With the reputation as a reformer and innovator preceding him, new HISD Superintendent Dr. Terry Grier, comes to Houston with a litany of awards and accolades for the job he did improving school districts in North Carolina and most recently, San Diego. Yet, the changes Grier has proposed to business-as-usual at HISD have come under fire from some teachers. Still, as was evidenced by his recent State of the Schools Address, Grier is intent on instituting whatever changes he believes will guarantee that all students HISD are equipped with a great teacher in their classroom, a student-focused principal, and the support systems necessary to transform HISD into not only the nation’s best urban school district, but the best of all the nation’s school districts.
The Defender recently spoke with Grier about his agenda.
Defender: With all the success you’ve had in San Diego why take on Houston?
Dr. Terry Grier: I was happy in San Diego, and the search committee from Houston called and originally I said I was not interested; that I had to continue the work we started here (in San Diego). A few months went by and they called back again and said your name keeps coming up from different places as someone we should talk to. I said thanks, but no. I then started seeing in different meetings people I knew from around the country who asked if I had looked at the Houston job. Then our teacher union elected three new board members to our five member board, and more and more the decisions that were being made were adult decisions; not decisions I personally felt had been made in the best interest of the children. I started reflecting on Houston and thinking about people I had known in my past; how much I respected Billy Reagan’s work; one of the country’s great educators, Rod Paige, and the work Rod had done here. I had known Kaye Stripling a little bit, and Abe Saavedra was well-respected. So I visited HISD’s website and read about the School Board’s core beliefs, values and goals. And I thought, whoa, this is all about students. So I decided to come, sit down and talk with the Board. The minute I sat down and started talking with them, every single board member, said things that resonated in me. And that’s how it started.
Defender: You come to HISD with a reputation as a reformer and innovator? What are the most important areas in HISD in need of reform?
Grier: Several. Our drop-out rate is too high and our graduation rate is too low. That is of particular significance if you are a child from an impoverished background. Our children of color in this district have a significantly higher dropout rate and lower graduation rate than our Anglo students and students not on free or reduced lunch. So it’s not only a racial divide; it’s a socio-economic divide. One of the things we have already done that I believe will pay dividends, is put a graduation coach and new computer lab in every high schools. Also, students who have failed courses can go online and work until they demonstrate a mastery of skills at a certain level to get credit for that course. In San Diego last year our students recovered over 4,500 courses that they had taken and failed—with a B average. It took them 76 days on average to recover verses them sitting there all 180 days. It gave students hope. Students could also work online at home, come in on the weekends, stay until 7pm, work during the summer, and make those credits up and graduate. Another focus… just last week we opened HISD’s first middle school for over-aged students—middle school students two to three years older than their counterparts. These are kids who have been held back for whatever reason. Our goal is to accelerate their learning with great teachers and a great principal. These are seventh graders that we’re working with and hope that at the end of this semester and sessions in summer school they will be able to advance to the ninth grade and get them back on track to graduate. Those are two things that we’ve looked at, and there are many more.
Defender: What are your other top priorities?
Grier: We want to see our schools continue to be recognized by the Texas Department of Education as exemplary. That’s going to be really tough this year because we for the first time in Texas are having to count the Special Education students’ test scores into our calculations. Also, last year you could have a certain percentage of your students scoring at a particular level and you would be a recognized school. That bar has been raised by five points. So it’s going to be harder this year. Of course we always have goals of raising parental involvement and having safe schools.
Defender: Speaking of safety, KTRK TV, Channel 13 did a report recently with an undercover reporter highlighting a lack of security at HISD schools. What is your response to that?
Grier: My response is “Thank you for bringing it to our attention when things are not as they should be,” and please know that we will take their findings seriously and work immediately to address them. It’s sad it took the media to bring it to our attention. Frankly, we should have been looking at those kinds of things ourselves. But we need to always be open to anyone who can point out to us things that are not as they should be.
Defender: With reform often comes a backlash from those uncomfortable with change. How do you deal with that backlash when it comes from teachers and/or parents?
Grier: Change is painful. Good communication is like novacaine when you’re at the dentist. You’ve got to have something to deaden the pain or its going to be a long day. With change, if you don’t communicate well both inside and outside the organization, then you’re going to have a long day. Communications has to be the key. We’re not doing a good enough job of that. We’ve got to step it up so parents understand what we’re doing and why. We want our parents to know that we are absolutely committed to having a good school for your child. I don’t think that parents should have to bus their kids out of their neighborhoods to go across town to get what they perceive to be a better education. That has to change. There are always two sides to that. We’ll have parents that want us to hire a certain person as principal or teacher for their school. They may be great people, wonderful church goers and bedrocks in that community but may not have the skills that are important to being a good principal. I know we’ve got some key administrative positions open right now in HISD. I recommended to our interview committee several people that I’ve known in districts where I worked who I thought might fit well in those jobs. Guess what. They didn’t make the grade. So when we’re offering employment it’s not enough to know someone.
Defender: Will you do here some of the things you’ve done elsewhere, like reduce class sizes and increase the number of AP courses taken by minority students?
Grier: We’ve told all of our high schools they must offer at least 10 AP courses by next year and 15 two years from now. That’s going to be a requirement to increase academic rigor. I’m not interested in excuses. I’m not interested in you telling me the kids aren’t ready. What I am interested in is what you’re going to do to get them ready. Are you going to reach down to your colleagues in the middle schools? Are you going to have summer academic boot camps for these kids?
Defender: How were you able to do more with less—improving test scores even with a drastically reduced education budget?
Grier: We asked principals to focus on classroom instruction. I think the most important way to improve test scores is to make sure all students have a great teacher in the classroom. You’ve seen a lot of controversy lately about using test scores to evaluate teachers. I think we have to have ways to determine which teachers are doing a great job and which ones aren’t. The ones that are struggling, we need to provide training for. But if they will not or cannot improve they have to go. They cannot continue to work in education. You and I both know that the majority of those teachers teach is in poorer neighborhoods. All of our children deserve quality teachers.
Defender: Any other words you’d like to share?
Grier: Some of our efforts have fallen short for our students, and that just cannot continue. Particularly in Ward Five we have an investigation going on at Key Middle School and Kashmere, and that’s been painful. Some of our findings are not good. I think when those findings come out some of our people in the community are going to be disappointed at some of the things that were going on there. But hopefully, they’re going to be supportive of our efforts to make sure they don’t happen again.
Aswad Walker
DEFENDER
