Place your bets on when the first major brouhaha of the Terry Grier Era will take place.
Closing small schools. Firing teachers whose students consistently fail. Tinkering with popular magnet programs.
A pile of these and other political hot potatoes is now in the lap of Terry Grier, who began work Friday as superintendent of the Houston Independent School District.
The issues are not entirely new to Grier, who has led eight other school systems, but whether he can successfully tackle them in Houston will hinge on his ability to win over the school board, teachers, parents, local politicians and the community.
“He is very personable and he is very bright,” said Gayle Fallon, the president of HISD’s largest teacher group. “If he learns the politics of Houston, he’ll do fine. If he doesn’t, it’ll eat him alive.”
This post is not intended as any kind of comment on Grier’s political skills. I don’t know nearly enough about the man to make any such comment. It’s just to note the reality of the situation, in which conflicts about certain contentious issues are expected and inevitable. The question is how long will it take till the fur starts flying, how fractious it becomes, and most importantly, how much resentment lingers afterward among those who don’t get what they wanted. The answers to those questions will determine to a large extent how we eventually assess Grier’s tenure.
A teacher’s life has been now threatened (Dr. Grier’s most recent professional post/San Diego).
As much as I love (Austin) Texas (non-native, passed through for work for 2 weeks)… I graduated in ’88 from San Diego ‘unified school district’, haved lived/put child through public schooling in Honolulu/Seattle/San Fran (east bay (highest rated)/South Dakota/San Diego (again), the SDUSD has failed, cumalatively, for a decade. Dr. Grier was ‘the INTELLIGENT’ breath of fresh air’… and he left.
You gain, TX. He has the ‘credentials.’ He has the ‘drawl.’ Dialect/cultural assessments aside, he unequivacably ‘fits.’ Moreoever, there is the major ‘headline’ article from Sunday’s Los Angeles Times about his ‘fitting/non-fit’.
Wake Up. Parents, adminstrators, teachers – regardless of fear of ‘retribution’ – SPEAK. Teacher’s Unions are new to me… clearly, very powerful… and very DAMAGING, politically.
I am uninterested in politics – any level. I am most interested in teachers NOT ‘sleeping in their cars’ — break or not —- Change is not ‘fun’ — and I am not interested in a popularity contest…
Why do you work for kids? ANSWER and WORK. People are getting HURT and are SCARED – DAILY! DEAL! NOW!!! You no longer have the luxery of ‘hiding’
Dr. Grier is an incredibly positive force, who cares about change. He is the voice for the student. He should win multiple awards for his (both) recognized and unmeasured/undetected measures.
He is the positive movement, that parents, staff, and volunteers recognize. He should be recognized.
As a parent in San Diego Unified, I observed Dr. Grier for 18 months. Conclusion: he;s not a bureaucrat. He is an educator whose cares about students. He instituted positive changes for our kids. I deeply regret that he went to Houston. It is a great loss for our kids.