I am proud to announce that we have a new Principal for River Valley Elementary School beginning on August 1, 2025. Her name is Lisa Carlos. Lisa has been the Principal of Plainfield Elementary School in Des Plaines, Illinois (near O-Hare Field) for the past seven years. Plainfield Elementary is a fairly high poverty K-5 school with about the same enrollment as RVE with many kids of Latino background as well as students who are Caucasian. The school had substantial issues when she started, and she helped to heal and focus the school on the development and achievement of children. She will clearly be missed by the school district, as she has been very successful there. Lisa is retiring from Illinois's system of public education after 29 years of service. Prior to serving as Principal of Plainfield Elementary for seven years, Lisa was a high school administrator in Chicago Public Schools. Before that, she was Department Chair of World Languages and English Language Learner (ELL) at York Community High School and a Spanish/Etymology (the study of words and their origins) Teacher at Hinsdale Central High School, so she brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and skill to River Valley Schools. Most importantly, Lisa brings her huge heart and love for kids and educators with her everywhere she goes. She helped create a very warm and kind culture of learning at Plainfield Elementary.
Lisa lives about 20 minutes away from us in Michiana, Michigan with her husband, who is an engineer and her lab, Mabel. Lisa has been following us for years through our website and the Harbor Country News and is more than thrilled with the opportunity to be a principal here in RV.
We had a very large interview committee of thirteen met with three excellent candidates. All three candidates would bring very important skills, talents, and knowledge to our school, so we endeavored to find the best fit. After much discussion about the needs of our school and the skills of the candidates, thorough reference checks, a committee of eight interviewed Lisa a second time to hone in on areas where we needed more information. Lisa answered our in depth questions very well and more than satisfied our curiosity.
I am convinced Lisa is the right person for this difficult job at this time in our history. Lisa brings some amazing experience, skills, knowledge, and character to our school district. She will help us further unite our elementary school and district to fulfill our Strategic Plan for our kids.
More information will be coming out about Lisa "Meet and Greets" we will be hosting to introduce her to our school community.