South Kent News

New board members and officers were sworn in during a recent board meeting of the Caledonia Community Schools.

John Brandow and Jennifer Nichols are the new members, with the board choosing Marcy White to serve as board president again, along with electing to keep Brittany Barber Garcia in the position of vice president. 

Katie Isic was chosen for secretary, Jason Saidoo and Tim Morris were nominated for treasurer with Saidoo getting the nod.

The board also celebrated Superintendent Dedrick Martin, who was honored with a Michigan Board of Education award.

The Michigan School Public Relations Association chose Martin to be the 2022 Superintendent Communicator of the Year. The award is given to a current superintendent who has shown excellent leadership in communicating with his students, staff and community.

The board thanked him for all of his work since he joined the district in 2018 and credited Martin for improving the branding and culture of the schools.

Martin said he was grateful to receive the honor in front of his colleagues and family.

“Certainly any honor or recognition I get is a direct reflection of several things," Martin said. "First, for the board of education, for supporting me and actually challenging me to try to improve the forms of communication to our community and try to be open and transparent and certainly to our entire administrative team,” 

“Starting with [Kelly Clark - communications and PR coordinator]. She has been a true godsend in terms of her skill set and her ability and to be able to take some of my wild ideas and put some life into them and make them look good," Martin said. "So thank you, Kelly. Thank you to [Michelle Zoet] and the entire cabinet." 

Martin added that any honor bestowed upon him was a reflection of the people who work close to him and their efforts to help him succeed.

Before he received his award, Martin recognized the school board, thanking them for their tireless efforts and passion for the schools and the community and gave them each a small token of appreciation from the administration and broader community.