddy instruction
A private Puyallup school promised families an education above state standards infused with studies of music and art, but parents have discovered the lead teacher, the school and the building did not meet necessary requirements.
Officials say Puyallup Performing Arts Academy wasn’t approved by the state, the head teacher and owner wasn’t authorized to teach, and the building wasn’t permitted.
Parents are upset, saying their children’s health, safety and education have been put at risk.
“We don’t want this to happen again. We don’t want her to open up somewhere else. She took two years of my kids’ education away from them,” said Jewell Braden, parent of two former students.
The owner and head teacher, Becky Cain, told the The News Tribune she did not believe she needed state approval to operate, but she sent an email to parents Feb. 3 saying the school would close at the end of the month.
“We are shutting down, because we are unable to meet our financial obligations as we are currently operating,” she said in the email.
On Feb. 8, the Washington State Board of Education sent a letter to Cain saying the school was not operating in compliance with state law.
“There is no record of a certification statement submitted by Ms. Cain on behalf of Puyallup Performing Arts Academy. The State Board of Education has not approved Puyallup Performing Arts Academy for the 2021-2022 school year,” the letter said.
Puyallup Performing Arts Academy
Cain previously ran an after-school children’s theater and music program. She expanded in 2016 to include a preschool and K-12 school as the Puyallup Performing Arts Academy, according to the school website.
Parents enrolled in both the theater and school agreed that the early days of their kids’ enrollment were positive, saying that Cain ran a successful after-school program.
“When I found this place, it seemed like a dream come true. It combined so many things I was looking for,” said Annaliese Feld, who had two children enrolled. “I think they are capable of providing amazing experiences. Had she been more focused on that, not focused on building something she was unprepared for and unqualified for, she could have built an amazing theater program.”
Cain is the chair of the city’s Arts and Culture Commission, which serves as an advisory board to the Puyallup City Council. The city declined to comment on Cain’s volunteer position.
The school website has been shut down, but it once described the academy at 107 E. Stewart Ave. as fostering the “artistic and creative side of all children, while at the same time growing and building their skill in all academic content areas.”
Puyallup Performing Arts Academy opened with a goal to “cultivate a sense of community within the school,” “offer personalized instruction so students are challenged at their individual pace” and “meet or exceed State Washington Academic Standards.” Annual tuition was $5,760, according to the website.
Families saw the school as a perfect fit for musical, artistic children.
“It was a godsend. I called my mom in tears, saying I found a music-based education, and I landed a gold mine,” said Katie Vine, parent of three and a school volunteer.
Cain described the school as a one-room schoolhouse.
“This allows students to do ability-appropriate work, as opposed to being tied to grade level work only,” she said in an email to The News Tribune.
At the end of January, 47 students were enrolled in the preschool and school, Cain said.
The Puyallup Performing Arts Academy moved to its location on East Stewart Avenue in May 2020.
“We weren’t aware that the building had structural damage or issues,” parent Jody Akerman said.
That soon began to change.
Staff cited COVID-19 transmission as a reason to not allow parents in the bathroom or the classrooms, but school volunteers took photos to share with parents, and some said they sneaked into the bathroom..
Parents told The News Tribune there was black mold and water leaks in the building.
Allison Edwards said she saw black mold in the bathroom and decided to pull her kids out.
“It’s a health hazard,” she said.
After one parent, Samantha Robinson, pulled her child out of the school last month claiming black mold was growing in the building, she filed a complaint with the Washington State Department of Health.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department confirmed to the The News Tribune that the school was not certified and therefore had not been inspected. On Feb. 3, Cain sent an email to all parents saying the school was shutting down due to recently changed occupancy limits.
There is no reason to believe that the building is unsafe, Cain said in an email to The News Tribune.
“Two spots were discovered to have small amounts of mold. When I learned of the concern, the two areas in question were thoroughly cleaned and painted with mold-killing Zinsser Mold Killing Primer,” she said. “When we were made aware of the situation, we immediately took care of it.”
There are two bathrooms in the building: one with mold that was cleaned and one without, Cain said.
Eva Farrukh said her two children came home from school thirsty and with empty water bottles. Her children told her they had to fill up their water bottles in the bathroom. She said she paid for a water cooler to be used in the school because she was worried about the sanitation of children cupping their hands under the bathroom sink. She said the problem persisted.
“Aside from water in the bathrooms, we also maintain a water cooler for drinking water that is regularly serviced by Mountain Mist,” Cain told the newspaper . “We tell our parents that we do not have drinking fountains and that the students should bring water bottles.”
Parents said kids never came home with homework and felt their children should be further along in educational benchmarks than they were.
“I questioned the curriculum. There was no structure and I wasn’t seeing standardized testing,” Edwards said.
“It was all worksheets,” former volunteer Terri Vilona said.
In Washington, private schools approved by the state are required to “maintain a program that ensures a sufficient basic education for students to meet usual state graduation requirements, and meet reasonable standards for health and safety of private school students.”
Cain maintains that all the students reached or succeeded educational benchmarks.
“Research shows that used together these methods used in conjunction are very effective, and I believe this is the reason that the majority of our students are above grade level,” Cain said to The News Tribune.
Vine and Crystal Christenson were former teacher aides at the school. They volunteered in exchange for tuition for their children.
Some parents said they were willing to overlook red flags because of the coronavirus pandemic. Many said they wanted their children to have in-person learning while public schools taught remotely.
“Parents had very little options during COVID. We felt we were making the most of the options we had at the time,” Vilona said.
“I was just trying to get my child the best education throughout the pandemic,” Christenson said.
No credentials
The state was unaware the school existed.
The Washington State Board of Education said the Puyallup Performing Arts Academy has not been approved to operate. To be approved by the state board, a private school is required to meet minimum requirements for health and safety, total instructional hours, certified teachers, 180-day school year, and instruction designed to meet minimum state graduation requirements.
Cain said she believes that state approval is not required to teach students prior to high school. She began an accreditation process in January 2019, but the pandemic slowed the process. Accreditation is an additional layer to state approval and provided by independent organizations.
“In early March of 2020, we were preparing to schedule the first set of observations. On March 13, 2020 Governor (Jay) Inslee shut down all schools for COVID-19. On March 18, I received word from the accrediting organization that it is not possible to continue on with the process at that time, since there were no longer students on site,” she said in a statement to The News Tribune.
Washington State Board of Education spokesperson Stephanie Davidsmeyer said the approval process was never on hold due to the pandemic and the board never heard from Puyallup Performing Arts Academy.
Cain planned to finish the approval process this year as schools reopened and she received an occupancy permit. She blames the City of Puyallup for the delay in certification.
“The city had requested plans from the architect by July 11, for the permanent certificate of occupancy, indicating to me that we should have no problem resuming the accreditation process in September of 2021,” she said. “The City of Puyallup did not follow through on the agreement.”
The Puyallup Performing Arts Academy started the process for a building permit through the City of Puyallup, but the City of Puyallup told The News Tribune that Cain was running the school without a permit.
“When a business owner decides to occupy a building without going through the proper city permitting and inspection processes, then they are assuming the risks that come with that decision,” city spokesperson Eric Johnson said.
The city requires that a business’ building meets health and safety codes. City staff inspect a building, checking plumbing, mechanical factors like air ventilation, and safety standards.
Last July, the City of Puyallup visited the Puyallup Performing Arts Academy after a complaint regarding occupancy levels. In its first site visit, staff confirmed the school’s occupancy was higher than what code allowed for, Johnson said.
The city said it told her to reduce occupancy last year. Cain was ordered in the initial visit to stop using the space until permits could be issued, Johnson said.
On Sept. 7, the architect submitted a permit application for the building space. City staff later told the business owner there were problems that needed to be addressed before approval, including proper air ventilation, a drinking fountain and more restrooms, according to city documents.
“As with any building application, our staff tries to work with the customer to make sure that questions get answered and problems can be solved,” Johnson said. “However, in this situation, these issues were of great significance and needed to be addressed within the application.”
In December, Cain’s architect told the city the requested work was too costly to fix and requested a certificate of occupancy for the building. The city denied the request.
“As of today, their application is incomplete, not approved, and in our workflow for review,” Johnson said.
Cain also is not a certified as a teacher by the state.
A teacher needs to meet a certain criteria in Washington, including having an education degree and state certification. Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts confirmed Cain graduated in 2003 with a master’s degree in education.
Public records from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction show Cain previously applied for and received a “limited conditional certificate” to teach at the Archdiocese of Seattle.
“From what I see, she has never held a full teacher certificate in Washington and does not currently hold any kind of active teacher certificate,” OSPI spokesperson Katy Payne said in an email.
A conditional certificate is commonly used when a school cannot hire enough certificated educators, Payne said. The certification must be renewed every two years. Cain’s last renewal recorded by the state was in 2005.
At a private school, teachers are not required to have a Washington teaching certificate if the teacher is supervised by someone who has a valid Washington certification, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Cain was the head teacher. She said two staff members held master’s degrees in education and taught and oversaw volunteers when she was unavailable.
“I also have had extensive conversations and planning with any volunteers over the content being covered,” Cain said. “Volunteers correct paperwork after I had introduced the concept utilizing the arts.”
Two volunteer parents told The News Tribune they were asked to do more than expected. Neither has a teaching degree or certification. After teaching her own kindergartener how to read, Vine said she was asked to teach the kindergarten class to read.
“I was so overwhelmed,” Vine said.
Christenson said she was in charge of second grade through fourth grade students, a class of about 16.
“(Cain) kept saying it’s COVID, we just have to get through this year, we just have to get through this year, they’re all going to be OK. They’re better than being taught at home, they’re going to be learning so much more,” Christenson said. “I knew them personally. I wanted to protect them as much as possible.”
Disbelief, guilt and anger
Several parents spoke to The News Tribune about their children’s time at Puyallup Performing Arts Academy and shared their disbelief over the school’s lack of certification.
“When you go to the doctor, and the front desk isn’t the nicest, you don’t think to ask the doctor for their license,” Braden said. “It’s downtown. They have signs that say school. We never thought we would need to ask for the license.”
Parents told The News Tribune that now that their children have enrolled in public schools, many have tested below their grade standards.
“To be perfectly honest, I feel really, really guilty,” Feld said.
Some say they have seen a change in their children.
“I’m angry with the situation. I just want the assurance that she can never do what she has done to us,” Robinson said. “He has been there (in a public school) for a week . He has been loving it so much more. It makes me feel terrible as a parent.”
Parents have expressed anger over Cain’s decision to not refund February tuition, especially since her email to parents said she was informed on Jan. 26 that circumstances surrounding occupancy had changed.
“It was pretty deceptive of her to take our money knowing they’re closing,” Akerman said.
Cain said parents were aware of the school’s no-refund policy, and families are welcome to join the school for the rest of February.
Officials are starting investigations. The Puyallup Police Department received a complaint last week and began reviewing the matter, Captain Ryan Portmann said.
“We are looking into this and will determine next steps,” he said.
If the state education board continues to receive complaints, it will open an investigation, Davidsmeyer said. So far, no investigation has been opened into the school.
“If we get continual complaints, the process could involve the Department of Children, Youth, and Families or Labor and Industries from the business aspect,” Davidsmeyer said.
The City of Puyallup received a complaint this month regarding water leaks and fungal growth in the building.
“Our building division staff has begun an investigation into these claims,” Johnson said.
The Washington State Board of Education recognizes that it can be challenging for parents and guardians to do research but recommends asking a school if it is approved to operate by the state and about additional accreditation that ensures additional safeguards. The state keeps a list of approved private schools at sbe.wa.gov/privateschools.
This story was originally published February 19, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
