Dan Stockford did a training on Maine's Freedom of Access Act and Open Meeting Law for all board members.

Harvest Meal was outstanding. 30lbs of produce was given away to families that came from the DA garden, and was also able to feed 150 people with that produce. 

Holiday projects - 

   Giving Room - families are able to donate new or gentle used items that will be put out for families to come shop for their learners and everything is free. Also providing childcare for families and the learners will be able to make and wrap crafts for their family also.

   Gift of Giving - last year helped over 30 families - a survey was put out to families to ask if they needed any extra support and then will put out an anonymous survey to share what the needs are for families and staff who want to donate

Sharing the Planetarium with the Augusta School District - someone from the school district came to Dimensions to learn how to use it and Dan will go next week to Augusta to teach more staff on how to use it and we are able to share some of our resources with others. 

Many facilitators shared out some recent professional development that they have attended. 

Victoria Adams-Cheney shared out that she went to a Regulated Classroom training in Orono. It was a train the trainer event. She is now able to train other staff at CRCS and the plan is to have her train all staff at the beginning of the year when we get back from Christmas break. 

Victoria Alexander shared out that she went to Dear Teacher in Bangor. The mission was around reading education in rural Maine. She was able to go to a session around using picture books as well as another session on writing. The last session was around being outdoors emersion.

Casie Guillow shared about attending the Outdoor Leadership Conference in Rome and was all about outdoor learning and bringing the outdoor environment into schools and classrooms. Some sessions included Leave no trace, practice grant writing, networking, wildness first aid, etc.

Selina Warren shared that she recently attended Maine Association and Education of Young Children conference in Southern Maine. She went as a vendor but also got to do some networking. She is also an active member of the MAEYC group. Maine Early Childhood Outdoors and serve on their board and did some PD with the board around their strategic design and networking. She is also very excited to go to the Learning and the Brain conference in Boston this upcoming weekend (Nov 14-16).

Over 15 facilitators going to the Learning and the Brain conference this weekend. 

Theresa shared out again about the upcoming professional development opportunities provided by the Charter Commission that board members can attend. 

Theresa shared that it was a great training and got some affirmations that we have started to do some great work towards recruiting and retaining board members as well as training them to meet our goals.

Emphasized that board members should be looking for recruits that have a background in the needs that the board is looking for as well as specific characteristics and personality traits are important as well. 

Theresa gave all board members a few minutes to fill out the Doodle Poll to secure a date for the retreat. 

Goal is to have the retreat on Sunday, Jan 11, 2026 with backup dates for January 17th or 18th.

Travis is going to send out an email with his goals that he has created and is asking the board to identify the top 3 goals that will be part of the evaluation process. 

Governance Committee is going to start working on the job descriptions for the board member positions. 

No letters of resignation or non-renewals.

Carole Gillespie - facilitator at Overman

Learning and the Brain happening on Friday, Nov 14th - 16th in Boston. There are 14-15 staff members attending. 

Consolidation is on hold for the moment while we focus on renewal which will happen next Fall (2026). 

Mike Buja gave an overview of the meeting that was held this morning (11/12/25). The committee reviewed absenteeism and progress on NWEAs and both are making gains and on track for improvement. 

Stephanie shared that at the last meeting the committee tasked Kit with creating a document and gathering some updated quotes on some of the "emergency" updates that need to take place to keep the buildings running for the next year or two. 

Theresa shared that the governance committee took a look at the policy tracking document and going to start get back to updating those policies that are in need of review. 

Committee also had a conversation around starting to look at job descriptions and hoping to start looking at those job descriptions for board members as well at the next meeting.

Jill shared a brief overview of the draft audit. A deeper conversation around it will happen at the Finance and Facilities Committee meeting on Wednesday, Nov 19th. 

A member from RHR will present the draft audit to the board and then a vote to approve it after discussion will take place at the December meeting.