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Community Regional Charter School

Minutes

CRCS Board Meeting

Date and Time

Wednesday September 9, 2026 at 6:00 PM

Members of the public are welcome to attend and observe these meetings but must be aware that although the meeting is held in public it is not a public meeting and therefore observers are not permitted to speak during the meeting itself, except during public comment. 

Directors Present

C. Hansen (remote), J. Dionne (remote), S. Saltzman (remote), T. Overall (remote)

Directors Absent

M. Buja

Directors who arrived after the meeting opened

S. Saltzman

Ex Officio Members Present

T. Works (remote)

Guests Present

A. Richard (remote), A. Savage (remote), B. Andre (remote), D. Ryder (remote), E. Firnkes (remote), J. Alves (remote), K. Canning (remote), M. Munroe (remote), Susan Muzzy (remote)

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

T. Overall called a meeting of the board of directors of Community Regional Charter School to order on Wednesday Sep 9, 2026 at 6:01 PM.

C.

Approve Agenda

T. Overall made a motion to approve the agenda with the following amendments to the agenda and add three items. In Section XI—Items to be voted upon, we need to add: Vote on the creation of an Executive Committee as described in Policy BDE Standing Committees: General Purpose, which would also serve as the Personnel Committee as described in Policy CBI: Evaluation of the Executive Director. In Section XII—Other Business, we need to add: Vote on entering Executive Session pursuant to 1 M.R.S. §405(6)(C) to discuss the use and potential disposition of publicly held property, where premature disclosure could prejudice the school’s competitive or bargaining position.” And in order to be efficient so that we don’t have to go out of executive session to vote to extend the meeting and then go back into executive session, we need to add: Vote to extend this board meeting, if needed, to 9:00.
J. Dionne seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

II. Approve Business Meeting Minutes

A.

Approve Minutes from 8/12/2026 Board Meeting

T. Overall made a motion to approve the minutes from CRCS Board Meeting on 08-12-26.
J. Dionne seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

III. CRCS Program Highlights

A.

Positive Community Share Out

Dimensions is having a couple of programs coming to the building over the next few weeks -          

     -  Within the Whale - learners will be able to go inside a life sized whale and have education around it

     - Mr. Sean Landry is going to do a puppet program at DA around empathy 

 

Two facilitators at Overman were awarded grants this past week 

     - One was for a cider press

     - One was for gel electrophoresis kits to be used during seminars around criminal investigation

B.

Professional Development share out

IV. Board Chair Updates

A.

Reminders

* Please be sure to download the packet for the meetings each month

B.

Review Board Goals

Theresa shared out a review of the board goals.

S. Saltzman arrived.

C.

Board Member Job Description and action plan

Theresa shared out the board member recruitment action plan and a discussion was had around the recruitment of new board members. 

 

One possible alumni is interested in joining.

D.

Updates

* Discussion around planning a January board retreat again - Theresa will put out a Doodle Poll to gather possible dates

 

V. Executive Director and Staff Reports

A.

Letters of Resignation/Non-Renewal (since last Board Meeting)

Separations of Employment

 

Cole Bloom - Custodian at Dimensions

Alida Bickford - Custodian at Overman

Michelle Miller - Ed Tech at Dimensions

B.

New Hires (since last Board Meeting)

Sheila Frost - Custodian at Overman

Megan Jones - Ed Tech at Dimensions

Grace Hull - Custodian at Dimensions

C.

Renewal Update

Tomorrow (Thursday, September 10th) have our site visit 

 

Starts at 7am to meet with leadership followed by a focus group with the board then visiting all buildings doing classroom observations and more focus groups in the afternoon including parents (5), staff (6-7), and learners (10)  and ending the day with a debrief as a commission group and then with the Executive Director 

D.

Professional Development (Upcoming)

E.

Other Updates

* Enrollment is a huge focus right now along with renewal

       - Megan, Susan, and Elizabeth shared out some strategies that they are doing to recruit more learners as well as keep our current learners and families

(use staff to get the word out there, boost FB posts, "invite a friend" night to get new families in, signage out in local businesses, communications home to current families, new bus stop to Newport to pull a new demographic, etc)

 

VI. Board Policies for Review and/or Adopting

A.

Review Policy IJNDD - Artificial Intelligence Use as a 2nd read for adoption

S. Saltzman made a motion to adopt policy IJNDD - Artificial Intelligence Use as amended.
T. Overall seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

B.

Review Policy IJNDD-R - Artificial Intelligence Use Guidance as a 2nd read for adoption

S. Saltzman made a motion to adopt policy IJNDD-R - Artificial Intelligence Use Guidance as amended.
C. Hansen seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

VII. Academic Excellence Committee

A.

Review of the Academic Excellence Committee Meeting

No committee meeting since the last board meeting.

VIII. Finance & Facilities

A.

Review of Finance and Facilities Committee Meetings on 8/5/2026

There were not finance and facilities committee meeting minutes since the last board meeting.

IX. Governance Committee

A.

Review of Governance Committee Meetings

A review was given last board meeting but the minutes were not approved due to being the same day as the board meeting.

B.

Approval of the meeting minutes from the 8/12/2026 Governance Committee Meeting

S. Saltzman made a motion to approve the minutes from Governance Committee Meeting on 08-12-26.
J. Dionne seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

X. Items to Be Voted Upon:

A.

Vote to Approve the 2026 CRCS Renewal Application

S. Saltzman made a motion to approve the 2026 CRCS Renewal Application with the amended enrollment number of 373.
J. Dionne seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

B.

Vote on the creation of an Executive Committee as described in Policy BDE Standing Committees: General Purpose, which would also serve as the Personnel Committee as described in Policy CBI: Evaluation of the Executive Director.

S. Saltzman made a motion to have the Board create an Executive Committee as described in Policy BDE Standing Committees: General Purpose, which would also serve as the Personnel Committee as described in Policy CBI: Evaluation of the Executive Director.
C. Hansen seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

XI. Other Business:

A.

Vote on entering Executive Session pursuant to 1 M.R.S. §405(6)(C) to discuss the use and potential disposition of publicly held property, where premature disclosure could prejudice the school’s competitive or bargaining position.

S. Saltzman made a motion to enter Executive Session pursuant to 1 M.R.S. §405(6)(C) to discuss the use and potential disposition of publicly held property, where premature disclosure could prejudice the school’s competitive or bargaining position.
J. Dionne seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

B.

Vote to extend this board meeting, if needed, to 9:00pm.

S. Saltzman made a motion to extend the board meeting, if needed, to 9:00pm.
J. Dionne seconded the motion.
The board VOTED to approve the motion.

XII. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 8:05 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
T. Overall