DeKalb Preparatory Academy

Governance Committee

Strategic Plan Discussion 2 Meeting - Wednesday November 11th, 2020 @6:00 PM

Meeting Minutes

Attendance Summary

Name Status Arrival Time Departure Time
Janelle Wilhite present member 5 Minutes Late At Adjournment
Suzette Arnold present member On Time At Adjournment
Karen Shabazz present member On Time At Adjournment
Wanda McKay not present member
Roberta Walker present member On Time At Adjournment
Tamseel Syed present chair On Time At Adjournment
Marcus Vassell present member On Time At Adjournment

Welcome and Call to Order

The meeting was called to the order at 6:05 p.m.



In Attendance

The following committee members are present:


Suzette Arnold

Roberta Walker

Janelle Wilhite

Karen Shabazz

Marcus Vassell

Tamseel Syed

Action Steps

Discussion of actions to Take/ Time Frame to Complete:


6:00 p.m. to 6:10 p.m. - Introductions and call to order

6:10 p.m. to 6:20 p.m. - Mr. Estes provides an update on the status of the discussion points requested by the board last week.

  • Mr. Estes, had questions about the format of the plan and if the document can be edited on the google drive itself.
  • The board requested specific goals in the Development excellence
  • Ms. Suzette requested that a timeline be attached to each strategy being developed.
  • Board members Mr. Marcus, Ms. Janelle and Ms. Suzette discussed the importance of this document in the charter renewal process and suggested improvements to the approach


6:20 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. - Discussion on top priority strategy strands in academic excellence and governance excellence 

  • The board was presented a draft item list on the Academic Excellence by Ms. Pettis and her team.
  • Ms. Pettis suggested that part of the focus for DPA should be in the AVC domain and how an AVC based space can be created at DPA.
  • Ms. Pettis mentioned that she will coordinate with the Development and Finance directors to propose better strategy directions for DPA.
  • The Governance Excellence strategy will be discussed further in the coming days.

7:30 p.m. to 7:50 p.m. - Board approval of today’s talking points

  • The board decided to provide a deadline of November 30th, 2020 for DPA administration to prepare the first draft of the plan.
  • The board will then review the document and schedule a follow-up meeting.

7:50 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. - Other items outstanding and adjournment 

  • The DPA administrative team felt that November end would be a tough timeline to finish with the plan but the board decided to assess the document due on November 30th, 2020 and chart the subsequent steps.

**(times subject to change based on the length of discussion)  


The Meeting was Adjourned

The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:37 pm

Motion to adjourn

By: Karen Shabazz Seconded by: Janelle Wilhite

There was no notable discussion on the motion.