A Baltimore County charter school struggled to open. The director’s past may end it for good.

Baltimore County’s school board is reconsidering the future of Puzzle Pieces Learning Academy Public Charter School after learning about Executive Director Chizarra Dashiell’s criminal, financial and professional past.

For the second time this year, board members will consider revoking Puzzle Pieces’ charter, the agreement that would allow the school to open next year. As a charter school in the Baltimore County public school system, Puzzle Pieces would be privately operated but publicly funded, and it would focus on students’ mental health and social-emotional learning.

Baltimore County Board of Education member Pete Fitzpatrick called for the board to consider parting ways with the school earlier this month after The Baltimore Sun reported on Dashiell’s legal history.

Court records show Dashiell, 48, pleaded guilty to driving or attempting to drive while under the influence in 2015; failure to remain at the scene of an accident involving bodily injury and driving an uninsured vehicle in 2012; and driving on a revoked license in 2011.

Between 2004 and 2013, Dashiell filed for bankruptcy three times. She was also in and out of court over disputes with apartment building management companies in 2002, 2004, 2014 and 2022.

Last year, she was ordered to pay more than $37,300 to an auto loan company that accused her of failing to make monthly payments on a vehicle.

Dashiell referred questions from The Banner about her legal history to an email address for Puzzle Pieces’ board. The person who responded declined to share their name; the organization does not list board members on its website.

Dashiell’s father, Robert Dashiell, who served on the Baltimore County school board in the 1990s and is now Puzzle Pieces’ attorney, said Puzzle Pieces recently added new board members, but he does not know who they are. Chizarra Dashiell did not answer questions about who serves on her board.

The email from the board’s address said financial matters are private affairs and separate from the school’s operations. Her bankruptcy filings stem from a “continuous underlying legal proceeding” and not “separate financial failures,” email said, the bankruptcies were resolved.

Fitzpatrick said in an interview that he noticed a pattern as Chizarra Dashiell’s past came to light. Speaking for himself and not on behalf of the board, he said Chizarra Dashiell was not forthcoming about her legal history when asked by the school system while applying for a charter agreement, nor was she when applying for a Maryland therapy license a decade ago.

Two different licensing boards disciplined Chizarra Dashiell for dishonesty.

In 2017, her occupational therapy assistant license was revoked by the Maryland Board of Occupational Therapy Practice for charges including “fraudulently or deceptively” obtaining a license and committing “any act of gross negligence, incompetence, or misconduct in the practice of occupational therapy,” board documents stated.

The charges came after a complaint the Maryland board received two years prior from a licensed occupational therapist in Washington, D.C., who said that Chizarra Dashiell worked in D.C. without a license and lied about it.

D.C.’s board issued a “Notice of Intent to Deny” to her pending application for an occupational therapist assistant license in December 2014, charging documents stated.

When she applied for a Maryland license in 2015, she answered “no” to a question asking if there are any outstanding complaints, investigations or charges pending against her in the last year in any jurisdiction, according to the licensure board.

Fitzpatrick, the Baltimore County school board member, said it’s part of the board’s job to “protect the public’s interest” and consider revoking Puzzle Piece’s charter in light of the executive director’s past. Baltimore County Board of Education Chair Jane Lichter did not respond to an interview request.

An email from the Puzzle Pieces board address stated that background and credential reviews are required for all executive leaders and that Chizarra Dashiell is fully qualified to serve as executive director.

“The board maintains absolute confidence in her leadership, vision, and commitment to our students,” the email stated.

No charges from Chizarra Dashiell’s past warrant removal, nor were there any violations to the charter agreement, the email said.

Asked why Chizarra Dashiell didn’t receive a background check, Gboyinde Onijala, spokesperson for the school district, said in an email that the background checks for all Puzzle Pieces staff would’ve occurred once the school’s staffing process began.

Chizarra Dashiell said last week that she has not been told that the school system is reconsidering her charter agreement.

“PPLA PCS has not received formal notice identifying allegations, so we are not in a position to comment or speculate,” she wrote in an email. “We remain focused on the students, families, community partners, and the continued development of Puzzle Pieces, while also welcoming our new board members.”

If the Baltimore County Board of Education does revoke Puzzle Pieces’ charter agreement, it wouldn’t necessarily mean the end of the school. District policy states that school system officials must provide the school with a reason its charter was revoked and instructions to correct the issue within a certain timeframe.

School district officials previously asked the board to revoke Puzzle Pieces’ charter agreement in June. They learned the organization had been evicted from what would have been its school building in Catonsville on June 3, according to Jennifer Mullenax, the district’s chief academic officer.

She said Puzzle Pieces failed to pay rent four times between November 2025 and April 2026, and the school system was not informed, which violated the charter agreement.

Instead of taking away the charter, the board delayed the school’s opening. It was initially slated to open this fall but was pushed back to next school year.

Robert Dashiell said one way to save the school is for his daughter to step down.

“One of the unfortunate things that happens when people, ‘satisfied their debt to society,’ no matter how many years in the past it may have been, it’s really not the end of it,” said Robert Dashiell. He said he started representing Puzzle Pieces when the organization was evicted from its initial location.

He called Puzzle Pieces one “hell of a program,” and said that his daughter, who’s been committed to kids her whole adult life, “worked her butt off” to create it. It’d be the kids who suffered the greatest consequences if the board took the school away, he said.

Robert Dashiell said last week that he told his daughter to resign or disassociate from Puzzle Pieces. It’d be “a very hard pill for her to swallow,” but she has to think about what’s best for the school, he said.

“She’s mulling over that,” he said.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.