New superintendent greets District 203 teachers

It wasn't students who were boarding buses Monday for their first day of school, but teachers.

Roughly 1,500 Naperville Unit District 203 faculty members and administrators gathered to launch the school year with new Superintendent Mark Mitrovich.

"The standard that has been set here as a community by you as educators resonates far beyond the borders of this school district, far beyond the borders of the state of Illinois," Mitrovich told them. "Because of that it is very humbling to come here and accept the responsibility of being your superintendent."

He talked to the teachers about the changing face of education. Instead of being constrained by time and location, technology has created a culture of any time, anywhere, any way, he said, and challenged the educators to embrace those changes.

"The world we know has changed dramatically and if you cannot adjust to the change we're going to struggle," Mitrovich said. "We're going to struggle individually, we're going to struggle collectively."

He also urged teachers to help their students look beyond their own backyards and cited his own Benevolent Bean Coffee company, which puts much of its profits toward improving health and education in Ethiopia.

Of the world's seven billion people, he said, one-third are 15 or younger. Of those, 80 percent live in poverty. Naperville, he said, has to consider its role as part of the other 20 percent.

"I'm going to challenge you, to tell you if our goal in educating children that come to us is to simply replicate their lives in (District) 203, then we have failed miserably," he said. "Because the answer for the 80 percent of the world is with the 20 percent."

Monday was the first time the district had gathered all its certified staff at once for the annual welcome back event. The group filled the auditorium of Evangelical Free Church of Naperville.

Madison Junior High vocal music teacher Carmen Ceresa said she is looking forward to seeing her students this week and enjoyed Mitrovich's pep talk.

"Dr. Mitrovich seems to be a really intelligent man and I think he has a great vision for where we're going to be going here in the next few years," she said.

Dave Griffith, president of the Naperville Unit Education Association, also addressed the teachers and said even after all his years in the district he is still in awe of their dedication.

He asked new District 203 teachers to stand and be recognized.

"You will learn our culture and you will carry our banner forward," he told them. "The rest of us has the responsibility to pass the traditions of excellence and innovations on to you."

District 203's 18,000 students begin classes Wednesday.