Re: San Diego Gets Data Driven Boss

[MONICALUCIDO@comcast.net]

What I want to know is, why was he fired initially? Also, (as if I didn't already know), what are his "controversial" tactics? Scaring the crap out of teachers and students while promising bliss to the roundtables?

Joe Lucido
EPATA
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From: Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>
> http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20080119-1400-bn19supe.html#sosd_co
> mments
> 
> Grier tabbed as San Diego Unified's new superintendent
> []
> 
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> 
> By Helen Gao
> UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
> 
> 2:00 p.m. January 19, 2008
> 
> Terry Grier, a North Carolina native who has been at the helm of 
> seven public school systems throughout the country in the past 23 
> years, has been tapped to lead the San Diego Unified School District.
> 
> After months of meeting behind closed doors to select a 
> superintendent, the school board voted unanimously Saturday to hire 
> the 57-year-old educator, who started his career as a biology and 
> health-education teacher.
> 
> Grier's name has been swirling around as a leading contender for the 
> San Diego superintendent's job since he publicly acknowledged in 
> early December that he was interviewing for it.
> 
> For the past seven years, he has been the head of Guilford County 
> Schools, the third largest system in North Carolina with 71,400 
> students. Guilford is about half the size of San Diego Unified, the 
> second largest district in California with about 135,000 students.
> 
> "My colleagues and I are thrilled to welcome Dr. Grier to San Diego," 
> board president Katherine Nakamura said in a written statement. "He 
> is an innovative educational leader with a strong commitment to 
> community outreach and an unparalleled work ethic.
> 
> "His focus on data-driven instruction and the use of technology to 
> help all students succeed are exactly what we are seeking in a 
> superintendent. Beyond that, he is a truly gracious and kind 
> individual, who always remembers that people come first and that our 
> children come first of all."
> 
> California is not a completely unfamiliar place to Grier, who was 
> superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District in the 
> mid- 1990s. He was fired after 18 months by the school board there 
> without explanation and later went to court to defend his reputation.
> 
> Grier has long since recovered from that setback and is now a star 
> educator in North Carolina.
> 
> The North Carolina School Boards Association and the Association of 
> School Administrators named him Superintendent of the Year in 2007. 
> The year before, he was one of three finalists to lead 
> Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, North Carolina's largest district with 
> about 135,000 students.
> 
> Under Grier's leadership, Guilford County Schools have made 
> significant academic strides. The dropout rate has declined by half 
> to 3 percent. The percentage of high school students graduating in 
> four years has gone up to about 80 percent from 66 percent. 
> Guilford's dropout and graduation rates are now among the best when 
> compared to other urban districts in North Carolina.
> 
> The number of students taking college-level Advanced Placement exams 
> has gone up to 8,393 in 2007 from 2,864 in 2000.
> 
> Parents say Grier is the type who is not afraid to shake up the 
> status quo and undertake bold initiatives that are controversial.
> 
> Guilford is the first school system in North Carolina to pilot a pay 
> structure that provides substantial financial incentives for top 
> educators to work in low-performing high-poverty schools. Under what 
> is dubbed the Mission Possible program, principals and teachers, who 
> specialize in certain subjects, such as math and reading, can earn up 
> to $18,000 a year in annual incentives.
> 
> John Graham, who has two children in Guilford schools, started out as 
> one of Grier's harshest critics, but over time, he's become a raving 
> fan, he said.
> 
> "He's quite a catch. If you don't like change, you are not going to 
> like him," Graham said.
> 
> Grier succeeds Carl Cohn, a high-profile educator who joined San 
> Diego Unified in October 2005 and stepped down at the end of 
> December, 18 months before his contract was due to end.
> 
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