REGIONAL – The River Valley Charter School (RVCS) trustees last week handed the reins of the school to education administration veteran Joey Gustafson to be the interim executive director in hopes she can calm the troubled waters the kindergarten to eighth grade, regional school has been swimming in for the last several months.
Gustafson, who replaces Karen Kuse, the former executive director, has a diverse educational career that includes extensive experience in school management and strategic planning. She has run an education consulting firm for almost a quarter century, working in charter and mainstream schools, parochial and private schools.
Among her stated skills listed on her resume are change management, turn-around leadership and board governance, which must have endeared her to the school’s embattled board. The board will spend much of the next year considering candidates, including Gustafson, for the school’s permanent executive director.
The board’s unanimous decision to hire Gustafson followed months of tension in the school. At one point this spring, more than 100 parents, staff, students and alumni stood outside the school on Low Street with signs that expressed their disapproval of Kuse and the board of trustees.
Founded in 1999, RVCS serves students from Amesbury, Newburyport, Pentucket (Groveland, Merrimac, West Newbury) and Triton (Newbury, Rowley, Salisbury).
According to a parent’s letter to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the dispute stems largely from school’s decision to pause a popular outdoor education program, called Play Based Education. PBE, which features outside learning opportunities, was instituted during the Covid Pandemic, but proved so popular it was continued.
Some of the chief concerns raised by parents and students were the lack of teacher protection and a seeming lack of checks and balances on Kuse, who was accused of retaliatory firings.
“This has been a really bad year,” said board chair Tanya Murdy last week. “We are excited about next year.”
Board member Derek Mitchell describe the months-long crisis as, “We were put in a real pickle.”
About half of the board is rotating off the board after serving their maximum tenure.
“We recognize that there is so much that makes RVCS a special place for students, families and teachers,” the board said in a statement. “We also recognize that we are currently facing many challenges.”
“As soon as we select an interim leader, we will work to ensure they get to know the RVCS community, our strengths and our challenges,” the board said. “We will provide opportunities to meet the interim leader and share your perspectives and hopes for RVCS in the year to come.”
The school faces two major challenges:
Righting the ship in time for DESE to renew the school’s charter in 2028 for another five years, and
Regain the confidence in the community so the school can raise money for its new playground and other capital projects.
The DESE letter, written to parent Jared Hubbard on June 2, found that “the alleged changes in the PBE program do not affect the Charter School’s ability to carry out its mission.”
The school’s mission, the DESE letter said, is to “provide a rigorous academic program based on the Montessori philosophy and rooted in the history, culture and ecology of the Merrimack River Valley” and provide students with the key design elements of the charter, which include an “educational program based on the Montessori philosophy; elements of the curriculum rooted in the history, culture, and ecology of the Merrimack River Valley; and critical thinking and problem solving.”
Although DESE chose not to pursue the complaint, the RVCS board members took it serious. Gustafson and board member Erin Bradley-Irose called it “a warning.”
“We cannot get another letter like that,” board member Gary Lefave said, meaning it might affect the school’s charter renewal.
Gustafson told the board she has already finalized most of the teacher contracts for next year, which was a major concern for the parents and teachers. ♦
