Post by WeNeed3 on Feb 23, 2009 7:58:21 GMT -5
New Naperville school chief ready to get down to business
By Melissa Jenco | Daily Herald Staff
Having his academic credentials called into question wasn't exactly how Mark Mitrovich pictured his tenure in Naperville Unit District 203 would begin.
But the educator says he can move past the controversy and wants to take the district to even greater heights.
He will replace Superintendent Alan Leis, who is retiring June 30.
Mitrovich, 63, currently serves as chief academic officer for EDmin.com. The company is the result of a merger with EdGate, a Seattle-area company he co-founded after spending 30 years in education.
Days after his hiring in Naperville, critics ignited controversy over his credentials. His doctorate in education administration comes from the University of Santa Barbara, which closed its doors in 2006 having never achieved regional or national accreditation, although it was approved by the state of California.
After a three-hour closed session meeting last week, the school board decided it will stand by its selection of Mitrovich, saying he has the necessary education and experience to lead the district.
Mitrovich recently met with reporters and discussed the controversy and his vision for the district. Here is an edited version of part of that conversation.
Q. Is the criticism about your doctorate going to affect your ability to lead the district?
A. If what I experienced at the two high schools (during a recent visit) is any indication, I think the answer to that is no because the reception at both buildings was extremely positive.
Let's be realistic about this. Is this the way you want to begin a tenure? Absolutely not. But I also think ... it has to be placed in the context of everything I've done over a period of my life.
We can argue all we want and discuss the merits of USB. I won't change my opinion of the people I was there with. Their records are unimpeachable and I don't think they stopped being who they were because they left the University of California system and moved to the University of Santa Barbara.
What's more important to the two high schools is that I was in high schools for 22 years. That's a big issue. It was a big issue during the interview process. It was a big issue in all the documentation that came to me. It's a huge issue because of what we're going to do - hiring two high school principals.
Having spent 22 years in high schools, I think, will carry forward. The things I've done in my career - are far more germane to what's going to carry the day here. And I don't care whether this had happened or not, the first day you show up on the job you have to prove yourself.
I think one of the things for me, quite honestly, that is an asset is having been in the private sector for the last 10 years. The name of the game is you're selling yourself every day.
Everybody you walk in front of, when I walk into a school district or a state agency and I'm asking them to open up their wallet and pay me millions of dollars for these software applications, that's a guarded audience. You've got to convince them you know what you're talking about and you understand that world.
The only way that happens is me getting here, becoming immersed in the community, immersed in the school district, people finding out who I really am and what I'm about and then making their decision. If they still feel this way a year, two years, three years from now, then I was the wrong guy for the job. But whether I went to USB or not will be a pretty small factor in the decision.
Q. Will the process for hiring principals for Naperville North and Naperville Central be more open than the district's search to hire you? When will the hiring occur?
A. I think one of the things you have to keep in mind is that - anytime you go into a hiring situation - if you don't think part of the game is going out stealing somebody from another district or another business, you're wrong. That's the name of this game.
A lot of times the people you're looking for aren't necessarily looking for another job. Had this not worked out, I would have been very comfortable in Gig Harbor continuing to do what I did.
When that happens people specifically (say), "I'll participate, but the process has to be private because I'm not willing to jeopardize my current situation." At that point it's taken out of the board's hands.
When I left after the first interview, the packet of material I had in that little canvas bag I carried out of here (showed) people had done their homework. The amount of information that had been gleaned from the staffs, the community, how that had been put together, gave those of us who were in the process a clear indication of what needs were, what hot buttons were for people and I think the board represented that very well in the questions it asked.
I don't think there's a perfect process. One of the things we're going to try to do with the principal search is very definitely (provide) a period of time for meeting the community, the staff.
The advantage I have right now is I don't know anybody. I come in pretty much with a clean slate.
I think the schedule has (a selection by) mid-March.
Q. Has the controversy over your degree changed your perception of Naperville?
A. (There are) 140,000 people in Naperville. What have you heard from - 50 or 100 at most? I'm going to bank on the fact there are a lot of other people out there who are reserving judgment, who will wait to see what I do over the course of the time I'm here.
I still know this is an extremely high-performing school district. I have expectations it should perform even higher; that it should be doing things that set it apart.
I'll tell you what I'm about at my core. If you have not read the book called "Halftime," the subtitle is ("Changing your Game Plan) from Success to Significance." It says you can basically be really successful, but what have you done that's significant?
One-third of the total population in this world is under 15 years of age. Eighty-five percent of them are in Third World countries living in abject poverty. This year 20 million of them will die as a result of starvation. Fifteen million will die for other reasons. One million young women will be forced into prostitution.
So what does that say about Naperville? What it tells me about Naperville and districts like it is that our kids represent that (other) 15 percent. The expectation for those kids is that they are a large part of the solution of what will make the life of the other 85 percent better.
The issue becomes that what ought to be driving our kids here and the job we do in educating them is that world condition right now is something they can have a huge part in contributing to and they have to think of things beyond themselves.
There's a curriculum that a friend of mine and I have developed - called Small Planet Schools. It looks at large macro themes and how those themes could be integrated through high school curriculum.
What's the second-most traded commodity in the world next to oil? It's coffee. The geopolitical factors around a cup of coffee are significant. They're huge. You could literally teach every subject out of that cup of coffee that everyone takes for granted when they go in and order their latte or whatever at Starbucks. They don't have any concept what that's about.
Taking what's happening in schools and adding that additional bit of relevance to it, letting kids project out, that's I think the burden of Naperville, the burden of any (similar district).
• Part two of the interview with incoming Naperville Unit District 203 Superintendent Mark Mitrovich runs Tuesday.
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=273663&src=76
By Melissa Jenco | Daily Herald Staff
Having his academic credentials called into question wasn't exactly how Mark Mitrovich pictured his tenure in Naperville Unit District 203 would begin.
But the educator says he can move past the controversy and wants to take the district to even greater heights.
He will replace Superintendent Alan Leis, who is retiring June 30.
Mitrovich, 63, currently serves as chief academic officer for EDmin.com. The company is the result of a merger with EdGate, a Seattle-area company he co-founded after spending 30 years in education.
Days after his hiring in Naperville, critics ignited controversy over his credentials. His doctorate in education administration comes from the University of Santa Barbara, which closed its doors in 2006 having never achieved regional or national accreditation, although it was approved by the state of California.
After a three-hour closed session meeting last week, the school board decided it will stand by its selection of Mitrovich, saying he has the necessary education and experience to lead the district.
Mitrovich recently met with reporters and discussed the controversy and his vision for the district. Here is an edited version of part of that conversation.
Q. Is the criticism about your doctorate going to affect your ability to lead the district?
A. If what I experienced at the two high schools (during a recent visit) is any indication, I think the answer to that is no because the reception at both buildings was extremely positive.
Let's be realistic about this. Is this the way you want to begin a tenure? Absolutely not. But I also think ... it has to be placed in the context of everything I've done over a period of my life.
We can argue all we want and discuss the merits of USB. I won't change my opinion of the people I was there with. Their records are unimpeachable and I don't think they stopped being who they were because they left the University of California system and moved to the University of Santa Barbara.
What's more important to the two high schools is that I was in high schools for 22 years. That's a big issue. It was a big issue during the interview process. It was a big issue in all the documentation that came to me. It's a huge issue because of what we're going to do - hiring two high school principals.
Having spent 22 years in high schools, I think, will carry forward. The things I've done in my career - are far more germane to what's going to carry the day here. And I don't care whether this had happened or not, the first day you show up on the job you have to prove yourself.
I think one of the things for me, quite honestly, that is an asset is having been in the private sector for the last 10 years. The name of the game is you're selling yourself every day.
Everybody you walk in front of, when I walk into a school district or a state agency and I'm asking them to open up their wallet and pay me millions of dollars for these software applications, that's a guarded audience. You've got to convince them you know what you're talking about and you understand that world.
The only way that happens is me getting here, becoming immersed in the community, immersed in the school district, people finding out who I really am and what I'm about and then making their decision. If they still feel this way a year, two years, three years from now, then I was the wrong guy for the job. But whether I went to USB or not will be a pretty small factor in the decision.
Q. Will the process for hiring principals for Naperville North and Naperville Central be more open than the district's search to hire you? When will the hiring occur?
A. I think one of the things you have to keep in mind is that - anytime you go into a hiring situation - if you don't think part of the game is going out stealing somebody from another district or another business, you're wrong. That's the name of this game.
A lot of times the people you're looking for aren't necessarily looking for another job. Had this not worked out, I would have been very comfortable in Gig Harbor continuing to do what I did.
When that happens people specifically (say), "I'll participate, but the process has to be private because I'm not willing to jeopardize my current situation." At that point it's taken out of the board's hands.
When I left after the first interview, the packet of material I had in that little canvas bag I carried out of here (showed) people had done their homework. The amount of information that had been gleaned from the staffs, the community, how that had been put together, gave those of us who were in the process a clear indication of what needs were, what hot buttons were for people and I think the board represented that very well in the questions it asked.
I don't think there's a perfect process. One of the things we're going to try to do with the principal search is very definitely (provide) a period of time for meeting the community, the staff.
The advantage I have right now is I don't know anybody. I come in pretty much with a clean slate.
I think the schedule has (a selection by) mid-March.
Q. Has the controversy over your degree changed your perception of Naperville?
A. (There are) 140,000 people in Naperville. What have you heard from - 50 or 100 at most? I'm going to bank on the fact there are a lot of other people out there who are reserving judgment, who will wait to see what I do over the course of the time I'm here.
I still know this is an extremely high-performing school district. I have expectations it should perform even higher; that it should be doing things that set it apart.
I'll tell you what I'm about at my core. If you have not read the book called "Halftime," the subtitle is ("Changing your Game Plan) from Success to Significance." It says you can basically be really successful, but what have you done that's significant?
One-third of the total population in this world is under 15 years of age. Eighty-five percent of them are in Third World countries living in abject poverty. This year 20 million of them will die as a result of starvation. Fifteen million will die for other reasons. One million young women will be forced into prostitution.
So what does that say about Naperville? What it tells me about Naperville and districts like it is that our kids represent that (other) 15 percent. The expectation for those kids is that they are a large part of the solution of what will make the life of the other 85 percent better.
The issue becomes that what ought to be driving our kids here and the job we do in educating them is that world condition right now is something they can have a huge part in contributing to and they have to think of things beyond themselves.
There's a curriculum that a friend of mine and I have developed - called Small Planet Schools. It looks at large macro themes and how those themes could be integrated through high school curriculum.
What's the second-most traded commodity in the world next to oil? It's coffee. The geopolitical factors around a cup of coffee are significant. They're huge. You could literally teach every subject out of that cup of coffee that everyone takes for granted when they go in and order their latte or whatever at Starbucks. They don't have any concept what that's about.
Taking what's happening in schools and adding that additional bit of relevance to it, letting kids project out, that's I think the burden of Naperville, the burden of any (similar district).
• Part two of the interview with incoming Naperville Unit District 203 Superintendent Mark Mitrovich runs Tuesday.
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=273663&src=76
