From law enforcer to survivalist.

Kevin Mitchell's calling card once read "criminal investigator," when his days and nights brought him to the scene of burglaries, assaults and any other felonies or misdemeanors reported to the sheriffs department in Buffalo, Wyo.

Now his professional mission is nothing less than spearheading a battle for survival of a sparsely populated school district that's trying to counter the crushing forces of demographics and finance.

Mitchell's role as superintendent of the 700-student Big Horn School District 1, located along Wyoming's northern frontier, doesn't much differ from that of any other school district leader in rural America today. But the native of Casper, Wyo., has extended his assignment voluntarily to lead statewide advocacy for public schools in the state's legislative and legal arenas.

Mitchell, who turns 47 at the end of October, is doing so as president of the regional superintendents association in northwest Wyoming and as the lone superintendent appointee to the Wyoming Department of Education's school finance data committee. He has made more than a dozen trips to Cheyenne, a seven-hour drive, during the past two years.

Most of the road trips to the state capital have been taken to challenge the school facilities commission's interpretation of a state supreme court decision to equalize public school funding across Wyoming that would leave new schools without auditoriums and adequate athletics facilities. With the state placing six of the Big Horn's school buildings on the building replacement list, Mitchell has a significant stake in the outcome.

He's also had to fight a proposed $1.5 million reduction in state funds, a whopping 20 percent of the district's budget.

"If I wasn't actively involved, someone else would be making decisions about our future," he says. "I've needed to do it so the district could survive."

Bryan Lee, the school board chair who has accompanied the superintendent on several missions to the state capital, says he admires the passion Mitchell brings to his role despite what he concedes have been "some tumultuous years." Adds Lee: "He stuck it out with us and we really appreciate that."

Especially trying has been the public rancor over the decision to consolidate three elementary schools in the northern expanse of the county, each serving a different town with its own identity, in order to qualify for the state money for a new building, which will open next fall. Mitchell, who has two small children, has taken the brunt of the abuse. "I've been called a liar [and told] I've committed fraud with the numbers," he says.

When dissident parents in a town that will forfeit both an elementary school and a high school bought a small school bus to transport 11 children to attend classes in another district, the loss only exacerbated Big Horn District l's drastic enrollment decline. The district has dropped 120 students over the past five years, or roughly 15 percent of its total.

Mitchell handles the personal attacks "amazingly," in the view of Karla Pomeroy, news editor of the weekly Lovell Chronicle, who has covered many of the district's most rancorous public meetings. "He doesn't respond in kind."

The fact Mitchell can operate in such a politically volatile environment with the confidence of a savvy veteran is somewhat remarkable given his limited tenure of just six years in the school administration ranks. He only assumed the Big Horn superintendent's job in 2001.

Colleagues suggest his eight years as a deputy sheriff and lead investigator with the Johnson County Sheriff's Department may be a major contributor to the calm but intense demeanor. During Mitchell's first career as a law enforcer, suggests Matt Davidson, the school district's curriculum director, "he had to deal with folks who differed with him. I'm sure he learned that you can't take these things personally."

Mitchell, whose grandfather was a justice of the peace, switched careers not long after marrying a music teacher who didn't appreciate her spouse being on call 24/7. He left law enforcement in 1987 to pursue a bachelor's degree before landing a post teaching middle school and coaching sports. He then spent three years as a middle school principal and Title I director in Big Horn before his appointment to the superintendency, which he initially resisted, feeling he wasn't quite ready for the top berth.

With plans in the next two years to complete his dissertation at the University of Wyoming on the superintendent's role in sharing a vision in a rural community, he may be primed for another move.

"I have concerns about keeping him" says Lee, the board chair. "He's the kind of administrator who's going to go places."

BIO STATS: Kevin Mitchell 

Currently: superintendent, Big Horn County School District 1, Cowley, Wyo.

Previously: deputy sheriff, Buffalo, Wyo.

Age: 47

Greatest influence on professional career: My wife supported me when I decided to change careers and believed in my abilities when I decided to go into administration. Her honesty and integrity is the model I strive for myself.

Best professional day: When the state legislature fully funded the new Rocky Mountain Elementary School--the result of a combined effort of many people to consolidate three elementary schools into a new school in our district.

Books at bedside: Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do! by Robert H. Schuller; Coach Wooden One-On-One by John Wooden and Jay Carty; Inspire! What Great Leaders Do by Lance Secretan

Biggest blooper: The first time I spoke before a state legislative committee I knocked over the microphone. A comical remark by the chairman of the committee eased my embarrassment and I was able to address the committee on a critical school funding issue.

A key reason I'm an AASA member: The support and camaraderie I receive.

Jay Goldman is the editor of The School Administrator. E-mail: [e-mail]