2 of 3 finalists for Riverview Charter’s director job have withdrawn. What we know
Two of the three finalists for Riverview Charter School’s director position withdrew from consideration on Monday, hours before a scheduled public forum for parents and staff to meet the candidates.
The school’s board of directors will meet Thursday at 6 p.m. to “contemplate the direction of the school and status of the final candidate from this current process,” board chairperson Reece Bertholf wrote in a Monday email to the school.
Karen Miller, who teaches sixth grade language arts at the school, is the only finalist remaining.
Miller, a former Lady’s Island Middle School teacher, has been at Riverview since it opened in 2009. She is also the founder of Sea Island Presbyterian Day School and led the Adopt-A-School program at St. Helena Elementary from 1996-2001, according to a Riverview news release.
Annette Medlin, a veteran nonprofit and chamber of commerce director, and Joseph Almeida, a lower school principal at Savannah’s Calvary Day School and former assistant principal of Hilton Head Island Middle School, both withdrew from consideration.
Bertholf said in a schoolwide email Monday that Medlin “felt the position wasn’t the right fit for her,” and that the school would go forward with its 7 p.m. Zoom forum for the community to meet Miller and Almeida.
In a later Monday email, Bertholf said that Almeida withdrew from consideration around 2:30 p.m., and announced that the forum would be canceled. He did not give a reason for Almeida’s withdrawal.
The board interviewed all three candidates in closed session meetings Thursday and Friday.
Why did the previous director resign?
Sarah Cox, a fifth-grade teacher at Riverview, has served as the Port Royal school’s interim director since Nov. 1 following the abrupt resignation of director Alison Thomas.
Thomas announced her resignation Oct. 19, one week before 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.
The school switched to virtual learning in December following a COVID-19 infection that led the entire sixth grade to quarantine and caused a staffing shortage at the school.
The school returned to four days a week of full-time, in-person classes (along with a continuing virtual option) in January following winter break.
This story was originally published March 30, 2021 at 11:04 AM.