For Dr. James Mitchem ’75, developing an education system in which students who are deemed at-risk are positioned for post education success has been his life’s work. He states it comes down to what we truly believe about all kids.

“The long-term impact is still to be had, but the change in our district over 10 past years is grounded in what we believe about children,” Mitchem says in a 2020 interview. “We changed our mindframe from that of a fixed mindset to that of a growth mindset. This mindset change is critical to ensuring we maximize the learning potential of all kids despite cultural and socioeconomic background.”

An educator for 40 years and superintendent of the sixth largest school district in the state of Illinois for the last nine, Mitchem retired this summer. He continues consulting with school districts in diversity and equity measures. 

Mitchem’s initiatives as Valley View School District (VVSD) superintendent generated improved outcomes and decreased the achievement gap for at-risk populations in the Chicago suburbs. This began with his support of accountability once shouldered by families and students shifting to the education system. “It’s about holding the system accountable for those kids and their success,” he says. “We eliminate the excuses for why we’re not meeting the needs of kids, especially those who are at-risk, to include low income, special needs and minority students.”

Mitchem recognizes it’s a significant change that educators and the system are grappling with. “It is a fundamental shift in the education system, so that we as educators look at kids’ failure as our failure,” he says. “We have to see that somehow we didn’t meet the needs of those kids through our educational delivery systems.” 

Mitchem began his career in the Valley View School District as a physical education and health teacher and then became dean of students from 1980 to 1995. He left the district for three years accepting the position of Director of Athletic Academic Advising at DePaul University. Dr. Mitchem then returned to VVSD and served in the positions of high school assistant principal, middle school principal and high school principal, completing his career as the superintendent of schools.

His path to the Chicago area began on the basketball courts of Albuquerque; and in a home with six siblings near Our Lady of Fatima Church. Mitchem attended Highland High School and played basketball there as a freshman and sophomore, but he became disillusioned with the program. He transferred to St. Pius X High School his junior year hoping to play for Coach Lincoln Galassini ‘65, SPX coach from 1971-1981. He wasn’t allowed to play that year, caught up in what was called a recruiting scandal. He would have to wait for his senior year to play his first year of varsity basketball.

Despite the wait, he joined the one other African American student in a student body of about 600 at St. Pius X. Smaller and much less diverse than Highland, Mitchem said you could not pick a small group just like yourself to hang out with to create a world of your own. “At St. Pius you were exposed, everyone knew everyone,” he says. “It helped me with the belief that there are people out there that don’t look like me who genuinely care about others. I developed a trust in humanity that I didn’t have before. It helped me develop holistically as a person, to be exposed to a world I was not exposed to previously.”

“St. Pius was wonderful academically and athletically for me,” he adds. “I was taken in with open arms and developed a lot of friendships.”

Even before playing a game his senior year, Mitchem was considered a top player in the state and received his first recruiting letter from Tulane University. By his senior year he had his own student fan club, the Mitchem Muggers. “I was a little full of myself at the time,” he remembers. “If there’s one year I could go back to in my childhood, it would be senior year at St. Pius when I was some famous kid in Albuquerque.”

“St. Pius was a godsend because it altered my trajectory in life,” he says. “I was going nowhere at Highland. St. Pius saw something in me.”

Mitchem narrowed his college basketball choices to the University of Denver and DePaul University. He chose Denver and played two years before the school decided to move from NCAA Division I to Division II. At that time, he transferred to DePaul in Chicago where he majored in education. 

He and his team at DePaul found great success. Starting at center/forward, Mitchem reached the 1979 NCAA Division I College Basketball Tournament where DePaul beat USC, Marquette and UCLA, ranked No. 2 in the country. Mitchem then went up against Larry Bird and Indiana State in the Final Four. DePaul lost by two, 76-74, and two nights later Magic Johnson’s Michigan State beat Indiana State for the championship.

Mitchem’s skill afforded him the opportunity to be drafted and try out for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. “But I realized quickly that the difference between a very good college athlete and a professional was huge,” he says. “I could play the game as well as them, but they were always a step faster, jumped an inch higher, and a little quicker. It was an innate ability. I had maximized my physical ability and was still a level below. My pride didn’t allow me to see that then, but with maturity and in hindsight, I realized my limitations.”

He credits athletics for his success in education and in his career. “Basketball was my route,” he says. “I used that to get my education and that education has built a nice life and retirement.”

Mitchem earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education and a master’s degree in educational leadership at DePaul. He went on to earn a doctorate in educational leadership at Argosy University.

Mitchem, a father of six children, says his own academic experiences were traditional, and at Catholic school those traditions were even stricter. “The level of accountability on kids was high, but I didn’t have any issues with academics, so I did fine,” he says. “Education today is much more heterogeneous. There are far more kids identified as at-risk that we are having to educate. It is a huge challenge and it is my life’s work.”