Terry Grier is the new leader of San Diego Unified

"He also introduced higher pay for teachers working in struggling schools, which typically experience high turnover -- a provision that the San Diego Unified teachers union has vowed to fight, if he replicates the policy here..."

Voice of San Diego
by EMILY ALPERT
January 19, 2008

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/01/19/this_just_in/545sup011908.txt

It's official: Terry Grier is the new leader of San Diego Unified, California's second-largest school district...He has worked in Guilford County (North Carolina) for nearly eight years, where he focused heavily on cutting down on school dropouts.

His efforts to integrate his district's economically and racially divided schools via magnet programs spurred both praise and controversy.

He also introduced higher pay for teachers working in struggling schools, which typically experience high turnover -- a provision that the San Diego Unified teachers union has vowed to fight, if he replicates the policy here...

San Diego Unified is nearly twice the size of Guilford County Schools, with a different ethnic makeup. But board members were excited by Grier's professional achievements, aggressive stance on school reform, and apparent rapport with the school board...

It is unclear when Grier will start. His contract, which pays $269,000 annually, begins July 1, but Nakamura said the board hoped to see him start sooner, depending on his obligations to Guilford County...