Genesis School in Kansas City, despite public outpourings of support from its parents and staff, is back in the hard place it was two years ago: imperiled by its sponsor that wants the school to close.

In a 5-to-1 vote, with one abstention, the Missouri Charter Public School Commission Monday voted in favor of not renewing Genesis’ charter, meaning the school’s contract with the commission will end June 30, effectively forcing the school to close.

Only Antoine Lee — the sole Kansas City resident on the charter commission — voted against closing the school. The majority of the panel followed the recommendation of the charter commission executive director, Robbyn Wahby, that the contract end.

Wahby, speaking during the online meeting of the commission, acknowledged that closing a school causes disruption to families and the community, “but it is better to close a school,” she said, than allow a school to provide “substandard education.”

The vote came as a disappointment to Genesis’ leadership and staff, plus the many parents and supporters who have been urging the commission to renew its contract.

The Genesis school board will once again be looking into legal options as well as continuing to seek another sponsor that could contract with the school to keep it open, Genesis Executive Director Kevin Foster said.

The school may be returning to court less than two years after Genesis successfully challenged a move by the charter commission and the Missouri state school board to revoke its charter in mid-contract. A judge in June 2023 ruled in favor of Genesis, saying the state’s action was “unlawful and arbitrary.”

The school, in a written statement, expressed dismay to be back in danger of closing.

“For the second time in three years, Commissioners were determined to eliminate a successful charter school choice from Kansas City’s east side,” the statement read. “After observing the Commission’s public meeting, we still don’t know why the Commissioners voted to eliminate Genesis as a public-school choice for our parents.”

“Our school and families deserve a fair and transparent process that is grounded in facts, timely, and objective,” the statement continued. “Genesis achieved tremendous growth in student achievement this year and continued a trend of programmatic improvement. We only sought an opportunity to work with the Commission to continue that improvement in the coming years.”

Before the commission voted, Wahby summarized some of her concerns with Genesis, saying student performance was not meeting goals and that the school “lacks an aggressive plan” to make sustainable improvement.

A public charter school in Missouri, under statute, is not regulated by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education but must be overseen by a state-approved sponsor. For many years Genesis had been sponsored by the University of Missouri-Kansas City, but UMKC along with several other university sponsors in recent years discontinued charter school programs.

The Missouri Charter Public School Commission is now the sponsor for nearly all of the 20 charters in Kansas City. Genesis’ only potential sponsor options other than the commission are the Kansas City Public Schools and St. Louis University.

A crowd of parents and community supporters came out for previous public hearings with the commission, coming to urge support of their school. Monday’s commission meeting, when the renewal decision was made, was a virtual meeting.

Alison Hart, who has children at Genesis in the fifth and seventh grade, watched the meeting. She told KSHB Channel 41 in Kansas City that the commission should be working to help the school continue to serve its community.

"Instead of closing Genesis,” she said, “some more communities should come together and help. It takes a community to raise a child."

Wahby’s recommendation to close the school — and the vote of the majority of commissioners for closure — was a bitter use of the commission’s power and oversight, Foster said.

“It’s not right that just because somebody thinks they can, that you’re going to eliminate their choice of school,” Foster told FOX4 in Kansas City. “It is indisputable that our growth numbers are some of the highest in the state. Kids come here and they learn at a rate faster than comparatively they would learn at other schools.”

At a public hearing in December, a crowd of supporters met with the commission and Foster thought the school made a strong case for renewal.

The latest state Annual Performance Report (APR) showed Genesis earning 72.7% of the possible report card points — a rise of more than 10 percentage points from 2023.

Genesis saw stronger growth in test performance, earning 63.8% of the points possible compared to 44% in 2023. Meanwhile, Genesis continued to score high in the rate of improvement among its students — a measure that takes into account students who come into the school behind in grade level and have to gain ground with their peers. Genesis earned 86.6% of the possible points for student improvement.

According to Genesis, the state APR data show that Genesis ranked 1st in growth, 2nd in improvement and 10th in overall academic performance among Kansas City’s 20 charter schools.

But Wahby and the majority of the commission were unmoved.

“It’s really just frustrating (not) to know or not to have a better understanding of what would ‘good enough’ look like,” Foster said to FOX4.