Pete Battey for Kentwood Public Schools Board of Education
My Approach & Beliefs
The Role of the School Board
It is the responsibility of the school board to establish the vision and mission for the school district. The vision and mission must be reflective of our community and crafted with real, meaningful input from all stakeholders. The school board also hires and evaluates the superintendent, who is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the district and crafting a strategy and action plan to execute the vision and mission. The role of the school board is to provide advice, oversight, and governance for the decisions of the superintendent and those delegated to central office staff. In doing so, we always strive to do what is best for students.
KPS Collaboration Center and Admin Building
Photo: Owens-Ames-Kimball Co.
District Finances and Taxes
I am grateful for the financial support of our community in consistently approving millages for our building & site and bond funds. We work to be excellent stewards of your money and I’m proud that Kentwood has the lowest debt levy of any school district in Kent County. I believe the excellent quality of our facilities demonstrates our responsible use of your dollars all the while maintaining all staff positions as Kentwood Public Schools Employees. We also want every student to be safe and secure when under our care. To that end, we are in the process of implementing measures to enhance the security of our facilities.
In order to help ensure every student is ready to learn without stigma, I’m proud that we are now utilizing the Community Eligibility Provision which allows us to offer breakfast and lunch to all students without cost to them. We are in the process of adding full production kitchens in all of our elementary buildings to meet this increased demand. We are also in the final stages of implementing our plan to add air conditioning in all buildings.
As your Board of Education Treasurer, I take to heart responsible stewardship of our precious community resources and work to maximize student and staff benefit paving the way for inclusive, meaningful, lifelong learning.
