Seventeen-year-old Deanna Fontan looked out at a high school gym Saturday and saw why she believes Clayton County schools' accreditation is at risk: less than a third of the seats were full.

"I'm glad that those who came out did, but I expected more people, a lot more people," said Fontan, a junior at Morrow High School. "It aggravates me. They are not doing anything to help us. They are only helping themselves."

Fontan spent her Saturday at Mount Zion High School at the Concerned Citizens of Clayton County "Mega Town Hall Meeting," helping residents register to vote and learn what they can do save the district's accreditation.

The apathy Fontan sees in Clayton County is the reason she wants to study education or social work, she said. About 400 people showed up.

Concerned Citizens, an organization of several dozen students and parents, organized Saturday's event as an educational forum to move residents from anger to action, said Charlton Bivins, the group's chairman.

The group distributed a 30-page book of information and signed up people for committees for each of the nine school board districts.

"I thought people would be fired up because time is passing," Bivins said. "But people told me they had to go to baby showers and barbecues instead of learn about their children's futures."

No school board member or county commissioner attended Saturday's meeting. Civil rights leader Rev. Joseph Lowery was on the program to speak, but he did not show up, either. Of the nine state legislators who represent Clayton, only three were present.

"We now know who the problem is; they all didn't show up," said Anthony Williams, a father of twin high school students and a member of the Concerned Citizens.

Most of the forum's discussion focused on electing a qualified school board, which is one of the requirements to hold on to accreditation.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has given the district nine mandates to meet by Sept. 1, or it will be the first school system in the nation to lose accreditation since 1969.

"The only mandate the community can affect is number one, which calls for a board capable of fulfilling its roles and responsibilities," Bivins told the group. "The board is there because we chose to vote or not to vote. Our power comes through voting."

Of the 130,000 registered voters in Clayton County, only about 8,000 voted in the 2006 school board election. In that election, District 9 board member Sandra Scott was elected with 922 votes.

Those attending the 2 1/2-hour forum also learned how they can hold onto student-athlete scholarships and how graduates of unaccredited schools can still enroll in the University of Georgia system.

Veronica Williams, a Jonesboro mother of four, said she learned what district she lives in, what qualities are needed to run for school board and why her vote matters.

"I'm concerned about my kids and everyone else's," Williams said. "I've been to community meetings, but nothing at the county level and wanted to see what I could do to help."