Dr. Miles requested the Board add a discussion item of "NCSC26 Conference" in the Executive Director's Report section.

Ms. Rios introduced herself, thanked the public, and provided an overview of the public
comment process and guidelines.  Ms. Rios then invited public comment; no comment
was made.

Mrs. Rios presented the Consent Agenda and asked the Board if any member wanted to
remove any item from the Consent Agenda in order to further discuss and/or solely vote
on that item; no member did.

Dr. Miles previewed the school events coming up:  Skate Party (Jan 29), PBL Showcase (Jan 30), and First Friday (Feb 6).  

Dr. Miles reminded the Board that they approved the 2025-2026 Special Education Compliance Plan at the August 2025 meeting.  However, DESE informed the school that DESE itself approved their plan on September 1, 2025, so they are requiring schools to have Board approval after this date; therefore, the Board needs to re-approve.  Like always, she affirms and recommends the Board adopt compliance with the regular state plan.

Dr. Miles shared an overview of the proposed policy and said that the school already has protections around employee hairstyles; this policy now extends those protections to students.

Dr. Miles reported that she sent the proposed renewal charter goals to MCPSC; Ms. McGeehon (Interim ED) provided brief feedback in that she encouraged the Board to remove the Financial Sustainability goal and also suggested the Attendance Goal should be a Board goal, not a Contract/Charter goal.  

Otherwise, Dr. Miles affirmed she has the narrative sections pending to submit based on the school's mission/vision rebranding.

Mrs. DeWilde presented the proposed Renewal Goals, which include:

1. Academic Goal 1:  MAP Performance Index Growth
2. Academic Goal 2:  NWEA MAP Growth
3. Academic Goal 3:  Subgroup MAP Performance Index Growth
4. Attendance Goal:  Student Attendance & Chronic Absenteeism Reduction
5. Family & Caregiver Engagement Goal:  Student-Led Conferences
6. Financial Sustainability:  Cash Reserve

She reiterated the proposal to remove the Financial Sustainability goal.

Mrs. DeWilde asked for discussion on removing or modifying the Student Attendance goal.

Dr. Miles also affirmed that the proposed Academic Goals align with MSIP-6 goals, so they should work in tandem.

Dr. Miles reported that Magnetize (school rebrand consultant) presented a preliminary mission/vision to the rebranding task force.  She felt they did a fantastic job holding focus groups and capturing the spirit and heartbeat of the school.  She also shared they have a preliminary plan to share name options in early February.  

She plans to share more detailed information with the Board at the February meeting.

Dr. Miles reported that she met with Mr. Devine (MCPSA) and he does not see issues with the school continuing to affiliate with DCSC and publicly align as "Diverse by Design."

Mrs. Butler reported that the school's cash outlook improved by $312k since last month, driven by:
 

• +$293k: Increased State Basic Formula due to higher FRL count.
• +$100K: Increased grant funding.
• -($53k): Reduced Federal Food claim revenue based on trends.▪

This improvement now projects as a year-end cash position of $1.7m (71 days of cash on hand).  

She also noted that expenses have shifted slightly to account for third-party billing for student support.  Additionally, the budget process for the upcoming fiscal year is officially underway.

Turning to the monthly financials, Mrs. Butler presented Page 13’s Balance Sheet, showing a current Cash Balance of over $2.5m, and a projected year-end balance of over $1.7m.

She presented Page 11’s Income Statement, highlighting:
 

• Year-to-date revenue of over $4.3m, against a budget of $3.9m.
• Year-to-date expenses of $3.6m, against a budget of $4.2m.
• Net Income of $467k, against a budget of (-$340k).
• Forecasted year-end revenue of $8.69m, against a budget of $8.58m.
• Forecasted year-end expenses of $8.74m, against a budget of $8.49m.
• Forecasted year-end Net Income of (-$52k) against a budget of $92k.
• A projected 71 days of cash on hand position.

Lastly, Mrs. Butler stated that the Finance Committee did not note anything as out of
order on the Check Register or Accounts Payable.

Mrs. Lineberry reported the team has continued to welcome new students for this year.

Re-Enrollment will open next Thursday for all current PK-7th graders and go through the end of February for guaranteed seats; school staff will use those numbers to see how many open seats the school will have available for the new student lottery.

Current Operation Breakthrough elementary students will be given information to either re-enroll with Citizens or enroll through the new partnership LEA school.  This may influence retention numbers.  

She gave an overview of planned re-enrollment communication and retention efforts (email/texts, flyers, raffle, personal outreaches, calls, and conference check-ins).  Additionally, this year, the school will be requiring a new proof of residency, which may also impact the school's retention percentage.  

Mrs. Lineberry gave an overview of the current applications (which are lower than usual/expected), but also presented and compared that to overall SchoolAppKC applications received, and she noted this is also their lowest number of applications received year-to-date.  

She presented overall recruitment efforts, noting that efforts will be increased this year (in response to the low rate so far, but also for the increased seats due to the expansion project).  There is a USPS mailer going out to 12,500 families this week, she is sending personal notecards to "warm leads," planning for a strong increase in social media advertising, and will host School Saturday next weekend.

Ms. Rios and Mr. MacDonald both commended Mrs. Lineberry for her work and for her presentation.  

Dr. Miles confirmed that the National Charter School Conference (NCSC26) will be held June 24-26th in New Orleans.  She highly encouraged the Board to attend and noted there is a Board track for presentations and networking.  She asked the Board to let her know if they would like to attend.  

Ms. Rios stated that, pursuant to § 610.021(1) RSMo, the Board will enter into closed
session to discuss matters related to Legal Discussion.

Ms. Rios invited Dr. Miles and Mr. Brennan (Citizens staff) as well as Mr. Devine (MCPSA) to Closed Session.

Ms. Rios welcomed members of the public back into Open Session and reported that
discussion related to (1) Legal Discussion. There were no actions taken that require
reporting.