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River Valley Charter School

Minutes

Executive Committee Committee Meeting

Date and Time

Wednesday February 4, 2026 at 7:00 PM

Location

River Valley Charter School

Middle School Great Room

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. Whitford, D. Herrera, J. Nickerson, T. Murdy

Committee Members Absent

None

Guests Present

K. Kuse

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

D. Herrera called a meeting of the Executive Committee Committee of River Valley Charter School to order on Wednesday Feb 4, 2026 at 7:09 PM.

C.

Approve Minutes

C. Whitford made a motion to approve the minutes from Executive Committee Committee Meeting on 01-07-26.
T. Murdy seconded the motion.

No discussion

The committee VOTED to approve the motion.

II. Director Update

A.

Director Update

  • DESE Accountability Visit – Deliverables, Owners, Timeline (15 min)
    • All actions in master list are due in to Karen for incorporation by 2/11
      • Tanya - Board Self-Evaluation
      • Tanya - School Leader Evaluation
      • Tanya - Succession Plan
  • Staffing, Postings & Interim Leadership Structure (10 min)
    • Laney not coming back to school next year 
      • Offered to sub science areas as needed
      • Josh will stay on as the engineering teacher
    • Working through Jane's duties while out
      • Second interview with individual
  • HR Company & Next Steps (5 min)
    • Reached out to BlueLion a few weeks ago
      • Unclear as to whether we qualify for the grant for Human Power Soutions to come
        • Discuss different models with HPS to move forward even if dollars don't through
        • Regardless funding would only cover Phase 3 work
        • Karen does not require board approval to move ahead
          • ACTION - add threshold for approval in the future
      • Asked for help in writing a job description for an in-house HR position
        • Is there a potential to create a role that includes HR+
    • Staff Development and Training
      • Asked BL to come on site to have 1:1s as well as time in meetings with teachers - targeting Wednesday 3-11 for half day
        • Targeting coming in on Thursdays for the foreseeable future 
          • Full day to start then half days for a few weeks
      • Potential for them to do trainings - important to do in-person as greater value for inclusion and support:
        • Start with Annual Harassment
  • Tier Focus Monitoring & English Language Learner (ELL) Policy Status – Summary Only (4 min)
    • RVCS under six-year audit review
      • One issue is that we do not have policies for English Language Learners 
        • Colin taking point on addressing the audit
        • Karen working to update the policies for ELL
      • Support has been good from DESE and Hill View Charter has been a good resource as they are farther along in this process
      • Morgan is now trained to do ELL testing
  • Quick Operational Updates (Lightning Round) (3 min)
    • Easement and Grounds - 4th mock up of easement received yesterday
    • What's left on current phase:
      • Wetland clean up
      • Culvert
      • Underdrains
      • Timber Edging
      • Stone Dust Paving
      • Engineered mats
      • Reseeding and demobilization
    • Once date is set for completion
      • Set date for ribbon cutting with invitations to key leaders in the community
    • CPA - on for March 4 to present 
      • May make more sense to pull the request due to easement not being complete at this point

III. Executive Committee

A.

Executive Committee

  • Attorney Marc Terry – Transition from Mirick to Stoneman, Chandler & Miller (5 min)
    • Recommend that we stay with Marc for all current matters- requires a vote at the board meeting 
    • Has to be pre-dated to February 1 so not gapped in coverage
  • Board Officer Transition (6 min)
    • Denise has chosen to step down as the board chair effective 2/5
    • A resignation letter has been provided and checklist of actions required to transition responsibilities
    • Will remain on the board
    • Will require a formal board vote for the transition of executive roles
      • CoT has to make a recommendation - review bylaws and documentation
    • Mass Charter is a great support for future
  • Finance Update (4 min)
    • Good financial position through six months
    • DESE communications through Central Source that tuition is going to come in higher than expected
  • Policy Work – Behavioral / Whistleblower / Complaint (Bylaws alignment) (6 min)
    • Check on the alignment to complaints in the bylaws to ensure that it ties to governance and not to broader complaints
    • Who do whistle-blower calls go to - need to address this in the policy
    • Next step to coordinate with Karen on the bylaws and updated policies
  • Board Retreat – Next Steps (1 min)
    • March 28 scheduled
    • Meeting with Karen in CoT to discuss interviews with board members in advance

IV. Set Board Agenda

A.

Board Agenda Topics

  • Public Comment
  • Trustee Officer Slate: Vote
  • Marc Terry: Vote
  • Bylaws & Policies: Vote
  • Human Powers Solutions Recommendation (ED)

V. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 8:36 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
D. Herrera
Documents used during the meeting
  • Executive Committee Meeting 2.4.2026.pdf
  • MLT Choice Letter.pdf
  • Whistleblower_Policy.docx
  • RVCS_By-Laws_v7.1.docx
  • RVCS_Complaint_Policy.docx

THE ORDER OF BUSINESS MAY BE CHANGED WITHOUT NOTICE Notice is hereby given that the order of consideration of matters on this agenda may be changed without prior notice.

REASONABLE LIMITATIONS MAY BE PLACED ON PUBLIC TESTIMONY The Board Chair reserves the right to impose reasonable time limits on public testimony to ensure that the agenda is completed.