RVCS Trustees

Charter schools in New Jersey germinate within the hearts and minds of Founders. These are ordinary people—parents, teachers, concerned individuals—who come together to vision an alternative and innovative form of public education.

Founders spend countless hours visioning, researching, strategizing, fundraising and organizing to complete the application to establish a charter school in New Jersey. These documents can be 200 pages. These ordinary people, with families, jobs and busy schedules, pull together to develop the school's site, curriculum, staff and budget.

Once the charter application is approved, the work begins in earnest. Founders set up the school's governing body, the Trustees, and in a few short months, they create a new public school.

Applications to join the Trustees

Trustees are accepting applications for new members. If interested, contact trustee Kerry Barnett at the school.

Meet the Trustees of the Ridge and Valley Charter School

Kerry Barnett, Frelinghuysen, NJ

Kerry Barnett is a resident of Hardwick and a founder and trustee of Ridge and Valley Charter School, serving on finance and facility committees in particular. A member of the English and Foreign Languages faculty at Centenary College, Hackettstown, NJ, she holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame Great Books Program and a Master of Arts in International Studies from the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Kerry has administered educational programs, taught, and tutored in England and Japan as well as in the United States. She lives with her husband, Mike Baki of the Community Supported Garden (CSG) at Genesis Farm, and her children, Albert and Muriel.

Andy Marancik, Sandyston, NJ

Andy joined the Trustees in 2006 and is a science teacher at High Point Regional High School in Sussex, NJ, where he developed and ran an outdoor education program/ropes challenge course. A graduate of Kean College of New Jersey, he is the father of a student at Ridge and Valley.

David McNulty, Hardwick, NJ

David McNulty is a partner in an e-learning, multimedia and web-production business in Hackettstown, NJ. He directs a staff that includes 15 full-time employees and freelance staff. He holds a BA English degree with honors from the University of Chicago. He has also taught video and photography to at-risk youth in various settings, including a residential drug rehab facility in Newark, a high school for troubled youth in Newark and the Goshen juvenile detention facility in New York state. He and his wife have two children at Ridge and Valley.

Pati Uzar, Blairstown, NJ

Pati joined the Trustees at the end of the 2006-2007 school year. She is the parent of a Ridge and Valley graduate and two current students. She is the owner of Hontu Treasures and creates custom-made jewelry.

Dave Paulson, Hardwick, NJ

Dave Paulson works as a sales executive for Consolidated Carpet Associates in Manhattan. He has been in the flooring business for 22 years as an installer, technical advisor and trainor, specailizing in environmentally friendly flooring products. Dave is also a Deacon and superintendant of Christian Education for the First Presbyterian Church of Blairstown. He and his wife Cheryl have 4 children who are students or graduates at RVCS.

Tom Kelleher, Hope, NJ

Tom Kelleher is a software developer with Tom Kelleher Consulting, Inc., a firm specializing in internet and database-driven custom business applications. Before opening his own firm, he worked for Merrill Lynch, AIG and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a trainer and training developer.  He holds a BA English degree from Cornell University, and has two children attending RVCS.