River Valley Charter School
Minutes
Development Committee Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday September 17, 2025 at 6:00 PM
River Valley Charter School welcomes your participation at Board meetings. The purpose of a public meeting of the Board of Trustees (“Board”) is to conduct the affairs of the organization in public. Your participation assures us of continuing community interest in our school and assists the Board in making the best decisions for our school. To assist you in the ease of speaking/participating in our meetings, guidelines are provided at the bottom of this agenda. All materials for all board and committee meetings, are available on our Board on track public portal found at rivervalleycharter.org.
Committee Members Present
C. Getz, E. Rankin, K. Kuse, M. Connerton, M. Curcio, T. Murdy
Committee Members Absent
E. Bradley, J. Leslie
I. Opening Items
A.
Call the Meeting to Order
B.
Record Attendance
C.
Approve Minutes
II. Development at RVCS
A.
Committee Roles and Responsibilities
B.
Fall 2025
Committee members discussed plans for fall 2025. These include a parent celebratory and community building event on Thursday, September 25 at The Birdhouse in Amesbury to kick off the school year. Donations of items from parents, board members and the community have substantially alleviated costs of this event. As a result, it will serve as a modest fundraising effort through ticket sales and a raffle featuring items donated by community members and businesses. The committee discussed additional sources of possible donations as well as a list of current needs for the event. Board members and committee members were invited to participate in any way that works for them.
E. Rankin shared plans for the 2025-2026 Annual Appeal. The annual appeal roll out is planned for mid-October. This will include:
- Confirming an annual appeal chair/s.
- Gathering and orienting Class Captains, sharing volunteer tasks (a repeat of the 2024-2025 effort).
- A return mail print piece.
- Follow-up communication by class captains to maintain relationships with classroom families.
Former Class Captain, M. Connerton offered to share ways to improve the process for this year's volunteers. There is additional work needed to clearly communicate and refine goals of Class Captains.
The status of the 2025-26 Development Plan was addressed and determined that E. Rankin would create a draft development plan for the committee to review/edit and K. Kuse to refine. A meeting with K. Kuse was made to pin down details of the annual appeal and plan.
Discussion about how to best create and share a straightforward, no-fuss directory of parent/community professional talents concluded with T. Merrill offering to include a Google sheet in future communication that she is planning. She will send an email that includes all PA events for the year and provide an opportunity to include their business and skills in a simple directory to benefit the entire community.
Fundraising options for the playground were discussed. K. Kuse will pursue the possibility of bricks/building blocks/boards or other named, personalized sponsorship options that could be integral to the new grounds/playground design. Karen can explore this option with contractors next week.
Class Captain refine goals and communication with Class captains
Donor Perfect will eventually help track relationships and
III. Community Connections
A.
PAL events and Director Coffee
- PA meeting on October 9.
- Committee Members were encouraged to attend the Community Visit to NYS site on Low Street.
- Coffee with Director - this is in progress.
ER distributed roles and responsibilities to committee members - available on the school's website - to remind committee members about our directives and mission.