Mitrovich declined to comment when reached by phone.
According to Centerville City Schools files, the reason he was placed on paid administrative leave was to investigate a check that Fairhaven Church made out to Mitrovich personally in payment for a catering event he and Centerville students worked. Centerville schools’ policy is to charge for the cost of materials, according to the files.
Notes from a meeting between Centerville schools administrators and Mitrovich stated Mitrovich said he used the personal checks to compensate himself and also donated part of the money back into the culinary program.
“I’ve been doing this forever and it’s never been a problem before,” Mitrovich allegedly said during the meeting, according to the notes.
Centerville administrators said these actions could violate state law and the state ethical code of conduct, since Mitrovich was representing himself as a cost and benefiting from Centerville schools’ brand, according to meeting notes.
After he was placed on leave, Centerville schools found additional financial problems. Mitrovich was allegedly using the school’s credit card, which he accessed to order items for the culinary class, to purchase items for other teachers, such as a generator for the environmental science class and a vacuum.
“I understand the need for the equipment, but Mark has no authority to make those decisions for other programs (friends), which is the center point of all the issues,” Centerville superintendent Jon Wesney said in an email to other Centerville school employees. “A generator purchase should have generated several questions such as storage, fuel, etc. There is a reason why maintenance stores all the generators here in the maintenance garage.”
Despite Kroger being set up as a vendor through the school, Mitrovich was allegedly using his personal Kroger Boost account to order groceries for the class and get them delivered, and bought items from Sam’s Club. Kroger Boost comes with additional fuel points so Mitrovich may have been personally benefiting off school purchases.
Mitrovich began working at Centerville schools in 2009. Sarah Swan, a spokeswoman for the district, said the school’s culinary program was already set to be phased out at the end of the year due to board-approved reductions after a previous levy attempt failed.
“The district currently has a substitute in place and has also posted for a long-term Culinary Arts substitute to fulfill the position for the remainder of the school year,” Swan said. “This is the standard operating practice.”
Mitrovich was previously given a letter of reprimand in 2021 for not following the district’s masking policy several times during school events.
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