Georgia students ponder future as schools court disaster

[flashl]

District would be the first in the U.S. since the '60s to lose its accreditation. Students are frustrated and residents of the predominantly black county are embarrassed.

JONESBORO, GA. -- ... Anxiety has engulfed students across Clayton County, a predominantly black area south of Atlanta, ever since they learned their school district could become the first in the nation since the 1960s to lose its accreditation.

Last month, the Southern Assn. of Colleges and Schools recommended that the district's accreditation be revoked Sept. 1 because of ethical violations by its board. The national accreditation commission will vote Saturday.

For the county's nearly 53,000 public school students, loss of accreditation would mean they would not be eligible for state scholarships or be accepted at many universities. They also would have difficulty transferring to other high schools.

"It makes me mad," said Garrett Anderson, 36, a forklift operator who came to Jonesboro High the other afternoon to pick up his 14-year-old son, Garrius, after weight training. "How can nine adults rob so many kids of their dreams?" According to the report, Clayton County Public Schools' nine-member school board is so "dysfunctional" that it has had difficulty recruiting a superintendent, teachers and bus drivers. It accuses board members of nepotism, conflicts of interest, micromanagement, lax fiscal responsibility and failure to audit school attendance.

LA Times

[jody]

1. The Clayton County Board of Education should be fired and prosecuted for their crimes. State Board

of Education should also be fired and prosecuted for gross negligence and dereliction of duty.