Citizens triggered school board ouster by Perdue

Five Clayton County residents used a relatively unknown legal mechanism to give Gov. Sonny Perdue the authority to unseat four elected school board members — an unprecedented move in recent state history.

Perdue ousted Michelle Strong, Sandra Scott, Lois Baines-Hunter and Yolanda Everett on the day the Clayton school system lost accreditation.

Clayton County schools headlines:

• Photos: Timeline of Clayton schools' woes

[an error occurred while processing this directive] • AJC editorial: Less hope

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Clayton County news

“We’re hopeful that with these people removed, new people can come in … and maybe we can regain our accreditation very rapidly,” said Jonesboro resident George Brown, 68, who is one of five people who filed complaints with the governor.

Under the state code of ethics, elected and appointed board members across the state are required to uphold the U.S. and Georgia constitutions and “never engage in other conduct which is unbecoming to a member or which constitutes a breach of public trust.”

Any citizen can file a complaint against a board member. If the governor thinks the complaint may have merit, he sends it to a small state agency called the Office of State Administrative Hearings.

“The process is all triggered by resident complaint,” said Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley.

Judges in that office hold hearings on the complaint. Like a regular court, both sides make arguments and present briefs to the judge, who then makes a recommendation to the governor.

In the Clayton County case, Judge Michael Malihi recommended the four board members’ ouster Wednesday. He ruled the board had violated the state ethics code and the state Open Records Act several times. Perdue acted the next day, removing the board members and calling for elections to fill the vacant seats.

This legal mechanism had never been used by Perdue. Gov. Roy Barnes used it to remove Griffin-Spalding County school board member Oscar Stokes Jr. from office in January 2000. Malihi was the judge in that case as well. Malihi ruled Stokes violated the state ethics code by allegedly sexually harassing three school employees and threatening an assistant superintendent.

Brown said his group, several of whom are attorneys, were researching their legal options when the Clayton school system’s accreditation was threatened. “We started meeting and looking at the law, and came upon the ethics code,” Brown said. “We started looking at that and we decided that would be the best way to go.”

Under state law, the judge’s findings and recommendations, as well as the governor’s actions, can be appealed to state Superior Court by the removed board members. Removing elected officials also can be challenged in federal court on constitutional grounds.

Brantley said Perdue was very frustrated by the ongoing crisis with Clayton County’s schools, which lost their accreditation in part because of infighting among board members.

Brantley said Perdue and his legal counsel considered the legal ramifications of unseating elected officials, but Perdue acted quickly when he had the judge’s recommendation to remove.

“We considered the impact that it might have and what kind of precedent it set, but I cannot say that he hesitated at all.”

Brantley said the governor was considering proposing legislation in the next session of the Legislature that would allow the state “more of a role when these situations come up.”

Similar legislation was defeated in the last session.