Mitrovich made seven trips here before taking helm
Mark Mitrovich got a jump on his new role as Naperville Unit District 203 superintendent by making seven trips to the district from his home near Tacoma, Wash., before officially taking the helm.
Doing so cost the district almost $31,000, but both Mitrovich and the school board president say it was money well spent.
They say the visits allowed Mitrovich to attend board meetings, meet district and community leaders and learn about ongoing issues and projects in the district.
"When I got here (earlier this month) it was like all you've done is move from being part-time to full-time," Mitrovich said. "Knowing a lot of people here in the district, knowing the building people, what the major issues were, being able to sit in on meetings ... and not sitting there going, 'I don't know what you're talking about.' I think regardless of who it was, it was a great investment."
Mitrovich spent 26.5 days in the district over seven trips from the time he was hired in mid-February to the time he took over July 1. He was paid for each day based on his $203,000 annual salary for a total of $20,690 and reimbursed for travel expenses of $10,267, according to Dave Zager, assistant superintendent for finance.
The incoming superintendent traveled on Alaska Airline and stayed at the Naperville Holiday Inn Select during his visits.
School board President Mike Jaensch said making so many trips showed Mitrovich's commitment to the district and reinforced the board's positive view of him.
He said the visits allowed Mitrovich to take part in hiring several new principals and the district's new head of curriculum.
"It was very important for Mark to be involved in this stuff and he was," Jaensch said. "It would have been shortsighted for us not to provide resources to get him out here."
Mitrovich said he is grateful to his predecessor Alan Leis, the board and community for helping him get acclimated over the past several months.
"I can't think you could have made the transition any smoother," he said. "It's allowed me to kind of hit the ground running."