That’s how my former buddy jumpmaster would do it. Absolutely no one would jump the first time other than on a static line, so he could watch them. That included a couple guys who had military jump training but understood he needed to personally evaluate how they handled themselves. Just common sense and risk management.
I just went back and read the article (I know, I know, it’s not the FR Way) and there was something in there about her doing her ground training a couple of days before August 22, so there’s a good chance that the fatal jump was not her very first. It’s possible that a static line was required for a first jump, but that was not made clear in the story.