Detroit school board elects Angelique Peterson Mayberry president; names officers and committee rosters

Angelique Peterson Mayberry was elected president of the Detroit Public Schools Community District Board of Education on a roll-call vote during the board’s Jan. 12 organizational meeting, after newly sworn-in and returning members completed the oath of office.

The board convened for the organizational meeting at 5:00 p.m., where the superintendent opened proceedings and a judge administered the oath to newly elected member Sherry Gaye Dagnogo and reelected members Sonia Mays and Misha Stallworth West. After nominations for president, Mayberry and Dr. Deborah Hunter Harville were each offered the nomination; a roll-call vote recorded yes from Sonya Mays, Misha Stallworth West, Georgia Lemons, Bishop Carletta Vaughn and Angelique Peterson Mayberry, and no votes from Sherry Gaye Dagnogo and Deborah Hunter Harville. The board chair announced Mayberry as president and relinquished the chair to her.

Mayberry, after assuming the chair, thanked colleagues and said the board will move forward as a team to support students. “We are a team, and we’re gonna move on, and we’re gonna do this work that’s so desperately needed for our students,” she said in her first remarks after being seated.

The board then filled other officer positions: Dr. Deborah Hunter Harville was approved as vice president, Misha Stallworth West as secretary and Sonia Mays as treasurer. Each nominee accepted the office and the board approved them by voice vote. The superintendent and secretary conducted roll calls and procedural confirmations throughout the process.

Following the officer elections, the board confirmed internal committee rosters: the finance committee (chaired by Sonia Mays) includes Sherry Gaye Dagnogo and Misha Stallworth West; the curriculum and academic committee is chaired by Bishop Carletta Vaughn with Deborah Hunter Harville and Georgia Lemons as members; the policy ad hoc committee will be chaired by Misha Stallworth West; and the Code of Conduct hearing committee will be chaired by Georgia Lemons with Bishop Carletta Vaughn as member. The board also appointed representatives to several external bodies, including the Michigan Association of School Boards and the Detroit Public Library Commission. The chair appointed Karen Morgan as the individual designated to post meeting notices.

The votes to approve these appointments and officers were conducted on the record (roll call for the president election; voice votes for most other officer and committee approvals). The board moved from the organizational meeting into the regular meeting without interruption.

The meeting’s procedural actions and committee assignments set the board’s leadership and governance structure for the coming term; many appointments were accepted unanimously or by voice vote, with the president’s election being decided by a recorded roll-call vote.