Keys School board members this week approved another charter school application, but not before they vowed to look harder at future applications because of a recent shakeup at a Key West charter high school.</p><p>The Monroe County School Board on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to San Diego, Calif.-based MYcro School of Integrated Academics and Technology to open a campus in Key West. There are 15 MYcro schools nationwide. The school is designed for high school dropouts who want a second chance at a diploma, said Linda Dawson, the company's chief executive officer said. </p><p>Board member Robin Smith-Martin was the only one of his colleagues to vote against the application. He said he was bothered that the school did not yet have a location for its campus. But Dawson said she wanted to make sure she had the school district's approval to open before seeking a building because landlords are often hesitant to rent space to a company without a contract. </p><p>Smith-Martin also said he would have preferred MYcro School to have hired a principal before seeking approval, but again, Dawson said it would be difficult to recruit people for a school that was not yet approved. </p><p>Dawson said after the meeting that she is looking for a 10,000 square-foot building. The school will probably start out with about 50 to 60 students and cap out at no more than 250 students, she said.</p><p>The school would hire one teacher for every 20 students, Dawson said. </p><p>Since the first MYcro school opened in 1998, about 11,000 students have graduated, Dawson said. She also said that more of the graduates are attending college. Within two years of graduation, an average of 35 percent of MYcro School alumni are now going to college, she said. </p><p>The school offers flexible schedules because many of its students work and are parents. </p><p>Charter schools are funded by the public school district but are run by private companies. Six of the 17 schools in the Keys school district are charter schools. </p><p>One of the newer schools, Key West Collegiate School, was the subject of controversy recently when its principal, Debra Remsen, resigned after the school's board of directors questioned her credentials and found she was not state certified to work as a principal, nor was there any indication in her personnel file that she ever worked as a teacher in the past. </p><p>A social studies teacher, Mark Peterson resigned his post on Oct. 7 in protest to the board members pressuring Remsen. He emailed parents and the school's 45 students that he felt the board members were abusing their "newly discovered sense of power. </p><p>School district Superintendent Jesus Jara said the charter school's board hired a new principal this week from Connecticut. But the situation did cause a disruption in the high school. Jara said the school's administration "wants to delay the marking period because of the turmoil."</p><p>The matter prompted school board members to ask Jara to develop clearer guidelines and standards for starting a charter school.</p><p>"I think what happened with the Key West school is someone just decided to start a school," Dick said.