news-record.com

Guilford County Schools Superintendent Terry Grier is interviewing for superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District.

It is his second flirtation with another school district. In April 2006, after making it to be a top three finalist, Grier withdrew from the race to be superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg's school system.

At the time, he cited a "moral conviction" to the children in the state's third-largest district, Guilford.

Tonight, Grier issued the following statement on the San Diego job:

"At their invitation, I have met with the Board of Education of the San Diego Unified School District (San Diego, CA) to discuss their superintendent's position. SDUSD is the eighth largest urban school district in the country and the second largest district in California. San Diego has a national reputation for good schools, but face many of the same challenges that are found in Guilford County and other metropolitan systems.

"I want to be clear that I am not dissatisfied with my current position and enjoy working with our board of education. An offer has not been made; I am taking this process one step at a time.

"We've accomplished much in Guilford County, successes that are now being acknowledged and recognized across the country. I'm very proud of the progress our team has and continues to make - including:

The successful development and execution of the Mission Possible program - as a result of these efforts, five Mission Possible schools made Adequate Yearly Progress for the first time this year

Implementing Early/Middle Colleges - part of the district's collective effort to enhance academic rigor for our students and provide learning opportunities to meet their myriad needs; the model has since been replicated by Governor Easley for his statewide Learn and Earn program

Establishing a dropout rate of 2.99, consistently among the lowest of all urban school districts statewide and nationally

Increasing our graduation rate to 79.7%, the highest of the five large school districts in the state

Increasing scholarships offered to graduating seniors that now exceed $68 million - a tremendous economic benefit for our community

Exceeding the state average and the average of the other large school districts in NC in the percentage of schools making Adequate Yearly Progress in 2007"