School District 203: February 2009 Archives

State Rep. Darlene Senger says she plans to introduce a bill that would allow school boards to remove from school any student charged with a felony and awaiting legal proceeding, and place them in an alternative school program until the matter is resolved.

The proposal comes in response to an incident at Gregory Middle School where two students are charged with sexually assaulting a classmate. Because the students have not been convicted of any crime, the accused and the alleged victim still attend the same school. The parents of the alleged victim and other community members have asked the district to move the accused to a different school.

Board President Mark Metzger said there is nothing the school could do under current law, but many district residents believe the district already has all the authority it needs to make a change.

Do you approve of this proposed law? Is it necessary? How do you feel about the district's handling of the situation?

Naperville School District 203 on Monday named Mark Mitrovich to replace the retiring Alan Leis as superintendent.

Mitrovich, who agreed to a three-year contract at $203,000 per year, is the co-founder of EdGate, a company that provides K-12 solutions to improve student performance via the Internet. He has served as the company's chief education officer for the past 10 years. He has also worked as a consultant to Microsoft, Apple and other technology firms, and is the developer of Total Reader, a Web-based reading assessment program for K-20 for both the education and business worlds.

Prior to embarking on his business career, Mitrovich logged 30 years as an educator, serving as a high school principal, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and, eventually, superintendent of Peninsula School District, a 15-school district in Gig Harbor, Wash., that is touted as one of the state's most innovative systems. He left that position in 1999.

What do you think of this choice of Mitrovich?