Mitchem Nearly Complete With Superintendent Certification

When the Valley View school board members unanimously voted to make Jim Mitchem the district’s next superintendent, it did so assuming he would complete his superintendent certification from Argosy University.

Mitchem, school officials say, is on pace to complete that course work this month.

In November, Mitchem completed and passed the Test 187 Superintendent’s state exam and scored a 280. And on April 24, Mitchem will apply and pay for his superintendent’s endorsement, which would satisfy the requirements needed to be Valley View’s next superintendent.

Mitchem was . He will replace current Superintendent Phillip Schoffstall beginning July 1.

In October, Quigley said that should Mitchem fail to complete the requirements before July 1, the district would be forced to look elsewhere for a superintendent. 

Mitchem has been busy since his promotion, .

In recent months, the board has that will make up Mitchem's senior staff. Mitchem propsed—and the board ultimately approved an administrative shakeup in December that he said would bring an added sense of administrative accountability and greater uniformity across schools, in terms of best practices.

That restructuring will cost roughly $140,000 in additional administrative salary, Mitchem said.

Mitchem's contract is for a minimum of three years and he is set to make $199,000 annually in base salary. Schoffstall, in comparison, made $245,744 this year.

Mitchem will walk into a tough situation when he begins his duties as superintendent.

Valley View schools—as is the case with most schools throughout Illinois—are owed a significant sum of money from the state and figure to to be financially shorted until the state's budget problem is fixed.

At the board's last meeting, school officials said the state still holds an IOU to Valley View for $8.6 million.

On top of that, Valley View has over the last two years and more cuts are expected this year.