New Clayton Policies Won't Change Accreditation Report

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – Clayton County's School Board members are taking last-minute steps to keep the system from potentially losing accreditation. But the moves are unlikely to change the evaluation from an accrediting organization, expected mid-February.

The new policies would put up additional firewalls between school board members and the county's superintendent, and also bar them from contact with vendors during bidding processes. Still, that's not enough, says Mark Elgart, head of SACS, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools:

ELGART: Those are commitments to improving their governance, and governance is one of the issues, but not the sole issue that the school district is facing.

In November, SACS began investigating allegations that some school board members were micro-managing school affairs, and that at least one lobbied on behalf of a contractor.

Elgart says SACS has also been looking into how the schools communicate with parents, and the teaching and learning process.

SACS has put Clayton County schools on probation before, in 2003, also due to misconduct by school board members.

Calls to a school board attorney were not returned by airtime.