Andersen DEANS Foundation

Meeting Minutes – 3/2/2021

I.  Call to order

     Ryan Hart called to order the regular meeting of the Andersen DEANs Foundation at 7:00pm via Zoom.

II.  Roll call

     The following members were present:  Ryan Hart, Michael Dye, Darren Anthony, Tim Blackburn, David Jubitz, Kevin Harbour, Nate deSousa, Nate Kuchera, Alex Murray and Mike Gartner

     Special Guest: Andersen Elementary Principal, Tiffany Lewis and NMUSD Board of Trustees President, Karen Yelsey

III.  Open Issues & New Business

1. 1. The DEANS Board, Principal Lewis and Trustee Yelsey discussed the Andersen Town Hall from the previous week. The DEANS addressed additional questions from the Andersen community to Trustee Yelsey that came up after the town hall.  The DEANS board discussed how the Andersen community could help get our students back in school full time.  Trustee Yelsey suggested the best thing our community could do was to reach out to our local state representatives in regards to the state mandated social distancing rules.  Trustee Yelsey also expressed that the plan is definitely to have the students in school full time for the start of the 2021-2022 school year, but that NMUSD is working very hard to extend the school day after Spring break.  The DEANS board stressed the importance of the district providing more specific, detailed information for our families or it is very likely that enrollment will continue to decline throughout the district as families move towards private schools for their children.
   2. Principal Lewis discussed with the DEANS board again about receiving funding for two new programs at Andersen: Freckle & News ELA.  The goal of the programs is to enhance the teacher’s ability to structure class needs for the individual students as well as helping teachers to more specifically focus their lesson plans. The DEANS board voted 9-0 to approve the funding of these two programs for Andersen. The cost of the programs is approximately $4,000.
   3. Alex Murray gave an update on Dr. Weichman seminars to the board along with Principal Lewis. The main goal is to be able to have Dr. Weichman present directly to the 6th grade students in-person as opposed to zoom. The logistics of doing this are still being worked out.
   4. Tim Blackburn & Mike Dye gave another update on the upcoming DEANS charity golf tournament.  Sponsorships are going well and we should be able to cover the cost of the tournament through sponsorships alone.  Registration for the tournament is going to be available in the next week or two.

Ryan Hart adjourned the meeting at 9:20pm.

Minutes submitted by:  Michael Dye