New Clayton school board must buckle down, pronto

The old school board created the problems; the new board must repair them.

That was the clear message from Mark Elgart, president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which announced Thursday that it is revoking the accreditation of the 50,000-student Clayton County district.

Clayton becomes the first U.S. school system since 1969 to have its accreditation fully stripped. Accreditation represents an important seal of approval in the education world. Its loss signals that a school system has not met standards, and, as a result, Clayton students may not qualify for certain scholarships or be welcomed by some selective colleges.

SACS is giving Clayton exactly one year to act on its nine recommendations and regain accreditation. If the system doesn’t regain its standing then, it has to start from scratch, which can be a two- to three-year process.

Clayton County doesn’t have two or three years. While the state of Georgia has created a loophole to allow Clayton students to qualify still for HOPE scholarships, that window shuts in two years.

In outlining the problems that SACS found in Clayton, Elgart repeatedly mentioned dysfunctional school board members, several of whom were voted out of office in the July primary. Also on Thursday, Gov. Sonny Perdue followed the recommendation of a state judge and removed four school board members for violating Georgia’s Open Meetings Act and the state ethics code.

“Through the elections to replace these board members, they can send a clear signal that the kind of behavior that has led to this ruling and the system’s loss of accreditation will not be tolerated,” said Perdue. “We can hope that this marks a new day for Clayton County, a time in which rebuilding can begin.”

The fresh faces on the board will be the key to whether the system can hold its head up 12 months from now. Those new board members cannot indulge a single moment of petty bickering or personal avarice. They cannot whisper in an administrator’s ear what a great classroom assistant their niece would make. They cannot show up unannounced at a school and demand an audience with the principal. They cannot harangue a softball coach about how little playing time their daughter gets. They cannot overcharge for mileage, sneak copy paper home or eat all the cookies in the teacher’s lounge.

The new board has to demonstrate from the first day that it can govern. Members have to resolve whether John Thompson is their superintendent for the long haul or whether they have to hire someone else to meet SACS’ demand for permanent leadership. They have to seek the advice of respected education organizations and ignore the heckling of the self-serving ones.

And they have to do it fast.

— Maureen Downey, for the editorial board (mdowney@ajc.com)