$66K Check Missing from VVSD Superintendent's Contract 'Unusual,' Attorney Says

Confusion and some concern followed a  board vote this month adding a $66,000 tuition reimbursement check to Superintendent James Mitchem's contract. 

School Board President Steven Quigley said July 16 that the tuition reimbursement for Mitchem's doctorate degree was discussed during contract negotiations but "inadvertently got left out of the contract."

The error was brought to his attention in June, Quigley said. "I feel like we're obligated to do it," Quigley said. "There is no hidden agenda."

Mitchem told Patch settled in late 2010. He said he is an educator, not a lawyer, and trusted the agreement would be included in his contract. 

Patch readers wanted to know: 

• How was the reimbursement left out of the contract? 
• Why did a year pass before the tuition reimbursement was discovered missing from the contract?
• Was it an Open Meetings Act violation that the tuition reimbursement was a verbal agreement and not spelled out in the superintendent's approved contract? 

Don Craven, whose law firm provides legal counsel to the Illinois Press Association, said the situation is "unusual." He doubted Mitchem missed the error in his contract because Mitchem was not well-versed in legalese. 

"I'm not sure if he gets out of it that way," Craven said. "That's not complicated contract language." 

But the verbal agreement is not a violation of the Open Meetings Act. 

"I doubt it was a violation of the Open Meetings Act," Craven said. "A violation would be a majority or a quorum of board members talking about things outside of an open meeting. Those conversations could have been just with one or two board members." 

The $65,658 tuition reimbursement “represents the reasonable value of tuition reimbursement for the doctoral degree on an after-tax basis,” according to school board documents. Mitchem "shall be paid a bonus of $65,658 for the 2011‐2012 school year, payable on or before Aug. 1."

An attempt to speak with Board President Steven Quigley was unsuccessful by post time. 

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