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Amanda,

It's all very really simple. If the school board has any interest in passing the school bonds, they must conduct an open, participative interviewing and hiring process for new superintendent. Include the people in the process in the manner that Charlotte did awhile back. We don't need a dog and pony show from the board trying to establish what the credentials should be. Heaven help us, if the board doesn't know what makes a good superintendent. Once some qualified candidates have been identified, conduct a public interviewing process so that the people feel that they helped make the hiring decision. I've been with organizations where this process was used to hire a manager, and it gives everyone some buy-in with the ultimate winner. If the public isn't involved in the decision, then it isn't their decision, and you have another Grier situation.

Amanda,

You may recall that Mitch Johnson did the dog and pony show giving the appearance that the public had input into what they wanted in a new police chief. The problem was that everyone already knew that he had decided to hire Tim Bellamy and the meetings were dishonest. So, let's don't have the same farce in the hiring of the new superintendent. That will do nothing to build trust that is needed badly by this school board, especially if they have nay hopes of getting the school bonds passed..

Now

Get ready for the I was not a Nazi Polka

We were only following orders
Administrators will come out of the woodwork explaining how Grier controlled everything they said,did and released.
We had to suppress discipline numbers.
I was directed to only release these certain statistics
Required to move students on ready or not
We gammed the numbers
You cannot expel.

Etc

What kind of Superintendent do teachers like me want??

One that will allow principals to do OSS (Out-of-School-Suspensions) rather than have chronic offenders sit in the office waiting room and do work on a clipboard! The more OSS we give, the more the parents are inconvenienced. Hate to say it but sometimes this is the only way to get parents to do their job.

One that will allow lazy kids who've done nothing all year long to get left back while their peers move on to the next grade.

One that will get our social workers back so we can effectively deal with all the "home problems" these kids have.

One that will keep our SROs in middle and high school. Heck, we could even get a few SROs for the roughest elementary schools. Kids are less apt to act up if there's an armed police officer @ their school.

One that will hire more TAs so teachers aren't @ school till 6 PM. Been there, done that. I've had no assistant for 2 years!

One that won't spend $120K/yr on a Statistician to tell teachers what they already know.

One that won't force teachers to use "dummy-proof" lesson plans like Math Initiative.

One that won't allow the Reading program to be in a constant state of flux. In 2 years, we've gone from teaching "Literacy First" to teaching "GCS Reads", "Guilford Reads", and finally something call "Frameworks", which is nothing more than a hybrid of "4-Block" and "Literacy First".

One that won't waste millions of taxpayer dollars on dropout prevention programs. I mean really, how much are we going to cater to these young people whose parents don't give a rip if they stay in school? When I was growing up, those who dropped out were shunned as total loosers. Some went back to night school to get their GED. That's what I call "keeping it simple".

One who won't cost the citizen of Guilford Co. $350K/yr. in salary, perks, and benefits.

Any other Guilford Co. teachers out there? Feel free to chime in......

One thing that the critics correctly pointed out about the GCS under Grier was the astonishingly large number of initiatives but the lack of follow-through on many of these.

The GCS should be innovative; however, it also needs to be smart and cost-effective with any changes. One quality that would be great in the next superintendent would be to continue proposing initiatives but

• be more selective -- there has to be a sense of strategic direction; moreover, having too many new things going on (especially) when they come from the top down rather than from the bottom up leads to poor implementation;
  
• commit to these initiatives -- if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well and giving it the opportunity to succeed; but
  
• place sunset clauses on untested or controversial ones -- experiments are not universally successful; the process can lead to great outcomes over time but will invariably include some failures; finally,
  
• evaluation is crucial -- it's not possible to evaluate every change; however, big initiatives should budget and plan for a comprehensive evaluation; rigorously documenting the success or failure of initiatives is necessary for good decision-making down the road; the GCS has two big advantages in this regard; first, it is large enough that it can try initiatives at a pretty large scale while still only affecting a subset of students (this permits a later comparison of students, teachers, schools, etc. that were and were not affected); second, the GCS can draw on the resources of excellent and independent university faculty skilled in conducting program evaluation.
  

A more terse description of this strategy is try but verify.

Are there exemplar public school systems of comparable size or a little smaller taking the tough love approach? If so, a tangible answer to your question is to identify these systems and lobby for their Superintendents to be interviewed.

Identify exemplar public school systems taking a tough love approach and lobby for the leadership of these systems to be interviewed by name. This is a tangible, meaningful answer to your question.

Perfect Candidate ... visionary, knows the system, firm but flexible ... Dr. Terry Worrell comes to mind. I hope she applies.

We want a leader that does not put fear into their employees.
-get discipline back in the classroom- every middle and hs should have an ISS teacher paid for by the county
-understand that the good kids have a right to learn in a peaceful and safe environment. The troublemakers rights don't supercede the kids that follow the rules
-leave SRO's in schools, however if the officer doesn't now how to pro-actively act with students they are the wrong fit
-welcome parents into the school and into the true discussion about the school.
-Once a good principal is found for a school, quit moving them around. If a vacany happens don't move three around and then hire one... just hire one and leave the others where they are working, if it is a good fit.
-Let parents interview top canidates as well as some students
-show all stats, not just the positve
-review and be clear about ongoing programs before implementing new ones
-being inovative is good, but don't rush everything- when you start something new do so with plenty of time to do it correctly
-when you start something new (spanish in Elementary) be crystal clear what has to go- it seems like many on our BOE don't have a clue about how a school day is run
-work well with business community (something Terry excelled at)
-Never, Never, Never start a new school in the middle of a year-- it is horrible for the learning process, the kids and costs much more than the staff lets on

As a former teacher in GCS, I can only say...darn, two years too late!!!!! I liked it there, and I loved the students, but there was no support to get anything done in school or beyond. It was impossible to discipline the students who needed it, because when it was attempted there would be very little support or recourse from the administration (fear from Grier). It was a shame that the best way to educate that he and the school board could devise was one that was based on appeasement and number smudging. What many of the the communities need is a system that provides a firm hand, not another shoulder on which to cry. Too many excuses make up the current state of things in GCS, and if it can be fixed (may take a few years and some definite growing pains) the schools could serve as models of growth for the communities. The lack of support and the inability to do the right thing left me no choice but to leave, but hopefully (for the children and teachers who care) GCS can find a leader who will empower the ones who can truly make a difference and keep teachers there who really care and do the right things.

As a former teacher in GCS, I can only say...darn, two years too late!!!!! I liked it there, and I loved the students, but there was no support to get anything done in school or beyond. It was impossible to discipline the students who needed it, because when it was attempted there would be very little support or recourse from the administration (fear from Grier). It was a shame that the best way to educate that he and the school board could devise was one that was based on appeasement and number smudging. What many of the the communities need is a system that provides a firm hand, not another shoulder on which to cry. Too many excuses make up the current state of things in GCS, and if it can be fixed (may take a few years and some definite growing pains) the schools could serve as models of growth for the communities. The lack of support and the inability to do the right thing left me no choice but to leave, but hopefully (for the children and teachers who care) GCS can find a leader who will empower the ones who can truly make a difference and keep teachers there who really care and do the right things.

I hope that a superintendent comes along to assist the women currently in leadership positions (in some cases extremely young and immature) in developing effective leadership skills.

This has been a constant issue with those who are principals! It seems that a large number of young women ( I am a female also) were appointed to leadership positions of which they are not capable of handling. In addition, these females have been putty in the hands of Grier.

It will be interesting to see how many of these types of leaders survive in an environment where they have to use their own leadership skills instead of relying on a guesswork on how to effectively work with students and families from ALL backgrounds.

I support much of what Dave Ribar and Deborah posted. I think one of the qualities that made Dr. Grier so polarizing is that he is a highly political person who implemented many initiatives that weren't necessarily effective or supported. While I'm not naive to think that his replacement shouldn't have political savvy and community connections, his politicism came across as untrustworthy and motivated by personal gain rather than real educational policy and reform.

Mirroring the current presidential elections, I think most people want a leader who will be a uniter.

The teachers and GCS staff have to feel that the new superintendent will be open to their suggestions and not retributive of those who speak up. We need as many people within GCS, including parents, encouraged to work together on solving the tough problems facing us.

New initiatives, while still needed to boost those students underperforming, have to also be available to challenge those students already performing at or above grade level.

A GCS education pales in comparison to those who have relocated from places like the northeast and elsewhere. But efforts to improve must be focused on real improvement gains, rather than mostly shallow, quantiative metrics.

I think many of the specific suggestions by others might be summarized as seeking real accountability and effectiveness. Let's focus on initiatives that improve academic achievement and report the results from a qualitative perspective. It is amazing to listen to numerous board and staff discussions that have nothing to do with academics but rather deal with peripheral issues.

Finally, student behavior improvements are needed that address disciplinary problems without impeding those students who abide by the rules.

Great comments everyone, I agree with just about everything that has been said here...see:
http://erikhuey.wordpress.com/2008/01/20/what-we-need-in-a-new-school-chief/

I'm a GCS high school teacher, and one of my biggest complaints about Terry Grier was his implementation of Benchmarks and Pacing Guides. While I think it's important to honor the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, I do not need day-by-day lesson plans to tell me how to do my job. All teachers have gone to college and many have graduate degrees...trust us to do the job you hired us to do.

In doing so, we need to also omit the constant oppression of testing that is nauseating and heinous on the students and teachers. Quarterly benchmarks and writing benchmarks (resulting in up to 12 days of instruction lost each year) are unnecessary and burdensome. Students become inured to testing and no longer take it as seriously, causing scores to actually drop than rise. (Not to mention the county benchmarks are some of the most poorly written tests I have ever seen. It would be really interesting for Dr. Grier to take them...how well would he do?)

Finally, I agree with the previous poster who disagreed with social promotion. If a student is not ready to move on to the next grade level, then he or she should not be "pushed" along because of "No Child Left Behind." It would be ideal if every high schooler could graduate in 4 years, but until a more universal curriculum that supports all kinds of learners (not just the academic ones) is established, then it's unrealistic to assume a student destined to be an electrician needs mastery of literary terms and subject/verb agreement.

Terry Grier manages people exceptionally well up the ladder of power and not so well (even poorly) down the ladder. People in the business community, most school board members, and some central staff/principals respect him. Down the ladder, he lost most parents, many teachers and other central staff/principals. Is it possible to find a candidate who would value all stakeholders' opinions? Are there any superintendents in the U.S.who currently model that behavior? Would the school board be willing to hire someone who models that behavior? Is it even in to school board's best interest to hire someone like that?

well, i have to look at this from a slightly different approach. it just occurred to me that grier's leaving may help the falling housing market here in guilford county. he was a definite negative to anyone who did their research of the school system in this county. maybe some of those san diego folks will just move this way to get far away from him once he starts destroying their schools as he did ours. the sad thing though, is to know that the school board here who hired him... will be on the look out for another one just like him to fill his shoes. i dare say they were happy with the job he was doing. too bad the parents were not.

I would like to suggest that the school board members go into the classrooms (not just a quick walk through) to see what is happening and listen to the teachers.
Also, with so many teacher assistant positions being cut back it is hard for a teacher to give twenty plus children the education they deserve. There are constant disruptions in a classroom that a good teacher assistant takes care of, not to mention the small group instruction and numerous other duties they perform that benefit our children.

I spent over 25 years working within the Guilford County Schools for an outside vendor. I saw teacher morale erode under Grier's leadership in a manner that should have told the school board that something was wrong. I saw many top-notch principals retire as they perceived they were not among the anointed few. I saw new programs and initiatives rolled out every few weeks and minimal or no follow-up. I saw parents and children who had no respect for the school system any longer.

What is needed in the next superintendent is consistent support for the teachers and school administrators. A superintendent who will insist on strict discipline is essential. Someone who listens to all the people would be a remarkable change.

I hold little hope of this happening as the school board will probably select the candidate who strokes their ego the most.

I agree with previous comments. I believe our next Superintendent also needs to have knowledge of special education and and the importance of preschool intervention. My child is fully mainstreamed and this is only because of the intervention he received from GCS preschool exceptional childrens program. It just always appeared to my husband and I that the preschool department was on the bottom of the totem pole. Research has proven that early intervention can save school systems thousands of dollars. Let's hope we can find a Superintendent that cares about special eduation, the children and the the teachers that educate these children.

I like Jim's suggestion of finding a similar school system and seeing how they do it. That might be a good way to see how Guilford County trully stacks up.

As long as we are looking for the ultimate superintendent, let's make sure that he/she has an understanding of advanced learners and will hire people who have some educational background that applies to that population of students. The AL Dept is suffering since the retirement of Ann Barr.

I would like to see a GCS Superintendent and Board of Education comprised of parents of school-aged children and former teachers/principals, people who actually spend time in the classroom or have a vested interest (their own children) in the schools. Current GCS Leadership is out of touch with teachers, students and parents

As a parent volunteer for the past 3 years in my child's elementary school I have seen first-hand the detrimental effects of two bad Grier decisions. The first was the removal of full-time assistants while class-size remained the same or actually increased in a lot of schools. Teachers need assistants to effectively deal with discipline-problems, to give struggling students the extra attention they need, as well as to keep those students who are progressing well adequately challenged. Anyone who spends time in the schools can see this for themselves.

The second bad decision was the cut in Arts Education. My child comes home several times a week complaining that he won't have art or music that week. It is baffling to me how an early elementary student values the arts but our Superintendent and Board of Education do not. Perhaps if they were parents of school-age children their children would be able to explain it to them.

We need a Superintendent and School Board who listen to teachers, principals, students and parents. We need leaders who put students first, not test scores or politics.

We need a superintendent that will take responsibility for the district's failures. How man people remember Terry Grier's usual line when challenged about a failure..."I was only doing what the board asked me to do".

Great comments by all. A top priority is finding a leader who will help bring order, respect and discipline back to our classrooms. The teachers need to be in charge of the classrooms the student need to KNOW who is in charge. The adimistrative must be supportive. Students who cannot follow the rules need to be out of the classroom. Bring in more social workers to help deal with them, but don't make students want to learn suffer because of the troublemakers.

Bring back our schools to what they should be so we can bring back the great parents and children we have lost to private schools and the great teachers we have lost to other counties.

Let the renaissance begin!

Amanda:

You asked people to leave their names. Even though Dr. Grier has accepted the position, he still has about 5 months left, should he decide to stay that long. (Re: SD’s $1,000/day “early start” bonus – Does that include weekends, since he'll be a salaried employee?) By June 30 principals could already be re-assigned for 2008-09. Programs/positions could be added/cut by then. He could stay long enough to set the budget for next year. (And he could word it in such a way that the BOE doesn't realize what they're agreeing to.) So, until then you might not get many employees to leave their names.

The board is going to have to find a way to do good research when they start looking for a replacement. If a school system wants to get rid of their superintendent without paying out a big settlement, they certainly won’t come out and say so. They will all say "He's done a lot of great things for our schools,” or “He has a lot of progressive ideas,” or other such things. Well, that could ALSO be said of a superintendent that is well-liked and running a successful school system.

How will the Board be able to tell the difference? Can they rely on the statistics provided by the potential candidate’s staff? Can they rely on the statistics provided by our staff? I try to read between the lines in just about every bit of information that comes across my desk. When a study/article/program/school system is mentioned, I google it and read the original source. Sometimes the information is just as GCS presents it, but sometimes it shows, as Paul Harvey would say, “the rest of the story”. Re-reading old BOE minutes and comparing them to current board discussion is also important. These are the types of things I hope the Board will do as they work through the hiring process.

Amanda,

It appears that the GCS board has decided to go ahead with their search without getting public input:

The following ad was found on the website of Education Administration, the monthly journal for school district management professionals:

Superintendent
Guilford County, NC

The Guilford County Schools system seeks an experienced professional with excellent leadership and interpersonal skills for the position of Superintendent. The primary educational approach in our district is to emphasize the tenets of multiculturalism and diversity as fundamental values.

The applicant will not be expected to provide a framework in which order and discipline are maintained in the classroom, because our objective is to assure that chronically misbehaving students remain viable in the educational system. Supporting teachers in the classroom on matters of discipline is not our primary orientation, so you would not need to be concerned about assuming undue risk in this regard.

The applicant also should not expect to be held accountable for the educational outcome of the students in the system, because our orientation is to assure the perception of equity, not achievement.

We pride ourselves in our progressive approach. Previous superintendents have used their experience here with our approach to move on to bigger challenges in places like the Washington, DC metropolitan area and southern California. We will build your credentials so you can later compete for higher paying positions in communities such as these.

We would not expect you to assure that parents are satisfied, or that students are safe. We will not hamstring you with unreasonable expectations as long as you help us achieve our social objectives. You will not be pestered over matters such as economic efficiency with new school construction; and instead will be free to concentrate on creating as many educational programs as possible to create the appearance of progress. And you will not have to worry about being held accountable for the success of those programs.

Particularly important in our district is the ability to assuage racial sensitivities, even if it means making conditions in the schools very difficult for teachers and motivated students.

You will also, however, be expected to advocate aggressively for ever-increasing amounts of capital and operational funding on a continuous basis regardless of need. We will need you be skilled at making it appear that we are collectively doing good things even though we are turning a blind eye toward more fundamental issues.

We are looking for that special professional who can help us uphold some mighty traditions.

Interested parties may inquire about this outstanding opportunity by calling our Human Resources department at (336) 370-8348.

Interesting. We'll have to choose from real live people, not Saints.

Amanda you asked people to leave their names which serves no purpose. Many who post here will not leave their names for various reasons (being employees of GCS is one of them; read other blogs. people don't use their real names)

To anon before last anon....I heard they want Terry out of here soon and a quick interim is being seriously considered.

I hope the school board reads the past several years of newspapers from wherever the new super is from.

What I want to know is why is he leaving.....now? He was scheduled to bring in $372,000, which includes salary and benefits, and he's leaving that to go to $269,000 in salary and a district twice as large as GCS! Something is not right with this picture. Someone needs to look into this because this does not make sense! The cost of living in San Diego is almost double what it is here. I'll be honest, I'm the happiest person in the world now that he's leaving, however, I hope he hasn't messed anything up for the new superintendent. I just hope that when the school board looks for a new superintendent, they go for all the qualities opposite of Grier.

I agree with Cathy Barnette...my mother was a Teacher Assistant with GCS and her position was cut due to lack of funds. Okay let's see...TAs make about $18K (before tax). I couldn't understand how a school system that pays its Supt. $350K couldn't find enough in the budget to keep ONE Teacher Assistant. There was always plenty of money for his salary, but not enough for the arts. I grew up participating in music and art programs in school and loved it. I am STILL actively involved in music today thanks to the classes I took in public school as a child.

And yes, anyone who has spent time in a REAL classroom in Guilford County would know that more paid adults need to be there. Class sizes are HUGE. I know because I was a teacher in the classroom myself in GC. I am no longer there because of the lack of support. In fact, when I went to my administrators to ASK for help, they gave me MORE work to complete. It is just ridiculous.

The administrators supposedly receive a bonus for having their suspension rate below a certain level. Well, it really shows because the troublemakers run the school. Those who do not want to learn should not be required to stay in school; particularly if they are going to disrupt those who are really trying to make an effort to learn.

I hope every concerned parent is openly invited to take an active part in the interview process for the new superintendent. I am not a parent myself, but I would love for the collective voice of Guilford County parents to be HEARD. Please please please tell the board what you expect from the next leader of this school system. It will make all the difference.

JIm Rosenburg,

I guess that is why Terry Grier was making $372,000 per year.

I agree with labanimalgeek. Why would Grier leave an easy job where he controls his bosses and makes an insane amount of money in a mid-size school district to go to a huge district, where there may actually be expectations of him, there are multiple problems, he'll have to actually produce results, and make less money in a very expensive location. Something doesn't add up. Was he encouraged by certain powerful individuals to seek another job as he had become radioactive locally? Was all of this discontent with the schools causing problems with local economic development efforts?

Its obvious that people want change.

If the board listen then the future is bright!

School board, dont bury your heads in the sand again.

Seize the day!

With all due respect, Anne, I think future electricians need to speak, read and write English correctly. Years ago, most students had subject/verb agreement mastered by the eighth grade. I think students today are intelligent enough to pick up basic English skills such as subject/verb agreement by the time they graduate high school. I am surprised by your low expectations.

To poster Anne, the HS teacher:
I am no fan of Grier, but I have to take exception to your letter. You might not need day-by-day lesson plans, but in any business benchmarks provide a compass for quality and success. To have schools without them invites mediocrity. To "trust" teachers to do their job assumes that all teachers have the same degree of skill, experience and commitment to their jobs. They don't. It's that simple. Without standards there is no way to accurately measure performance and assist those who need help or weed out those who don't care. A college degree doesn't guarantee good performance.
The last part of your letter is positively scary. While I agree that social promotion is unwarranted I shudder at the thought that a teacher would determine that a particular child might not need certain skills because he/she is "destined" into a pigeon-holed position of your dreams. Things like literary terms and subject/verb agreement are basic skills. Electricians need this knowledge as much as bankers. And if the electrician should ever change his mind and decide to do something else he shouldn't be hampered by a lack of basic skills just because a teacher decided he wasn't capable of more than his/her opinion. I remember my son being told in high school that he should consider a career as an airline reservationist. I'm only glad that he had the good sense to know his own potential and ignore the teacher.

Chicken Little:

I agree that there need to be ways to gage progress, but do you know where some of the questions for the benchmarks come from? If I'm not mistaken, they are often questions that are "not good enough" to be in the EOG bank, due to ambiguity, errors, etc.

That is how it was explained to me by an upper grades teacher (3rd-5th gr.) Apparently, the state often adds "field test" questions in with the regular EOG questions. Students and test administrators don't know which are "real" questions and which are part of the field test. From the data, the state throws out certain questions as far as EOG's are concerned. However, I'm told that those "thrown out" questions can end up on the benchmark tests.

A couple of years ago, the Curriculum Facilitator at our school had to run around the school giving out errata sheets whenever they did these quarterly tests. They often had to correct diagrams that were wrong, or even missing from the question, in addition to correcting incorrect wording or simply eliminating "bad" questions. If the latter was the case, the teachers all had to make sure all of the kids didn't get misaligned when bubbling due to an eliminated question. I don't know if it's still like that, but it was bad for a while.

I agree with Anne about the amount of testing being nauseating. She teaches HS and complains about 12 days of testing???

My best friend teaches 3rd grade in GCS and they have 24 standardized tests throughout the year. Here's the breakdown:

3 days for the "Practice EOG Pretest"

3 days for the Pre-EOG

2-3 days for the Cog-AT I.Q. test

3 days for reading benchmarks

3 days for writing benchmarks

6 days for math benchmarks

Did I mention 3 days in May for "Regular EOG testing"

Am I off my rocker or does anyone else think this is an insane amout of testing for eight year olds? It's no wonder most of them hate school!

Personally, I'd like to see Donald Andrews of Randolph County Schools take over in Guilford County. His leadership skills in Randolph have been excellent and I'd love to see him make more progress in Guilford.

Someone who is not already in school administration. Find a longterm, award-winning Guilford County teacher and appoint him or her. Distance from the classroom is the worst trait of the Griers of the world; the second-worst trait is the desire to start enough programs to get appointed at a higher level.

Please not Dr. Worrell, let Rock. Co. Schools have her.

See:
http://erikhuey.wordpress.com/2008/01/21/griers-gone-community-input-wanted/ for today's coverage.

My top-10 traits in a new school chief:
1. An effective communicator
2. Someone to help improve employee morale
3. Someone to takes school safety seriously
4. Someone who's not afraid to go into the classrooms (ALL of them) and talk with the teachers--not AT the teachers
5. Someone who can work with the community instead of against the community
6. Someone who values arts education
7. Someone who believes a WELL-ROUNDED education is more than a test score
8. Someone who takes responsibility, not pass the buck
9. Someone who can stand up to our Board, not stroke the kitty
10. An effective leader, not a "yes" man

How long is Dr. Grier's San Diego contract? I have read both 4 years and 3 years.

Folks: let's not be afraid to confront the cold/hard facts about public education in High Point. Under the "capable" leadership of Mr. Grier and the Board of Education a once functioning public education system is an absolute failure. Many of the best and brightest students are in extremely good private schools or have left the county. Parents have no reason to have confidence in the schools or any reason to expect improvements. My 16 year old son has never been to school in the Public "School" system. The sacrifices our family has been forced to make to for our child have been worthwhile as he can actually read, write, add, subtract and spell. I will never vote for a school bond as long as our current board of education continues to ignore High Point. Thanks for nothing Mr. Grier. God save San Diego.
Gri

Folks: let's not be afraid to confront the cold/hard facts about public education in High Point. Under the "capable" leadership of Mr. Grier and the Board of Education a once functioning public education system is an absolute failure. Many of the best and brightest students are in extremely good private schools or have left the county. Parents have no reason to have confidence in the schools or any reason to expect improvements. My 16 year old son has never been to school in the Public "School" system. The sacrifices our family has been forced to make to for our child have been worthwhile as he can actually read, write, add, subtract and spell. I will never vote for a school bond as long as our current board of education continues to ignore High Point. Thanks for nothing Mr. Grier. God save San Diego.
Gri

I hear good things about Don Martin next door in Winston Salem as superintendent. His credentials would be simple and easy to check on, and he doesn't make 1/2 of what Terry Grier was making. What was our school board thinking paying Grier $372,000 per year? GCS is a mid level school system, and $372,000 is competitive within the largest districts in the country. Simply, we weren't getting our money's worth with Grier. Face it, losing Grier is a start, but we still won;t get back on tract to excellence here until we replace about 1/2 of the current school board. Hopefully, Garth Hebert and Darlene Garrett will be able to start a movement in the right direction.

Now is the perfect time for all teachers in Guilford Co. to make their feelings known about what they see as being good and bad about how the G.C.S. system is currently being run. Talk to colleagues in surrounding counties, where teacher morale/job satisfaction seems to be higher and students seem to be doing as well as or better than students in Guilford Co. Find out how things are being done in those counties and bring those ideas back to the search committee for our next superintendent. Please, please, make your voices heard! If you don't make the most of this opportunity you've been given, it will just make it harder for your voices to be heard in the future.

I want to echo what Diane said...we need to hear from the rank-and-file, from the teachers to the classified staff to the bus drivers. Speak out and speak loudly. You can speak here or you can e-mail me (erik@hueyforguilfordschoolboard.org) or you can write in to my blog. But we need to hear from you.

Thanks Gary Johnson for bringing up a good point. The schools in High Point need help. Well, I'm not sure about all schools but Johnson Street Global need a major overhaul. Since the new principal came, the school has gone down hill. The students run the school. The teacher turnover rate has to be at least 60%. Teachers are leaving and parents are pulling their kids in the middle of the year to get away from this place. There is no disclipline for the students. A student can get away with murder and get ISS. The teachers have to beg subs to come in. I know first hand because I have been a sub at this school. I told them to please never call me again to come back. I've even been a sub at Scales and they are more discplined. Also, the principal is rude and walks past you without speaking. I've heard from several teachers that she is the main problem. I've also heard that there have been compliants made to HR but nothing has been done. So, not only do we need a new superintendent and new school board, we also need new people in HR. GCS needs a complete overhaul.

I think it's important to distinguish between the duties of the school board and the duties of the superintendent. It would be helpful to have their job descriptions here. Sometimes the qualities that we think are important in a superintendent are really ones that would be more appropriate and valuable in the members of the school board and vice-versa.

Are there any public school systems anywhere in the United States that anyone can point to and say, "I like what they are doing." I'm talking about actual schools systems led by actual human beings.

If so, it should be easy to identify the leaders of these systems and lobby for their inclusion in the interview process. That would be a powerful, productive action step to take right now.

If not, then this process is nothing more than a setup for failure.

What if there is no consensus -- only competing interests among diverse stakeholders? What if there aren't good people versus evil people -- only imperfect humans with complex motives? What if there are no easy, obvious answers -- only ambiguous problems with unclear solutions?

I would define success in this process as coming off these Wish Lists, no matter how "right" they are and getting the best possible candidate from among real people with real track records.

News & Record: investigate comparable public school systems and their leadership and publish the results. Let's get real for a change.

It is important to distinguish between the superintendent's job and a school board member's job. Job descriptions for both positions are important in this community conversation. Sometimes qualities we think a superintendent should exhibit are qualities that are more appropriate/valuable in school board members and vice versa.

Just so that people know, the ad that was posted anonymously is a fake.

The duties of the GCS superintendent are posted at http://www.gcsnc.com/HR/job_descrip/Superintendent.pdf .

when we hire a new Super, we must let him know up front that he is an employee who works for the board,,, somewhere along the line with grier, he became the Boss to our Board.

when we hire a new Super, we must let him know up front that he is an employee who works for the board,,, somewhere along the line with grier, he became the Boss to our Board.

Sorry about that last anonymous post. That was mine--my computer blipped and I thought my first post about differentiating between the two job descriptions had gone to the big blog in the sky.

The Nashville school system is just a little larger than Guilford County. Their story sounds familiar, doesn't it. They are out there right now at the exact same moment competing for the exact same talent with a very similar back story. Take note of the talk about the diminishing talent pool in the Tennessean story. We can distinguish ourselves and attract the best talent by being as un-insane as possible at all levels: modeling clear-eyed but cooperative relationships with parents, teachers, and elected officials. Or, we could screech our way through the whole thing and be everyone's second choice and get everyone's leftovers.

Funny, I used to blame Terry for all our problems, but recently this is not so. Terry was a CEO, hired to follow directions from a boss, the School Board. If he was not doing what the Board desired, he would have been fired. It is always nice to have a scapegoat, an easy answer and a quick fix, sadly you could not be more wrong! If there is trouble it is the School Board's fault. Until you hold their feet to the fire and demand change however you are able, you will get no more than we have now.

I am against a new superintendent search right now. We have good staff capable of managing for at least a year or two while the Board deals with itself. When or if a search does begin, the Board should keep its nose out of the arena, select 5 of our strongest principles and allow them to provide primary choices along with our HR and our Curriculum Directors as well as our Chief Financial Officer. If I had my way I would leave the entire Board out as well. No teacher input, no public input, just the best principles in the district coached by a couple of good professionals. Then we might have a chance at hiring someone that could lead strongly in the area of education.

I have learned one major thing on the Board, with the exception of Nancy, there is not a single one of us qualified to choose what we really need, and then even Nancy might be a touch out of date (I doubt it though). This might insult my other Board members, but I must be brutally honest, this is not a normal position and elected officials bring little to the arena of choosing educational leadership except personal or political agenda. As for teachers and the public, I couldn't think of a worse way to choose a superintendent. (Any would be cross burners, please call for appointments and permits, effigies, please take pictures and forward to me for my scrap book.)

Those crying for discipline and suspensions, I have asked repeatedly for the GCAE to provide me with a list of those willing to step forward and document the circumventions of proper disciplinary procedures, including instructions from IIO's not to suspend or threat of poor evaluations. If you want anonymity, it will be provided, even from myself if need be. The news media wants this information as badly as I do, yet when it comes down to it, no one will own up to the rumors! I have 3 teachers after a month and a half of begging. Step up and be counted, now! Call Mark Jewell or myself, I will defend staff, teachers and principals to the end and keep everything as confidential as possible but I want the truth.

Lastly, I believe we as a Board must clean our proverbial house. We must set goals for ourselves that the public can see and understand. We must give ourselves direction first. We have good staff in place and could easily split the district into 2 managerial groups, one for elementary education and one for middle and high schools. Then set up two accountable management teams to guide each organization. We keep the Accounting, HR, facilities and transportation as a separate management team providing services to the others. We then choose a qualified spokesman and overseer. This would allow accountability of the two major phases of our educational process. Both educational groups should be supervised primarily by a group of principals, 3 of our best High School Principals and 5 of our best elementary school principals, IIO's would become true resources of the teams they serve.
These leadership group members would be allocated 1 more vice principal for their school to cover for their absences and to be trained to become principals. Each Management group would rotate spokesperson position. It is about time we allow our best to rise and shine providing the leadership we desperately need.
Now let the cauldron boil!
Garth

We have teachers, AL coordinators and principals who are afraid to speak up because they fear they will be moved or replaced. We have an AL program that is dissolving and staff that covered this up with deception.This happened in High Point and I doubt this is an isolated incident. Only when Central staff was pushed by parents who knew what was going on in our school did Grier and staff finally back down and acknowledge the deception in the placement of our children. But no one is accountable for the deception (to parnets and also to the board) or the harm done to these students (as the situation was not fixed).It was eaiser for Grier and the executive AL coordinator to deflect by stating this was a group of parents who did not want their children in classrooms with minority students. It couldn't possibly be parents who knew their children were bored and not being challenged in the various learning levels that existed in the classes. I hope you do not believe all is well with AL in your schools- deception exists and Grier and staff were well aware and agreed with the philosophy of various learning levels being grouped together. They use higher scoring children to spread the wealth(increase the scores of low to moderate performing children )which cause the high level children to stagnate and not move ahead.We need to put resources and find answers as to why children are not scoring at acceptable levels but this cannot be at the expense of the higher level children who must also be challenged. We need someone who takes discipline in the school seriously. We need better communication and input from parents. Guilford County will continue to drive parents( who wanted to believe in public education) away when these issues are not addressed.

I, too, would like to echo the name of Donald Andrews of Randolph County Schools to become the next Superintendent of Guilford County Schools. His dedication to education, leadership skills, and the fact that he is a people person that works well with others. He is currently in the Randolph County School system, however, I would love to see him leading our Guilford County School system.

Garth,

What does the following mean:

"As for teachers and the public, I couldn't think of a worse way to choose a superintendent. (Any would be cross burners, please call for appointments and permits, effigies, please take pictures and forward to me for my scrap book.)"

I've read your words 5 times now and I cannot make sense of it.

Garth, is there a written job description for school board members?

http://www.gcsnc.com/policies/bylaws.htm

BOE bylaws and job board job description

With all due respect, Garth, I think you might be throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Garth:

Wow! You have stated essentially a) that the BOE needs time to deal with itself and b) that it is unqualified to choose a superintendent. When you put parts a and b together, it implies that the GCS does not and will not have any effective leadership for the near term, a sorry state of affairs indeed.

It might be worthwhile to review the NC General Statutes as they apply to superintendents ( http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/ByArticle/Chapter_115C/Article_18.pdf ). Choosing a superintendent is a local school board responsibility--maybe one of the board's most important responsibilities. If members of the BOE do not feel that they are capable of fulfilling this responsibility or others, they should step down immediately.

Putting aside the legal requirements, there is the simple practical notion that no manager worth her salt will want to serve under the conditions that you have outlined.

I hope that this is a matter of you typing before carefully thinking things through.

The upcoming Board elections sure will be interesting.

Our school system has been going down hill for many years. Being a Greensboro native I was a product of forced busing in the early 70's. Now it seems that my children will be a product of the Grier/BOE madness. Making children get on a bus at 7AM so they can be at school by 8:30 is crazy. It was wrong in the 70's and it is wrong now. Get back to the neighborhood schools so the children can play sports and participate in after school activities. This will involve the parents as well. I can not as I am sure most parents can not take an active role when my child goes to school 15 miles away from our home.( There is a Middle and High School within 2 miles of our home). BOE take this opportunity to save some face. Stop this senseless busing of students outside of their neighborhoods.

Mr. Hebert, I applaud your comments and your courage to speak out and take the heat as the only member of the School Board that I have seen participate in the "Chalkboard." As a parent and classroom volunteer, I see the actual little faces behind these "issues" and care deeply about the children that are affected by the decisions we grown-ups make. That's why I am trying desperately to understand what is going wrong in GCS and who is responsible so that I can cast my vote effectively.

I am confused by your most recent comment stating that "Terry was a CEO hired to follow directions from a boss, the School Board." That seems to directly contradict a Jan. 14th comment you made under the "In case you weren't listening..." Chalkboard in which you said, "This Board worships Terry and deciding to go against his killing the arts is almost like pushing a wet noodle up hill."

Could you please clarify your position? Who was responsible for the cuts in Arts Education? Mr. Grier? The BOE? Both?

Thank you for your service.

I have not been on this blogspot in a while but now I am glad that I have read the comments posted. I knew that the pending departure of Dr. Grier would motivate many of you to type your thoughts.

And, I respectfully disagree with some of my friend and esteemed colleague's remarks above.

I think when we all made the choice to run,we were aware that this type of situation may arise, and personally, I am glad that I am a member of this BOE "for just such a time as this." I am excited about the potential this opportunity presents on a lot of fronts. I also have every confidence that myself and the other 10 members of this Board are capable and able to make this selection.

I am aware that what I think about this subject (and others) is not shared by everyone, therefore I relish the chance to get dissimilar views from others. Some of the worst decisions I have ever made in my life have been those where I sought out no one or only those who agreed with me.

I look forward to the chance to hear from members of our community with their thoughts on our next school leader. In that vein, I plan to meet with as many teachers, principals, classified employees, parents, students, rec. center directors, grandparents, community leaders, etc. as I can.

I invite personal emails from participants and readers of this blog and will not mind at all if you were to pass my email address(es) along. Just type "New Superintendent Remarks" in the subject line. The addresses are: quicka@gcsnc.com or amosquick@hotmail.com

Thank you.

Amos Quick, III

Mr Quick, I really hope that you listen. What you see here are many parents and teachers that are crying out for change!

In my mind we keep and strengthen the good things from Grier which are the Early college, AP classes, the twilight school, mission possible There must be a couple more. We look at the other several magnets that grier has come up with and that we dont have good participation.

We bring back the arts curriculum in our middle and elementary schools. We keep some testing but really keep it to the minimun. I am against no testing.

We bring back discipline to our schools. We are losing too many children to private schools. We need as many children in our schools as possible. The teachers need to be in control of the classroom and the admin need to support.
Lets benchmark what Gorman is doing in Charlotte. His kind of attitude sends a strong message to the community. It builds confidence in the system!

M Quick, I see you and and Mr Hebert as two key figures in forcing the change we are all requesting. When you first came onto the board I thought "this is going to be good". You seem to have lost your way in my mind and you are going with the status quo. I would like the old Amos Quick back!

Mr Hebert although I do not agree with all of your comments but I think that you are setting a shning example for communication from the school board.

Until now we have had a school board that is almost totally closed to any form of discussion. I have sent e-mails to the board before and have been lucky to get the odd thankyou from Mr Duncan. I have never spoken at public comments but have watched several times at the blank stares of the board at the public. It has always made me mad! The elected board is totally closed off from any form of dialogue with the people that have elected them.

I hope, just hope that he board listens to our input for the new Superintendent.

Different subject:

Is the GCS transportation director qualified for his position?

Last Wednesday night, he called off school even before the first flake fell. Wouldn't it have been better to wait and see or at least call a delay until a decision could be made?

Even though all the weather reports last night called for freezing conditions this morning, school is on schedule. Now the elementary kids are in school, middle and high school kids are either sitting on a bus for hours or sitting at home not knowing if there will be school or not.

Of course safety should be the first concern, but shouldn't a little bit of common sense come in to play here?

In addition to searching for a new superintendent, I think the board needs to search for a new transportation director - one who has experience and is actually qualified to perform the job.

My esteemed colleague and friend Amos and others, to clarify (put meat on bones of) my remarks:

I have managed and represented many businesses and the easiest and most dangerous quagmire for a businessman, employer and consultant is the one to overstep ones own expertise. The Board obviously will have input on the choice (the purist in me wishes otherwise, the realist…), that having been said there are a couple on the Board who would make reasonably good choices, but sadly I must recognize shortcomings.

It is easy for teachers, parents and students as well as Board Members to say they know what they want (I certainly do), but in humility, only those with years in the trenches who know what has worked and what hasn’t and what has allowed them to be successful with kids and their educational environment have the expertise remotely necessary for the job. Even then I have reservations.

Mr. Ribar: My remarks are those of a purist searching for the best. Only a few Board members have been involved in professional talent recruitment, those who have and must take responsibility for the outcome must always do so with trepidation. When the political nature of the outcome and the effects on those whom we are emotionally attached to (the children) is involved, judgments’ becomes clouded. What I did not say was that there are several Board members who could make a very adequate choice, the influences surrounding the process will surely taint such a choice. Your assessment of my comments are on point and I am not refuting them, I just happen to believe my idea is a valid methodology to allow the Board to accomplish its responsibility. The rest of your comments appear to be valid derivatives of my postulates.

I come from a completely dysfunctional family, 3 generations of alcoholics on both sides, as a young man I sought out the best families and took careful note of what made them great families. I continue to do so even today, hoping to improve my own. Almost 25 years of marriage and I still consider myself a student (wife might say remedial) of the marital relationship and a complete novice at child rearing (I cannot find the stupid manual that I am sure came with each kid). Sure I do the best with what the Lord gave me, but like the Russian fishermen whose boat sank, I pray to God and Swim to shore.

My recommendation that we use the BEST principals we have was based upon my trying to get the most professional recommendation as possible. Being that they will be held accountable by this person, I know their view will also be somewhat tainted, but I cannot think of a better way and hiring a high priced consultant makes my stomach queasy.

Reference to teachers and parents was my drawing a line in the sand. I did not like Terry’s management style at all. I detest the way we keep kids in school who would burn down our schools and threaten other kids lives by either violence or narcotics. These kids have no place in our normal schools. This having been said, I enjoyed sparring with Terry more than anything else I have done recently. He forced me to read volumes on subjects I never knew existed. He caused me to think about issues from different perspectives and sometimes I found myself in total agreement, often I did not but was forced to prove my own point of view. In this regard I will truly miss his presence. (just personal perspective)

My point, I would be willing to hire someone I did not like or get along with if I knew he or she could get the job done, especially if they had a history of success. Terry’s job was not to please teachers, parents or administrators; his job was to improve the quality of education. Our SAT scores are the same as they were when he began. One could argue by demographics, staying the same was an accomplishment and I would have to agree except many families moved out of our schools because of his and the Boards leadership. When so many abandon ship, teachers, principals and students, it is not just a warning sign but a statement.

Teachers should be placed upon a pedestal with mothers in our society, but they often are treated as factory workers. When I relegate them out of the process it is with trepidation but also with years of insight. I do not believe in hiring a super who has bad management skills with teachers, rather one that can inspire and uplift while also giving a desire to improve performance. Job one must be to improve the environment and quality of education in our county and it must be done on many fronts.

Lastly the burnings etc. were my morbid (almost non existent) sense of humor reflecting on emails I receive when I take an unpopular view.

Regarding the dialogue between myself and my friend Amos, Guilford County is truly a better place and countless lives are improved by his selfless service to our children and my life has been changed for the better by knowing and working with him. Those who judge or find him lacking do so far too quickly, the more I get to know him the more I treasure his love and service towards our youth. This is not a defense of Amos, that would be ridiculous as I could find nothing to defend, it is a statement to the public that while two men may agree or disagree does not mean there is a lack of respect or appreciation, in fact ones best friends are the ones whom one can openly disagree with and the other appreciates the friendship even more.

Garth

RE Transportation Director:

I am sure Mr. Harris has a bloody forehead from pounding it against the bus. Two degrees difference in judgment cannot be held against a man on either account. I drove my son to his Old Testament seminary class at 6:30 this morning, not one drop, 7:45 and I began praying for our kids. (decision had to be made by 5:45 am) Life is full of excitement and as a parent I used to laugh at the dumb calls on the weather, now I pray for the man attempting to forecast the future for our kids and the bus drivers who must provide safety.

Garth

All the comments are interesting and I hope BOE members will include everyone with a stake in the selection process a voice. That being said, they, Garth, will have to make the decision. Since they don't have the support of much of the community, second-guessing will be part of the continuing program. For my part, I have a few suggestions:

1. The new superintendent should not sit up in the middle of the BOE as if he/she were a member, or worse, the leader of the BOE. I don't remember what the method of governance the current BOE adopted which had Mr. Grier seated with them, but it seems a mistake for an employee to ever be in a position to forget that he/she serves at the pleasure of the BOE.

2. The new superintendent should not be part, in any way of the subtle, prevailing but unspoken racist attitude currently alive in GCS that suggests that African-American children cannot succeed on their own--and be held to the same standards of achievement and behavior--without interventions, someone running interference, various boosts, whatever.

3. The new superintendent must be a person of vision and willing to try new things as necessary, but cannot be just a bright idea guy who spews out the idea du jour but does no follow through. In short, the new super should not be just building a resume on the back of GCS.

4. The new super should be able to assemble a team which can properly supervise the bond monies which have been appropriated. The current situation, with cost overruns and botched projects is a primary reason that the current bond request might go down in flames. The BOE must do a better job supervising any building undertaken, and not accept whatever is told them.

5. The new superintendent should be a younger person who is not currently looking for advancement--i.e., is happy and very competent where they currently are--but who can be identified as having the ability to do the job and grow in the job. In education it seems most likely that anyone seeking the job is probably one step ahead of getting fired, and should be ignored completely. If a consulting firm is hired, I hope they look at people who are top-notch, but not currently looking, who can be convinced that they need GCS and we need them!

Garth,

Of course Jeff Harris did the best he could and when it became obvious that he had made a mistake, school should have been canceled right away.

Garth,

I appreciate your comments but you sometime seem to speak in riddles. I mean I think I understand but then again I dont.

Please keep your message simple. Once again, I appreciate your communication and thanks for setting such a great example for the rest of the school board.

The "Grier's Outta Here..." intro to this dialogue is an offensive and abrasive tonesetter to what should be thoughtful dialogue. It was initially disappointing to read the first posts that tied hiring a super to the upcoming bonds. I can't believe a majority of Guilford voters are so shallow that bond support is held hostage to our judgment of this hiring process (or anything else). If so then some other District deserves the good woman or man we might have hired. But our children sure deserve better. They also deserve a mature dialogue by citizens who will sign their name to their input. Too much herein is the nasty recriminations for past slights real and perceived by people with names like "anon." Begins to remind one of the often churlish "Beep" section of the Whino Times.

There are many good suggestions herein. I agree Dr. Terry Worrell has many qualifications of a good super. Jim Rosenberg's posts are worth reading. Garth's are scary. If he doesn't believe he has the ability to be a contributing part of a Board that can do this, he should recuse himself.

Center for Creative Leadership has worked for years with hundreds of supers. I remember the 70 from the state of Florida trained at CLL, as did folks like Rep. Bob Etheridge when he was head of NCDPI. Maybe CLL folks would serve on a mostly LOCAL-made search committee that could include civic-minded, school-involved citizen leaders from elsewhere who'd serve. How 'bout it, CCL?

There are some practicalities in play. Superintendents are in high demand, low supply and are thus expensive. Hate it all you want, that's the facts. It doesn't take Nostradamus to guess where we fill find the ultimate candidate. Here is a list of the top 100 largest public school systems. Guilford County schools are #49. I see the future: the next Superintendent will be a #1 from the bottom 50, or a member of the senior staff from the top 50. Given these realities, it might be more productive to eventually shift from the "Build Your Dream Date" mode to actually picking the best bet from the boys slouched up against the gymnasium wall and just commit to making them good boyfriends, I mean Superintendents.

There are plenty of great people that will work for $150k a year and benefits. The idea that you have to pay big money is something the head hunters tell us because the higher the salary, the more they make. The search for the perfect person is a bad idea, if you found him or her, they would probably leave within a few years because they would find out the BOE and the rest of us are not perfect and he/she would feel like it was not a perfect fit. We want someone who can advance education for the people in the middle and lower half of the class. We want someone who will not buckle when the BOE will not work with the Supt. If should not be but we need someone to train the BOE to be a real BOE. Training your boss is not easy, but we need someone who can get everyone on the same page. Asking the general public about what qualities the Supt should have is a total waste of time. If the BOE does not what is needed, then we are in real trouble.

As a shallow taxpayer of Guilford County who has been forced to educate both of his children in private schools because of the current state of public education in High Point, I will not vote for any "education" bonds until the BOE shows that they can be good stewards of the massive amounts of money already at their disposal. Does anyone remember the promises made to the taxpayers if there was a NC education lottery?

As a shallow taxpayer of Guilford County who has been forced to educate both of his children in private schools because of the current state of public education in High Point, I will not vote for any "education" bonds until the BOE shows that they can be good stewards of the massive amounts of money already at their disposal. Does anyone remember the promises made to the taxpayers if there was a NC education lottery?

Joe,

"We want someone who can advance education for the people in the middle and lower half of the class."

What about the 15% of students classified as AL?

The AL will be ok. In fact they are doing quite well now. My experience is that AL's see themselves at the top of the class and will do what is necessary to keep that position. When the people in the middle of class start moving up the AL's will move up also. However it works only one way. Extra attention to AL does not pull up the people in the middle or bottom of the class. AL students have a competitive instinct to be at or near the top. You have nothing to worry about.

Joe,

With all due respect, your description for a "good enough" candidate falls flat. The search committee should certainly consider "getability" issues. However, given the numerous challenges that the GCS faces, including a) improving outcomes for students of ALL abilities and backgrounds, b) interacting with an economically, racially, and politically diverse communitiy, and c) working in an under-resourced environment (that is, having to compete head-to-head with several better financed nearby school districts), we are going to need someone with exceptional educational, organizational, and leadership skills. Those skills are in high demand. The personal demands of the job are also incredible and will require compensation.

Joe:

Again, you describe a strategy for mediocrity. Moreover, you don't describe the basis for AL students doing "quite well."

Garth, I think you should have higher expectations of both yourself and the rest of the school board. This hiring decision will not be tainted if the school board makes the decision--after all, that is why we pay you the big bucks! What would taint the process is if the decision is made unilaterally and without input from all stakeholders. And that's what you were essentially saying when you suggested that the board hand over this responsibility to GCS staff...without teacher,parent, board,or community input. It makes me wonder what else you might inappropriately turn over to GCS staff when feelings of inadequacy beset you. The citizens who elected you want you to represent them...own your position! You are capable and we appreciate your hard work and dedication.

Ray Rimmer,

You obviously havent felt of consequences of Grier failed schemes here in GC.
I dont care if people do or do not leave their names. Its a free country.

Its also a right to vote for or against a school bond for what ever reason they like.

I will not vote for the bond. Get a new super, reevaluate the amount and try again.

I do not trust my money in the hands of people like Dot Kearns and Deena hayes. Grier leaving is a step in the right direction.

Ray Rimmer,

You didn't read, nor understand, the first post. because you don't seem to have enough background here. It said,
"It's all very really simple. If the school board has any interest in passing the school bonds, they must conduct an open, participative interviewing and hiring process for new superintendent. Include the people in the process in the manner that Charlotte did awhile back."

The problem that this school board has in passing the school bonds is that the people do not have any trust in the school board. They've seen bond money wasted, along with other resources. This board has passed bloated budget requests loaded with pork along to the county commissioners for approval, without even knowing what was in the budget or what was really needed. This board has failed to perform even minimal supervision or oversight of Terry Grier, nor hold him accountable. This board acts as though it reports to Terry Grier, rather than the opposite. This board has taken actions in recent years without regard to pleas from parents, students, and taxpayers. This board has barely communicated with the people that they represent. This board has related more closely with Terry Grier than the people that they were elected to represent. This board has to build some trust to re-establish itself with its constituency. They can start doing this by conducting an open, participative process to hire the next leader of our schools. A model exists for this 80 miles down the road. Let's take a look at how Charlotte Metro Schools recovered from a disastrous situation, rebuilt trust with the community, and now has a superintendent , board, and community heading in the same direction. Why not consider Charlotte's successful lead. As regards the bonds, until they rebuild a trust with the public, those bonds won't be passed, just like it happened in Charlotte before they rebuilt trust and hired a competent superintendent to lead. Study what has happened in CMS over the last few years, and you will see that Guilford County is not so different. We just haven't reached the boiling point where everyone is ready to get onboard together.

One final point...the school board needs to come together and come to some agreement as to the mission of our schools. You will not be able to identify what qualifications and skills you need in a new superintendent until such time as there is some consensus among all stakeholders regarding what we are trying to achieve in our schools. Looking at the GCS website, all that I see in terms of a mission is:

Striving-Achieving-Excelling

So, what does that mean? Does everyone agree what that means? Would a new superintendent know what that means? How does everyone know what excellence they should be striving together to achieve?

Let's get back to the basics and just focus on educating all children. Everything else is just noise.

Ray Rimmer said:

They also deserve a mature dialogue by citizens who will sign their name to their input. Too much herein is the nasty recriminations for past slights real and perceived by people with names like "anon."

Well, Mr. Rimmer, you must NOT be a GCS employee. Otherwise you would understand exactly why people DON'T sign their names when they post. Several people already explained why employees don't sign their names - fear.

correction to previous post:

I should have said "Several people already explained why SOME employees don't sign their names - fear."

I didn't mean to speak for all. Sorry.

Dave Ribar,

Yes, the job wanted ad that was posted was bogus and a fake. However, I would challenge you or anyone to explain how it differs from the job as it was actually done by Terry Grier. If our school board feels that Terry Grier was successful over the least eight years as superintendent, then this is job ad is accurate.

I truly believe we owe Garth a huge thank you for Grier leaving. Grier hasn't been able to spin the numbers and facts to him, like he has to the other board members and I'm sure he was getting nervous the truth may come out. Garth's questions puts Grier in the hot seat and we know how Grier doesn't like to be questioned. There's a reason he never stays any where very long. He has a lot to hide.

We have an opportunity.

Take some risk. We can’t screw the kids up much more.
We have a chance to fix the system and establish minority majority trust and
maybe really solving problems

The school board should approach the Chancellors of A&T and Bennett College.
Ask them to head up the search for a superior minority candidate. Then turn them loose

Don’t worry about being Politically Correct.

The community trust and pride would be infectious.

I was a Brooklyn fan in 1947 the year of the Jackie Robinson effect.
Let’s see if we have the balls or will simply hire another CEO.

Children aren’t corporations.

You don’t manage school systems you inspire them.

Have you ever heard someone describe a world leader as a world manager.
Educating children is not accounting.

Try the Chancellors to help. The school board is
not qualified to select a leader.

NEED ANOTHER E.P. PEARCE

NEED ANOTHER E.P. PEARCE

Joe, You said: "We want someone who can advance education for the people in the middle and lower half of the class. " You didn't just cut out the 15% of AL students as jwg suggested, you just cut out, by your own definition, 49% of the students in GCS -- the middle and above.

I am so sick of people assuming that above average or gifted students don't deserve a public education where they can grow and improve like everyone else. It's clear you've never witnessed a class in which bright students are not challenged and bored to tears, or who spend 4 out of 6 hours of a given school day reading to themselves because the teacher can't figure out how to provide an appropriate challenge. These kids will not "be OK." How can we as a society feel ok about any child not getting a deserved education that provides a learning and challenging environment no matter the ability level?

It's time we had a superintendent and board members who could find ways to edcuation all students, not just those at the bottom.

For one, let's get rid of all the labels. Treat each student as the individual he or she is. Whenever we label students whether based on ethnicity, academic ability, gender or any other classification and draw conclusions based on those labels we are doing a huge disservice to all. Do all gifted students learn the same way? No. Do all white students from a given socio-economic background have the same interests? Ludicrous. Do all black students have the same needs? Of course not. We need teachers who can teach to individuals, not classes. We need administrators who don't make assumptions based on pre-established labels and then try and force fit policies on these assumptions.

Get beyond the superficial stuff and look into the eyes of what each student needs.

Why is a bright student a second-class citizen in your eyes? and unfortunately in the eyes of so many GCS staff and BOE members?

GSO Mom,

I couldn't agree with you more. Frankly, I was amazed that Mr. Stafford, who attends more BOE meetings than most of the elected board members, had missed the several times that Dr. Z has raised the alarm that Guilford County's strongest students, the ones Mr. Stafford thinks are doing okay, are underperforming in ever greater numbers. Of course, under the aegis of NCLB, the most able of our students are being left behind across the country, and this county has the distinction of not doing right by them because the mix of students going into AL does not suit the central offices pre-determined percentages by ethnicity. So, while a method to be more inclusive in the selection process is formulated, the already qualified students are left to do okay.

I'm sorry, but strengthening the education given to the lower 50% of our students while the top 10-15% languish seems short-sighted and foolish. From what I read, while our competitors across the world are probably not doing as well by the average or below-average students as we do, they are certainly making sure their top students get all they need and more . . . for they know that from that top group will come the next generation of engineers, computer jockeys and scientists they know they will need to surpass us down the road. Just read what China, India, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Singapore do for their top students and then see how pitiful GCS is in the broader scheme of things.