DeKalb Preparatory Academy

Governing Board

Regular Meeting - Tuesday October 30th, 2018 @6:30 PM

Meeting Minutes

Attendance Summary

Name Status Arrival Time Departure Time
Janelle Wilhite present On Time At Adjournment
Harry Stern present On Time At Adjournment
Brian Woods not present
Chris Estes present On Time At Adjournment
Wanda McKay present On Time At Adjournment
Matthew Goodison-Orr not present
Roberta Walker present On Time At Adjournment
Suzette Arnold present On Time At Adjournment

Welcome and Call to Order

The meeting will be called to the order,by Suzette Arnold at 6:33 p.m. Roll call was taken. Present at the time were Arnold, Stern, Walker and Wilhite.

Delivery of Meeting Protocol

Board chair stated purpose of the meeting. This is our regularly schedule monthly meeting which originally was scheduled for October 23rd. The meeting is held in a public space and is open to the public.

Approval of Agenda

Approve the agenda with the following changes: The date is changed from Oct 23rd to Oct. 30th.

By: Harry Stern Seconded by: Roberta Walker

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Report from Governing Board

The Governing Board met on Tuesday August 28th, 2018 @6:30 PM for what was scheduled to be a 1 hours and 59 minutes long meeting. Present: Janelle Wilhite, Harry Stern, Brian Woods, Chris Estes, Wanda McKay, Roberta Walker Not Present: Matthew Goodison-Orr, Suzette Arnold The members considered the following items: 1. Welcome and Call to Order 2. Approval of Agenda 3. Approval of Minutes from Jul 24, 2018 4. Meeting Protocol 5. Head of School Report 6. AVC Presentation 7. Report from Finance Committee 8. Report from Academic Committee 9. Public Comment 10. Other Business 11. Adjourn The committee considered 12 motions, of which 11 passed, and 0 failed: 1. Approve the agenda as submitted (proposed) 2. Agenda approved as presented (passed) 3. Approve the minutes as submitted (passed) 4. Approve the report as presented (passed) 5. Motion to approve the lawn care contract with Fleming Lawn Care Service in the amount of $1,250 per cut. The lawn will be serviced twice monthly. (passed) 6. Motion to approve the FY19 budget in the amount of $5,953,279 to include items presented in the Budget Change Proposal. (passed) 7. Motion to approve the website contract from Education Network in the amount of $4,500 (passed) 8. Accept the report of the finance committee as presented (passed) 9. Motion to approve the purchase of 30 MAC computers for the cost of $35,000. (passed) 10. Motion to approve the purchase of Middlebury Interactive Languages Spanish curriculum for the cost of $4,999 (passed) 11. Motion to approve the purchase of Learning.Com technology curriculum. The will range from $5,000 to $7,500 depending upon the number of students served (passed) 12. Motion to accept the committee report as presented (passed) The meeting adjourned at 8:16 PM

Accept the minutes of the last meeting as presented.

By: Janelle Wilhite Seconded by: Harry Stern

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Head of School Report

The school leader reports on the status of the school including student enrollment, human resources, instruction and facilities. Highlights included $1,219.00 grant given by the International Cinematographers Guild. The following personnel were recommended for hire: Tanya Watkins - development coordinator, Tywon Thomas - math interventionist, Krista Cabrett - 8th grade science teacher, Charlene Nelms - special education teacher and Marion Simpson - budget center manager. Annual Report was presented to the board.

HOS Report accepted as presented.

Approve the hiring of Tanya Watkins as delopment coordinator. Salary $40,000

By: Janelle Wilhite Seconded by: Roberta Walker

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Approve the hiring of Tywon Thomas as a math interventionist for elementary and middle school. Salary $38,000 - $48,000

By: Janelle Wilhite Seconded by: Roberta Walker

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Approve the hiring of Krista Cabrett as 8th grade science teacher. Salary range is $38,000 - $48,000

By: Janelle Wilhite Seconded by: Roberta Walker

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Approve the hiring of Charlene Nelms as special education resource teacher. Salary range $38,000 to $48,000

By: Janelle Wilhite Seconded by: Roberta Walker

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Approve hiring of Marian Simpson as budget center manager. Salary $46,000

By: Janelle Wilhite Seconded by: Roberta Walker

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Approve the Annual Report as prepared and presented by the HOS.

By: Harry Stern Seconded by: Janelle Wilhite

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Committee Reports

Finance Committee - Financial budget report presented for the month of September. Discussion that the board would prefer seeing the report that shows actual and projections so that we are able to adequately see where we are over or under budget. AFLAC Insurance will be offered to employees as an option. The Employee will assume all cost. National Benefit Services will be offered to employees as a means to participate in a 403B account. The cost to DPA will be $128 for annual financial statement fee. The CFO will develop a waiver for employees to sign which indicate that participation by the employee in this program is voluntary. The Board bears no liability. Our legal team will be consulted.

Audit - major adjustments will need to made to the 2016-2017 audit due to an error that has been discovered during the transition from one database to another. The CFO is making the necessary corrections.

The financial report was accepted as presented.

Academic Committee - Committee met on Monday, Oct. 29th. We have developed a dashboard but need to consider hiring a data clerk to enter teacher and student data into the file. We will research and and report back in November. The D3 grant team continues to progress.

Report accepted as presented.

Development Committee - no meeting has been held. Dr. Stern will be instrumental in directing the new development coordinator as she begins working for DPA.

Governance Committee- the governance committee's last meeting was in September. Karen Shabazz has applied to become a member of the DPA Board.

Approve AFLAC Insurance to be offered to employees as supplemental. The cost for AFLAC will be assumed by the employee. There will be no cost assumed by DPA.

By: Roberta Walker Seconded by: Harry Stern

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Approve National Benefits Services to offer employees opportunity to participate in 403B retirement savings. There will be no cost assumed by DPA Board.

By: Janelle Wilhite Seconded by: Harry Stern

There was no notable discussion on the motion.

Public Comment

Our Public Comment period is for members of the public to address the board. Each member of the public may sign up to comment at the meeting, and will be allotted two minutes. The board will listen, but may not directly respond to any comments. Our meetings are open to the public and public record. As such, if your comment is about a private matter, please contact the board via email, or speak to the board chair privately.


Ms. Foster, science teacher gave kudos to the Board for the work that they do to ensure that the teachers and staff have the resources needed to properly educate the students. Her appreciation was noted.

Other Business

The Board Chair raised concern that we have not been given an invoice to approve for IT services in several months. Are we still on month-to-month contract for IT services? If so how are the invoices being paid if not presented to the Board for approval? Is a contract being issued, if so what are the services? Clarification is needed on this issue by November 9th.


The State of the School address will be presented the week of November 12th. The board will receive a copy prior to the presentation to parents.


The new website will go live the week of November 5th.

Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.

The Meeting was Adjourned

The meeting adjourned at approximately 4:46 pm

Motion to adjourn

By: Janelle Wilhite Seconded by: Roberta Walker

There was no notable discussion on the motion.