Ria Cheetham is a Local Education Authority (LEA) advisor, attached to the EiC Action Zone.
Ria is sent to Waterloo Road Comprehensive School to look into the mystery surrounding the school's finances at the start of Series 3. When the truth comes out that headteacher Jack Rimmer had paid the parents of the Gifted & Talented pupils £2000 to send them to Waterloo Road, Ria tells Jack to contact Chair of Governors Nigel Hinchcliffe and ask him to convene an emergency governors meeting, because the LEA are laying charges of financial misappropriation at him. The board of governors move to suspend Jack, but he instead resigns completely and leaves Waterloo Road.
The LEA, via Ria, bring in Rachel Mason as Jack's successor as headteacher, much to the chagrin of deputy head Eddie Lawson, who had been led to believe that the job would be his.