Riverview Charter announces internal hire to replace longtime director. What we know
Sarah Cox has been named interim director of Riverview Charter School, 11 days after longtime director Alison Thomas abruptly announced her resignation.
Cox has taught fifth grade at the Port Royal school for three years, and has been an educator for 10. She was unanimously approved by the school’s 11-member board of directors Thursday night.
Thomas’ resignation goes into effect on Sunday, one week after the school transitioned from a hybrid “half-day” schedule to four days a week of full-time, face-to-face classes.
The decision to begin full-time classes was made by the board of directors and opposed by Thomas, who wanted to return to full-day instruction on Nov. 9, according to previous reporting from the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
At Thursday night’s board meeting, chairwoman Mary Jordan Lempesis said she appointed a committee to select an interim director in the days following Thomas’ resignation.
That committee then contacted and interviewed candidates “and came to a decision as a committee” to present Cox to the full board in closed session on Thursday. She did not name the members of that committee, which did not meet publicly.
Board member Reece Bertholf said the board would begin its search for a new permanent director “in the near future.”
This was the board of directors’ first public meeting since Thomas announced her resignation. The meeting was originally slated for Wednesday night, but was moved to Thursday to meet the Freedom of Information Act’s guidelines on notification.
The Zoom link on the published Thursday agenda did not work, prompting the board to delay the meeting by 20 minutes to publish the new link via email and Facebook.
The board also did not take public comment at any point in the meeting, which had 115 participants when Cox was announced.
Lempesis acknowledged the omission at the start of the meeting, saying that she had seen a large amount of comments and “strong emotion” at other recent board meetings.
“We removed the public comment because we are here for a limited reason and need to address the business at hand tonight in an effort to move our school forward through this transitional time in a positive direction,” she said.
The board did not announce any details of Cox’s contract, or any separation agreement for Thomas.
Cox is originally from Charleston and holds a master’s degree in educational leadership and administration from The Citadel. According to her staff biography on the school’s website, she has lived in Beaufort since 2016.
“We are living through uncertain times, and as a school community we need to come together to serve our students, and ensure they have the opportunity to learn and learn safely,” she said in a speech at Thursday’s board meeting.
“This is what I will be working toward, day in and day out.”
While Thomas did not speak at Thursday’s Zoom meeting, board members Bertholf and Lamarr Cooler both gave statements praising the school’s director of 11 years.
Cooler called Thomas “a remarkable woman” and said he was “very disappointed Alison has decided to resign her position as director.”
“She’s intelligent, she’s articulate, she’s a great problem solver,” he said. “Since the inception of Riverview Charter School, no one has given more and taken less than Alison.”
This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 11:49 AM.