Sit right down and we'll tell you a tale...
From Jennifer Fernandez on the education desk:
As the Guilford County Board of Education reviewed his performance into the early morning hours Friday, Superintendent Terry Grier sat down the hall in a room full of administrators, regaling them with stories of his exploits as a child and as a superintendent in previous districts.
He seemed unconcerned about the deliberations going on behind closed doors as he laughed and joked with some of his top officials, including Chief Financial Officer Sharon Ozment, Chief Information Officer Terrence Young and Chief Academic Officer Peggy Thompson.
Grier related stories from his youth, when fellow classmates played jokes on one of their teachers. One time they put chalk dust on the teacher's seat and he walked around with the dust on his suit pants. Another time, they hid their desks in a storage room and told the teacher that another teacher, whom he had been dating but recently broken up with, had taken the desks. When he went to fetch the principal, the students scrambled to replace their desks, Grier said.
And then there were the recollections of the former superintendent at Akron City Schools, whom Grier replaced in the early 1990s. The former superintendent later joined the school board.
"The most interesting thing about him, he had a dog called Abe - Akron Board of Education," Grier said and chuckled.
Grier better have more stories on tap: By the time Thursday night's meeting ended at around 1:30 a.m. Friday morning, the board had not finished his evaluation.
The board has called a special meeting for 5 p.m. Monday at its Eugene Street offices to continue the superintendent’s evaluation. The deliberations are closed to the public, but the board typically reads a statement at the end giving an overview of how board members feel the superintendent is doing. They also announce at that time any contract changes, including raises.
Comments (3)
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Sure he can sit around and laugh and joke and carry on---he knows he has this school board right where he wants them-----he knows they don't have the ba the guts to do ANYTHING TO HIM-----they will NOT hold him responsibile for anything and it is really sickening----he is their little poster boy-----the editorial in the N&R today (9-25-04)about having more options about where to send my child to school is right on track----what they dont tell you is that the option you and most people want (ie: school 2 miles away vs school 10 miles away is NOT an option ) is pure BS and our superintendent and current school board is the cause of it---------sure hope he has chalk dust on the seat of his pants when they finally do see the light----it'll be like a white tornado leaving Guilford County
Posted on September 25, 2004 8:59 PM
Many of us always suspected that Terry Grier was a big dirty trick player in his youth, and now we have confirmation by his own words. Class Clown is an appriopriate nickname for him because he has been playing dirty tricks on Guilford County for the last four years. When will our school board finally summon the courage to finally Get Terry Grier Outta Here so our schools can get back to the business of providing an education to the children of the county? Isn't there someone out there that can take the business of educating children seriously that would be willing to work full time for only $200,000 per year?
Posted on September 27, 2004 9:19 AM
Yesterday, we here at Inside Scoop deleted two posts on this thread from an anonymous commenter that consisted of essentially personal attacks against another person including vulgar language.
Especially on a posting about education, we would like to maintain this forum as a place where school-aged children should be able to read and take part. If you wouldn't say it around your grandmother, don't say it here.
Aside from language, we would prefer that the discussions here be carried out in a mature manner. We want to let opinions fly, but there's no reason for it to get personal. If you think Terry Grier is wrong or should be fired, let us know. But advance the discussion by telling us why he should be fired and how a change in administration will benefit the community. Anyhting else is counterproductive for your position.
We want to hear from you, but please be reasonable.
Posted on September 28, 2004 1:25 PM