Clayton County officials say they will appeal a Thursday ruling that strips accreditation from its school district. The county just south of Atlanta has already lost 2,000 students from the start of the school year, and is bracing for more students to leave. Clayton’s school district got word Thursday from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Mark Elgart is head of the accrediting body:
"I think the evidence will show that board members, when they had disagreements, a lot of those ended up personal--not professional. And that they worked to discredit one another throughout their activities as board members, both in and outside of board meetings".
Elgart says the district met only one of nine mandates it needed to achieve. Following the ruling by SACS, Governor Sonny Perdue acted by ousting 4 of Clayton's school board members. That action followed a judge's recommendation from earlier in the week where it was determined the members violated Georgia's open meetings laws and ethics code.
Clayton schools superintendent John Thompson was hurt by the ruling.
"I was devastated...devastated to no end. I just kept thinking about 53-thousand kids being thrown under the bus, over the fact some adults didn't do what they were supposed to do. So that's all I kept thinking about, how could you do this to these children?".
Lost accreditation makes it tougher, if not impossible, for students to get scholarships or admission to many colleges and universities.
"I think the evidence will show that board members, when they had disagreements, a lot of those ended up personal--not professional. And that they worked to discredit one another throughout their activities as board members, both in and outside of board meetings".
Elgart says the district met only one of nine mandates it needed to achieve. Following the ruling by SACS, Governor Sonny Perdue acted by ousting 4 of Clayton's school board members. That action followed a judge's recommendation from earlier in the week where it was determined the members violated Georgia's open meetings laws and ethics code.
Clayton schools superintendent John Thompson was hurt by the ruling.
"I was devastated...devastated to no end. I just kept thinking about 53-thousand kids being thrown under the bus, over the fact some adults didn't do what they were supposed to do. So that's all I kept thinking about, how could you do this to these children?".
Lost accreditation makes it tougher, if not impossible, for students to get scholarships or admission to many colleges and universities.
