KANSAS CITY, — A Missouri circuit judge ruled that the Missouri Charter Public School Commission's decision to revoke Genesis School's charter in December was unlawful, and reinstated the its charter Thursday.
Judge S. Cotton Walker of the 19th Judicial Circuit ruled in favor of the charter school after determining that the decision to revoke the charter from both the commission and the Missouri Board of Education was illegal.
In December, the commission informed Genesis School it intended to revoke its charter, with academic under-performance cited as a main driving factor being the decision.
"We do not believe the problem is with the students who attend GSI," the commission wrote in a letter at the time. "The school’s poor academic performance and student attrition have occurred while similar schools are delivering better results for similar students."
The Missouri Board of Education voted unanimously to revoke the charter school back in April at a meeting.
However, the judge ruled that the decision to close it based on the comparison of the school's annual performance to the Kansas City School District's was unlawful, and that the commission breached it's contract with the school.
Genesis' Executive Director Kevin Foster said this was the news they were hoping for.
"Someone didn't get to come in and unplug what multiple people have built over years and years," Foster said.
Foster admitted to KSHB 41 last year, the school was performing below the state level, but they were in the top 20 to 50% for growth the last seven years.
"We all have work to do to close that gap," Foster said.
Parents at the school expressed their concerns with the decision with KSHB 41 News back in January, saying the small classrooms and family-like atmosphere at the 47-year-old school, which initially started as a VISTA program, provided their children the support they needed.
“The school really works with kids," said Charles Kenneth Star II, a parent of a Genesis School student. "If they got some kind of problem, they don’t try to tease ‘em or put ‘em down or whatever. They sit them down and work with them. I saw this with my own eyes.”
Genesis School said they are committed to improving this upcoming school year and hopefully they have a school full of teachers and staff back to get it done.
They don't know what enrollment will look like until fall, but they have been getting a lot of calls from families, according to Foster.
Some teachers did leave at the end of last school year to make sure they had somewhere to teach so they will also have openings to fill.
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