Re: San Diego Gets Data Driven Boss

[Rich Gibson <rgibson@pipeline.com>]

Here are some comments about Grier from his Guilford County days.

http://erikhuey.wordpress.com/2007/11/09/terry-grier-speaks-to-ednews/

Comment #3 (Posted by Stormy) Rating:
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I live in Guilford County, and I can tell you 
that this is the biggest piece of propaganda that 
I have ever seen. Public schools in this county 
are a joke under his ?leadership?.



Comment #4 (Posted by another Guilford Co. resident) Rating:
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Stormy took the words right out of my mouth! 
Terry B. Grier is concerned with ONE thing and 
that?s his resume. He doesn?t mention the failing 
rate on his AP exams. Sure, anyone can be forced 
to take it but the majority of the kids in the 
district are failing it?at the expense of the 
taxpayers. Terry Grier loves a grant. He will 
rename a school just to get federal funding but 
the school is failing miserably inside. He touts 
his successes at the expense of the kids that are 
being overlooked and hidden in numbers and 
statistics. Terry Grier is nothing more than a 
magician than can fool an entire country! Any 
reader, please come visit the failing schools in 
Guilford county. We have several schools on the 
list for being shut down! We have one of the 
poorest performing schools in the entire nation! 
We have gangs, we have drugs, we have a joke of a 
system. It?s not by accident that Guilford County 
has one of the biggest home-schooling groups in 
the nation. Please don?t believe everything you 
read. I live here and it?s very sad.



Comment #5 (Posted by gc parent) Rating:
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What a joke! Instead of interviewing the magician 
behind the curtain himself (Grier), why don?t you 
do some investigative reporting in his school 
district? He says the drop out rate is 2.9% yet 
only about 2/3 of the students graduate. Look at 
the number of students PASSING AP exams - not at 
the number TAKING AP exams. If only a very small 
percentage pass, then all you?ve done is waste taxpayer money.

<http://www.hueyforguilfordschoolboard.org>E.C.
:)










At 04:52 PM 1/19/2008, you wrote:
> 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
>  -------------- Original message ----------------------
> 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
> > []
> >
> > <http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20080119-1400-bn19supe.html#>
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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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