Clayton County schools are the first in the nation in the past 40 years to lose accreditation, failing to meet eight of nine improvement mandates.

The action by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools came a few hours prior to Gov. Sonny Perdue’s announcement that he was immediately removing four school board members found to have flouted the law. A state administrative judge had recommended their removal.

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John Spink/jspink@ajc.com

Clayton parent Linda Granger (left) and school board-elect member Jessie Goree (center) were stopped by a law enforcement officer outside the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools office. Goree later was able to enter.

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Read the full report to SACS:
• Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 (Large PDFs)

• Read SACS' report (PDF)

• Photos: Non-meeting | Angry parents | 400 protest
• Clayton County news

Superintendent John Thompson said the district will appeal the accreditation loss, which takes effect Monday.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure these kids get full accreditation,” Thompson said.

School officials have 10 days to file an appeal, but will have to show that SACS was incorrect and that the district has met the mandates spelled out earlier to avoid accreditation loss.

By Thursday afternoon, parents flooded school offices to withdraw their children. Two thousand students have already fled the district this school year and the number is expected to grow.

Thompson said he was disappointed that families were not willing to give the district another chance.

“A storm came through and look at it now, the sun is shining,” Thompson said. “That’s what’s going to happen in Clayton County.”

School officials can regain accreditation if they show before Sept. 1, 2009, that have met all the mandates. If successful, accreditation would be restored and would be retroactive to Sept. 1, 2008. If they aren’t successful, the school system would have to start the accreditation process from the beginning, which likely would take about three years.

That means that if Clayton meets the mandates by May, this year’s seniors could graduate with an accredited diploma.

A loss of accreditation means the 50,000 Clayton students could have trouble getting into some colleges and universities, or receiving scholarship money. High school juniors and seniors will be able to maintain Hope scholarship eligibility because of legislation signed earlier this year by Gov. Sonny Perdue.

In an overview of the system’s loss of accreditation, SACS officials said problems with the board were a factor.

The main problem was that the school system did not have a functioning board, said Mark A. Elgart, president and chief executive officer of SACS. The board’s conflicts affected everything from teaching and learning to staffing and allocation of resources, accreditors said.

“It affected the entire school system,” Elgart said Thursday afternoon at a news conference. “Today, the students’ education in this particular district is being compromised.”

In March, the national Accreditation Commission, which governs SACS, ordered the school system to meet nine mandates or lose accreditation by Sept. 1.

The commission on Tuesday reviewed the school system’s progress and found only one mandate had been fully met, Elgart said.

“There’s positive intent in some cases, but there is no result in some cases,” Elgart said.

On Thursday, Perdue heeded the recommendation by Judge Michael Malihi, of the Office of State Administrative Hearings, and issued an executive order removing board members Michelle Strong, Louise Baines-Hunter, Yolanda Everett and Sandra Scott.

The move means there will be special elections in November seeking someone to serve the remainder of Scott’s and Strong’s terms, both of which end Dec. 31, 2010.

“The fate of the Clayton County School System is now in the hands of the voters,” Perdue said in a statement. “Through the elections to replace these four 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. We can hope that this marks a new day for Clayton County, a time in which rebuilding can begin.”

Accreditors had said before the executive order was issued that the governor’s pending decision would not impact their decision on the system’s accreditation. They said new board members would still need to prove that they could follow policy and meet the mandates.

Malihi recommended on Wednesday that the governor remove the four board members. The governor agreed they had violated the state Open Meetings Act and state ethics code.

A team of investigators from across the nation reviewed Clayton’s progress and found no evidence to show the school system had a fully functioning board or permanent superintendent, Elgart said.

Accreditors were particularly concerned that the board gave away its governing authority to superintendent John Thompson, Elgart said. In April, the board signed a contract that allowed the superintendent to violate board policies and circumvent the board, as long as it doesn’t violate state law.

“The current contract cedes authority to the superintendent,” Elgart said. “It not only violates standards for accreditation, but board policy and violates state law.”

Elgart said he and two state board of education members appointed to help Clayton pointed out the flawed contract months ago, but the board didn’t listen.

“They gave the superintendent responsibility that needed to be held by the board,” said state board of education member James Bostic, who was appointed by the governor to help Clayton.

County Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell said he and Thompson are already laying out a strategy to meet the mandates by this spring.

Students and parents were shocked by the news. Some teenagers in classes broke down in tears and others left early.

Bell asked that students remain in school and teachers continue their duties.

“I’m asking for calm,” Bell said. “We have a window of opportunity still.”