News-Record.com

In what must surely be a nod to the presidential campaign schedule, Erik "E.C." Huey wasted no time throwing his hat into the ring for Guilford County Board of Education.

Technically, he announced his planned candidacy for an at-large school board seat in Nov. 2006.

Monday he reaffirmed his pre-candidacy at a pre-campaign press conference on the sidewalk across from the Guilford County School headquarters -- about 12 weeks shy of the deadline to run for the race.

The one-reporter, one-blogger, one-candidate event was briefly interrupted by a truck trying to get into a parking space. But when he could be heard over the howling wind, Candidate Huey had some tough talk for school system.

The state Department of Public Instruction released its annual school violence report Wednesday afternoon.

Statewide, the number of violent and criminal acts increased for the fifth consecutive year to 11,013 reported incidents. That's 7.77 acts per 1,000 students -- a slight decrease from last year. Guilford County schools are below that statewide average, at 6.918 incidents per 1,000 students.

The reports notes that overall the increase in incidents comes from criminal acts not classified as "voilent" by state standards. It's an important point. But that all depends on what you consider a voilent act.

You've probably already read the stories, but I figured I should post them here, too. (I'm just dropping in to help out while Morgan is on maternity leave and Amanda takes up the mantle of both K-12 and higher education reporter.)

If you haven't read the stories yet, Grier is in the running for another superintendent's post. San Diego Unified is a 132,000-student district with a $2.2 billion budget, compared with Guilford's 71,000 students and $500 million budget.

Read Grier's statement here.

If you'll recall, Grier's gone through this dance before. In 2006, he announced he was a finalist for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg job. He withdrew the morning after meeting with community members, citing a "moral conviction" to the children in Guilford.

If you haven't checked it out yet, we have a "Debatables" blog where we pose questions on news topics. In Grier's case, "Should he stay or should he go?"

Feel free to comment here, at "Debatables," or both.

San Diego school board officials have been busy meeting in closed session about their future superintendant.

But so far they've been tight-lipped about whether Guilford County School Superintendant Terry Grier may get the job.

Last week, Grier announced he was a candidate for the position. San Diego school board members have met to discuss their candidate search in closed sessions twice since then, and are scheduled to meet again Thursday morning west coast time.

San Diego board members have given no clues about candidates they are considering or when they will reach their decision.

Grier said earlier this week that he had not yet heard from the San Diego school board.
A schools spokeswoman said Tuesday the district has no information about the potential job.

In the wake of a large fight at Grimsley High School last week, parents and community leaders are wondering how they can prevent violence in schools, and make sure every student comes to class ready to learn.

There will be an open community meeting Saturday, Dec. 22 at 10 a.m. at the Warnersville Community Center on Doak Street to discuss the fight and issues surrounding ir.