The Des Moines Independent Community School District will hold a series of informational meetings for families of seventh- and eighth-grade students interested in attending the new Charter School. The first meeting will be held Oct. 18, 7 p.m. at Hiatt Middle School. The Charter School is scheduled to open Jan. 18 in the same building as the Pace Juvenile Center, 620 Eighth St. Any students in those grades can apply for a spot. The district will select 50 seventh-graders and 50 eighth-graders, based on a weighted set of indicators such as poor grades, low test scores and participation in free and reduced-cost lunch plans. “We want to make sure we target the right students – and those are the students most likely to fail” without additional help, said Kittie Weston-Knauer, who was hired by the Des Moines School Board to plan the Charter School.