District 203 Superintendent in Running for Bellevue Washington Top Spot

 provided the following information. Links and notes provided by Bellevue Patch staff: 

The Bellevue School Board has announced the top three finalists for the position of superintendent and will interview the three candidates within the week. The Board narrowed the applicant field to three finalists in an interview session on Saturday. 

The three finalists are:

• Dr. Mark Mitrovich has been the Superintendent of the Naperville Community Unit School District since 2009—a district with more than 17,000 students. (Bellevue Patch note: ) Prior to his role with Naperville, Mitrovich served as Chief Academic Officer for EDmin.com, a web-based student assessment, technology use and implementation software company.  He was Chief Executive Officer and co-founded Ed-Gate, an educational software company which later merged with Edmin.com.  Prior to EdGate, Dr. Mitrovich served as superintendent for the Peninsula School District in Gig Harbor and was the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for the Kennewick School District.  He has served as a principal in the Clarkston School district and started his career as a teacher working in the Shelton, Oak Harbor, Dayton and Central Valley School Districts.  He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington, a master’s degree from Eastern Washington University and his PH.D from the University of Santa Barbara.  Mitrovich will interview in Bellevue on Wednesday, May 23. 
  
• Dr. Alex P. Apostle has been the Superintendent of Missoula County Public Schools since July 2008, a district of 8,400 students.  Prior to Missoula, Apostle served as Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education in the Tacoma Public Schools.  Apostle also served as Principal of Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma, Riverview High School in the Finley Public Schools near Kennewick, Sedro-Woolley High School in Sedro-Woolley, and Liberty High School in Issaquah.  Apostle holds a bachelor’s degree in physical education and science from the University of Puget Sound His master's is in secondary education and he holds Ed.S. and Ph.D. degrees in educational administration from the University of Idaho. Apostle will interview in Bellevue on Tuesday, May 22.
• Dr. Justin (Tim) Mills has been the Superintendent of the North Clackamas School District in Oregon since 2009—a district serving more than 17,000 students.  Prior to his role in Oregon, Mills was superintendent in the Mesa Valley County (22,000 students) and Brush Public School Districts—both in Colorado.  He served as a middle school principal and assistant principal in Mesa Valley County and began his career as a teacher in Colorado and Arizona.  Mills holds his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Colorado and his Ed.D from Nova Southeastern University.  Mills will interview in Bellevue on Thursday, May 24.

The candidates will each visit Bellevue, Wash. within the week to participate in a day long interview process which will include several community forums to meet the public.

Each candidate will participate in a day-long interview process which will begin with a morning community forum.  After the morning community forum, the candidate will meet with various staff groups, interview with the School Board and participate in an evening community forum. 

A Community Observer Panel of ten stakeholders will observe each candidate in a School Board interview and the evening community forum and provide their feedback to the Board to aid in their decision.  Morning and evening community forums have been scheduled to provide parents several opportunities to meet the candidates. 

The detailed interview schedule, location and photos for each candidate can be found at www.bsd405.org through various links from the front page.