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New Naperville Unit District 203 boss says he can't be office-bound superintendent. 'I'd just die,' he says.

Posted July 19, 2009 11:00 pm

By Melissa Jenco Daily Herald Staff

Naperville Unit District 203 students may be just as likely to find Mark Mitrovich in their classrooms as in his office.

The new superintendent says he looks forward to immersing himself in the district and if being at its helm isn't enough, he'll have a District 203 parent and student living under his roof as well.

Mitrovich and his wife, Annette, daughter Annie and 3-year-old grandson Isaiah recently moved from Washington state to Naperville and are currently renting a house built by the district's building trades class while they hunt for a home of their own.

Mitrovich sat down with the Daily Herald to discuss his transition into both the city and school district. Here is an edited version of that conversation.

Q. How did the move go?

A. It was a typical move. It never goes quite how you want it to go. We ended up with some broken furniture, a 120-year-old antique. My wife and I drove out, took five days to come out, and that was nice. My daughter flew out with my grandson the Sunday we arrived. The movers showed up and we've been in the unpacking mode ever since.

We've taken some time, went to Ribfest. My wife and daughter love it. They're just really enjoying being here.

We've been fully invested in the town in that we've already been to the emergency ward at the hospital.

We were in Barnes and Noble and Isaiah and I were going up the escalator together and of course he's at that stage where he wants to do it himself. I was holding his hand and about the time I see my wife and daughter at the top of the escalator he pulls his hand down and goes right over backward down the escalator and took the edge of one of the stairs on the chin.

So we grab him, run him down to the hospital and the hospital was wonderful. We went in, they took one look at him, cleaned it up, the doctor came in and said "Oh, I glued my daughter's head together last week." She just pinches it closed, puts a little glue on it and we were out of there in half an hour and he was motoring around doing something else.

Q. Will Isaiah end up going to District 203 schools?

A. Absolutely. That will be the interesting part in that I'll have a parent living in my home in the district and a student in the district living in my house. So it'll be a real sense of reality every night when I go home.

Q. What have you learned about Naperville and/or the district so far?

A. I think there is this amazing desire to do well regardless of what it is you do that in a way becomes self-motivating, self-reinforcing. When people see other people working hard to do the right things and all of that focus to what's the best thing we can do for kids, it inspires other people to try to be better. It isn't something where you artificially have to inject it from outside, it's part of the culture here. Every day I continue to see more and more examples of that.

I'm still in that "I know just enough to be dangerous" period of time. I think that was the nice part about - let's be honest when I first came here I had my time over the barrel so to speak - but you know that really wasn't who this community was. The number of people who have contacted me, phone calls, approached me when I was here in town, wrote to me, e-mails, far outweighed any of that and you saw the real heart of this community is someplace else. That kind of falls into "this too shall pass."

One of the first trips I made back here, I sat in a meeting and every building was represented and they were talking about - what they were doing with RTI, response to intervention (ways to help students who are struggling). There was a level of the discussion, how earnest people were in their discussions and sharing from one, and you're going "wow, this is impressive."

But I also think there's an obligation that comes with it. There are a lot of issues plaguing education that we don't have to deal with here on a day-to-day basis. I've been to districts where every day is just a struggle, can I get to 3 p.m.

So it comes to how do you take what we're doing here - we really are ahead of the curve in a lot of ways - and share that out with other districts and other educators and maybe create some models and ways of doing that in the future.

That's something we have the ability to do here and - in large measure it's because of the people who are here and the people we are able to attract. We have brought some incredible people here this summer. It's going to be fun working with some of these people.

Q. Will people notice any big differences between you and retired Superintendent Alan Leis?

A. We're different personalities. That's not necessarily a good or bad thing, it just is. I don't think right at the core of things (we're different).

The board - had somebody who did a phenomenal job here and wanted to keep that going. I think he and I share passions in terms of, at the end of the day, it's all about kids. A lot of adults are involved, but the only reason the adults are here is because the kids are here. I think that's the key thing.

That was the fun thing not even being on board yet and one day I got to go teach. Jeff Van Harlingen invited me out to his class at Madison Junior High and it was a blast. That's something I hope I get to do more of because I've actually put some lessons together that kind of build on my other passion, which is not coffee per se but the reason we have (Benevolent Bean Coffee, which Mitrovich founded and puts much of its profits toward improving health and education in Ethiopia).

Having spent time in Africa and seeing true Third World situations and then you come to Naperville and the contrast could not be more dramatic. But at the end of the day the only thing that's different is geography. I don't care if you're living in a hut somewhere in southern Ethiopia - those are parents who still care about their kids and know that the key for their children is their education.

Q. What issue will provide the biggest challenge for you this year?

A. Obviously the real immediate thing is making sure all the construction projects are on time, on budget.

You listen to enough people in the district and in the community and pretty soon there are themes that start to come out. There are things I've done with some staff people here where I've said, OK give me the three burning issues for you. What are the three strengths, what are the needs?

How are we universal in the quality we produce and provide for all kids? That's a big issue. Our demographics are changing a little bit and people are sensitive to that and wondering how do we meet the needs of all kids.

On a purely educational thing, the (response to intervention) issue, how we respond to that because that's a big thing we're still going to wrestle with for a while.

I've always maintained that teachers are wonderful salespeople because they're selling the hardest thing to sell and that's themselves every single day when they stand up in front of that classroom. You think of how many professions where you have to be "on" for extended periods of time.

You are attempting to differentiate for the needs of these kids and meet them where they are. That is a highly demanding activity.

I've made the point over and over again: I can't be an office-bound superintendent. I'd just die. You get out in the buildings and you see the most amazing things.

Q. Is there anything else people should know about you?

A. I want to be out a lot of places. I don't want people to be shy about telling me what they're thinking.

I have to tell you I knew I was ready personally and professionally for a change. I guess if there's something people need to know, I have a high need for change. I'm not a static individual, I thrive on that. I can handle a level of ambiguity because that's just part of what happens with change.

The closer it came to this happening, the more enthused I got and came home and my wife said, "you're smiling more when you come home from work." The level of activity, that's great. I enjoy that immensely. Stuff comes with the job and that's part of the territory. If that puts you off, you shouldn't be there.

Naperville Unit District 203 Superintendent Mark Mitrovich says he's ready to transition back into school district life after spending the past decade in the private sector. Paul Michna | Staff Photographer

Getting to know you New Naperville Unit District 203 Superintendent Mark Mitrovich provides a peek at his life outside the office Immediate family: Wife Annette, married 34 years; sons Tim (wife Erin) and Joe (wife Katrina, daughter Alaina); daughter Annie (son Isaiah) Pets: Polly, my wife's dog, and Lily, my daughter's dog Hobbies: Playing and reading to my grandson, who lives with us; remodeling and building projects; golf (not enough); and reading (to get to sleep) Favorite book: Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure" Favorite movie: "Becket" Leader you look up to: Theodore Roosevelt Little known fact about you: Former ski instructor Most overused buzz word in the education world: Change Favorite fictional teacher from a book or movie: Mark Thackeray, teacher played by Sidney Poitier in "To Sir, With Love"

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