Behind the Lines
The Super
Can a hard-charging veteran superintendent with a knack for making enemies and alienating friends really improve the state’s largest school district? And if he can’t, who can?
Leave a Comment
6 comments
Saturday, September 17th, 2011, 11:27 am
ober says:
Not mentioned is that Dr. Grier, as well as past supers, cannot do anything without the vote of elected Trustees. These Trustees are elected officials and it is these people who need to be held accountable to any demise that occurs in the district. It is the tax payers job to demand the right person hold that seat. As long as we continue to allow nepotism, corruption, greed, etc.. to occur on the backs of our children, reform will never happen.
Friday, September 16th, 2011, 4:17 pm
SadlyLeftHISD says:
What a disservice Mimi Swartz has done with this skewed portrayal. Can anyone salvage HISD? Not if Terry Grier is allowed to continue to decimate strong programs and the best campus leadership. Not if the "rich, white" parents Ms. Swartz seems to disdain, who continue to send their children to public schools, who treasure socioeconomic and ethnic diversity, who passionately advocate for educational choices for all children at all schools and who back that up by supporting bond elections, are pushed out by Grier’s cavalier attitudes. Not if Grier’s policies of creating and supporting programs crassly to get grants and donations rather than serve all children continues unchecked. Thank God for parent leaders like Mary Nesbitt and legislators like Mario Gallegos, despite whatever shortcomings the author surmised. Ms. Swartz, I have an excellent method of getting Kool-Aid out of clothing. I’m sure you slobbered it all over yourself buying into Jim Jones’ -- er, Terry Grier’s -- charming but twisted defense of his style, policies and tenure at HISD. Maybe people elsewhere in Texas, reading about Grier for the first time, will buy this sorry "reporting" as fact. Fortunately there are few in Houston, who know the reality, who will.
Saturday, September 11th, 2010, 10:35 am
David Rosenberg says:
Saavedra did not decentralize. Rod Paige, with the backing of the school board, did it. Actually, AS caused quite a stir when at a State of the Schools luncheon he announced he was going to change from 9 subdistricts back to 3. He was forced to back off to 5. Grier has just taken it the rest of the way. Just like in corporations, the next CEO will decentralize.
Saavedra had a habit of dropping bombs at the SOTS luncheons. When he said he was going to bascially close 4 terribly performing high schools, the community and the parents came unglued. Parents came to the schools who had not been near a school since their kids were in the first grade.
This is neither here on his performance, just wanted to make sure he is condemned for what he did, not for what someone else did.
Sunday, August 29th, 2010, 9:48 am
David A says:
Interesting that you comment that Dr. Saavedra moved slow and did not accomplish much. He launched ASPIRE which is the data machine or Added Value Analysis that is currently being used to judge teacher effectiveness and give bonuses to highly effective teachers.
Some could argue that Dr. Grier is able to do much more because of the foundation that was set by Dr. Saavedra. The ratings of schools from the state accountability of schools clearly shows schools are doing much better; however, rarely do teachers get credit for their hard work. When scores are low, they are given the blame, and when they are up, it was because of the "leadership." Teachers deserve credit and administrators should be to blame when schools are not effective. That is a sign of great leadership.
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010, 5:40 am
says:
Finally, someone who is willing to make the tough decisions and try something to help improve the status quo in the district. The community needs to watch closely and support the efforts that are working...and the people who are trying to make things better. I’m very interested to watch what happens here.
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010, 4:09 pm
Former Amarillo Resident says:
I was only a couple of paragraph’s into this story about Dr. Terry Grier when I realized, "OMG!Mimi Swartz is writing about "Terry Grier" and she didn’t go to Amarillo and ask longtime teachers and retirees about the former Superintendent of the Amarillo ISD who was bought out by the AISD Trustees. ("Thank God and Greyhound, He’s Gone") Actually, Dr. Grier has made a cottage industry out of buy-outs and if Mimi Swartz will do a follow up on Grier’s "career," she will find that Buy-Out should be Grier’s middle name. When I saw, a while back, that the Houston ISD had hired Grier, my first thought was, "How long until they buy him out?" That should still be The Question about Terry Grier and the Houston ISD. Remember that you heard the secret word here: Buy-Out.
My Library
