Clayton County school board members tried to intimidate school staff to get jobs for their relatives and friends, according to part of a newly completed report that school officials hope will save the district's accreditation.

The report, submitted this week to a school accreditation agency, cites an outside audit of the school system's $600 million budget that found no "fraud, theft or widespread abuse by administrators or staff."

The audit did find, though, a string of unethical behavior by school board members, according to the report, delivered Thursday to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The 2,300-page document was released to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday through an open-records request.

SACS has given the district until Sept. 1 to meet nine mandates or lose accreditation. This week's report argues the Clayton school district should remain accredited and shows work done on each of the mandates.

The mandates include a financial audit, hiring outside consultants and establishing a school board that fulfills its roles and responsibilities. Among SACS' chief concerns are allegations of school board micromanaging, conflicts of interest and abuse of power.

The outside audit found board members went around the superintendent and violated board policies.

"From numerous accounts, it has not been uncommon for board members or former superintendents to contact administrative staff regarding a board member's desire to have relatives hired, or the relative or child of a community member," wrote auditors with the Investigative Accounting Group in Marietta.

School board attorney Julie Lewis said board members "had a desire" to hire relatives, but it is unclear if their attempts were successful.

She said SACS already knew about board members' past indiscretions and is only concerned about what improvements the district has made.

"I don't think the findings will affect SACS' decision at all," Lewis said in a statement Saturday. "Rather, it is what the district and the board have done and will do in light of the findings; what steps we will take to ensure that history does not repeat itself."

Reached Saturday afternoon, board Chairwoman Michelle Strong said she was at a family function and could not comment.

Mark A. Elgart, SACS' president and chief executive officer, said it would be inappropriate to comment. SACS investigators will return to Clayton Aug. 14-16 and will decide by Sept. 1 whether the district keeps its accreditation.

School officials say they have worked on each of the mandates and are confident accreditation can be retained.

"The risk of losing our accreditation has brought into sharper and ever-present focus the benefits the public derives from accreditation. The entire community we serve is at risk, and the board recognizes its past actions are to blame," school officials wrote in the response to SACS.

The report references numerous policy changes, ongoing training, and new hires, including corrective Superintendent John Thompson. The report also acknowledges that three board members have resigned and one was removed.

However, several of the board members criticized in the report still serve on the board.

The audit found incomplete personnel records and "inconsistent and questionable hiring, promotion and compensation decisions."

Lewis said the questionable hires were administrators, not teachers, and that Thompson is addressing that problem.

Problems noted by the auditors include:

> Board member Rod Johnson's wife, teacher and state Rep. Celeste Johnson (D-Jonesboro) collected a paycheck from the district while she was at the Capitol, instead of taking leave. She later paid the district back $1,858.

> Johnson went around all board hiring policies —- including the requirement for a background check —- and hired a bodyguard for interim superintendent Gloria Duncan. The bodyguard, Kenneth Alexander, later was fired after school officials found he had been arrested on charges he touched two female students inappropriately while working at a Clayton school.

> Board member Lois Baines-Hunter went beyond the district's $2,500 annual travel budget last year. She spent $3,725, including $792 at the Renaissance hotel in Atlanta. She also spent $71 on one room-service dinner at the hotel. State law says dinners should not exceed $20.

> Board member Sandra Scott ordered the athletics staff at Morrow High School to clean locker rooms and weight rooms. She also publicly criticized former Morrow football coach Kennedy Holt, who was later terminated. This was cited as an example of micromanaging.

> Board member Michelle Strong's husband, Jason Etheridge, was hired as a high school graduation coach before the board voted on his hiring, which is against state guidelines. The audit says Strong recused herself from the vote.

> Former board member Norreese Haynes advocated for a company trying to run the district's alternative education program, which carried a contract of at least $10 million annually. He appeared at meetings that were closed to board members.

> Former superintendent Barbara Pulliam's "houseguest," Tabatha Stephens, was hired as a part-time employee, but often was paid for overtime. She routinely was paid for times when she was not at the district. The board later paid her $3,838 after she threatened to sue for back overtime.

> Haynes, who also served as the Metro Association of Classroom Educator's director, used his position as a board member to gain "unusual access to information." That information was turned over to his boss, union chairman John Trotter.

Reached Saturday, Trotter said he had not seen the audit or been interviewed, but said the information was not true.

"That's 100 percent unmitigated lies. I don't recall trying to influence them to hire anybody," Trotter said.

"I do intervene for teachers because that's my job."

A second audit, which was completed as part of the accreditation plan, looked at the district's employment practices.

Randy Reece, a former human resources chief for Cobb and Fulton County schools, interviewed 14 top employees who said board members pushed for the hiring of teachers, paraprofessionals, substitutes and coaches who were not qualified.

Employees also complained about board members changing employee termination recommendations to suspensions and creating unbudgeted positions.

Auditors said many of the problems occurred under former superintendent Barbara Pulliam, who abruptly resigned in July 2007. Pulliam, now superintendent in Greene County, said Saturday that she hadn't seen the audit and could not comment.

Lewis said the district is reorganizing to assure administrators are qualified for their positions.

"SACS never said that we had to undo the past or rewrite history," she said.

The audits cost the district about $110,000, Lewis said.

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Some of the auditor's recommendations:

>Conduct a salary equity study. Auditors found one employee who was paid as a teacher but had no children assigned to her. Another employee got a 60-percent raise, of $42,000, without documentation

> Conduct a full audit of the transportation department, which charges about $1 million a year to purchasing cards.

> Add more oversight on purchasing card receipts. Auditors found some employees were reimbursed without receipts and did not have their supervisors' sign off on the expenditures.

> Conduct more board training on ethics and conflicts of interest.

> Train staff on how to deal with board members.

> Ensure all hires meet qualification and experience requirements.

> Automate overtime reporting process. Auditors found inconsistencies in overtime, which is calculated manually by employees.