Clayton County school administrators will have to prove to their new boss that they have what it takes to save the district's accreditation or face a possible termination.

As part of new superintendent John W. Thompson's shakeup, every school administrator will have to re-apply for his or her job.

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"We're looking at resumes and job descriptions to make sure we have the right people on board," Thompson said after Monday's school board meeting. "I don't know if anyone will lose their job, but it's a possibility."

Dozens of administrators will have to re-interview and prove they fit Thompson's agenda to meeting the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' nine mandates to save accreditation.

SACS is scheduled to return to Clayton Aug. 1 to judge's the district's progress. If the mandates aren't met, the district will lose accreditation Sept. 1.

"We have 87 days before Aug. 1," Thompson told the board Monday. "Aug. 1 is our day of redemption with the SACS report."

Sid Chapman, president of the 2,800-member Clayton County Education Association, said he had to check into the legality of Thompson's plan to make administrators re-apply for positions.

The board extended contracts to the administrators last month. However, those contracts do not go into effect until July, district spokesman Charles White said.

One job the Clayton administrators won't be eligible for is deputy superintendent. Thompson has identified his former colleague Judith Simmons as the lead candidate for the position. Simmons, who worked with Thompson in Pittsburgh, is serving as the district's interim deputy superintendent, Thompson said Monday.

Simmons, who already has an office in the district's administrative headquarters in Jonesboro, has been serving as a consultant since Thompson's first day day on the job last week.

State law requires the board to vote on Simmons' hire before she can be officially appointed, board attorney Dorsey Hopson said.

Simmons' salary was not available Monday night.

In addition to the administrative re-organization, Thompson spent his first week on the job meeting with what he calls key stakeholders in the district's accreditation fight, including SACS' president and the state's deputy superintendent of education.

"We have a small window of opportunity," Thompson said. "If we do [lose accreditation], SACS will give us a year to get back our accreditation. And then, all this hoopla over losing accreditation will be null and void."

Thompson did not address the problems with the board, but asked the community to support him.

"We need to stop pointing fingers now as to what went wrong and who did what," he said. "The count-down is on."

However, some parents continued to pressure the board to resign Monday.

"Since March 15, the board has done so much wrong," said Dexter Matthews, president of the Clayton NAACP. "You don't have the children's best interest at heart. If you did, you wouldn't keep breaking the law. Please do the right thing, just please step down."