The ruling confirms the worst fears of Clayton’s 271,000 residents.
Clayton County Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell, who was in the meeting at SACS headquarters in Decatur when the announcement came, confirmed the loss of accreditation.
“I’m disappointed. I think we still have a window of hope because there is an appeal process,” he said.
Bell said he summoned the committee of citizens who helped the school district when it was on probation five years ago.
“I cannot allow this to happen. We are going to step back up to the plate to reassure our community that there is hope and we care about our children.”
No accreditation means students will have a tougher time getting into some colleges and universities. They may also have difficulty obtaining scholarships.
Qualifying Clayton students will still be able to get their HOPE scholarships. Earlier this year, Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a bill allowing graduates of unaccredited schools to get HOPE.
Without accreditation, Clayton will also lose pre-kindergarten funding and some teacher benefits. The county also expects more students to flee. About 2,000 students have already left, superintendent John Thompson said.
In March, the national commission unanimously voted to revoke accreditation unless the school system met nine mandates by September. The first mandate was to establish a board that fulfills its roles and responsibilities.
This is the second time is five years SACS cited Clayton for micromanaging, abuse of power, conflict of interest and other unethical violations.
The board spent the 2003-04 school year working to get off probation, including 144 hours of training. In June 2005, the district came off probation.
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