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Clayton County School Accreditation Loss Predictable, but Still Disgraceful
By Ryan Ward | August 28, 2008
I don’t really know what to say about this except - what about the kids? For the first time in 40 years, a school system in the United States has lost it’s accreditation. For this loss of accreditation, 4 board members lost their jobs. Is that it? Are you kidding me? These are our children that we are talking about and their futures are at stake. A lot more than 4 of them I might add. The whole board should be immediately dissolved.
In an AJC article, School Superintendant John Thompson said “A storm came through and look at it now, the sun is shining, That’s what’s going to happen in Clayton County”. What? This is no time for rediculous metaphors and meaningless statements. It’s time for action. This is an embarassment to the children in those schools that this has happened.
I don’t give a damn about the school board. I do care about the 50,000 students in the school system. I feel sorry for them because this was outside of their control. Here is what SACS, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools had to say taken from the previously linked AJC article:
“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.”
I don’t live in Clayton County. I really don’t even sell real estate in Clayton County, but, Clayton County is part of Metro Atlanta and is an integral part of the Greater Atlanta community. This should unequivacally never happen to an American school system. It’s also a perfect example of why school choice should be an option for all students everywhere. With a failed school system, parents can’t sell their homes because noone will want to live there so once again the children are forgotten. This is shameful at best. With school choice, these schools would have been forced to become better.
Category: Atlanta Real Estate |
Hello and welcome to my Atlanta real estate blog. My name is Ryan Ward and I run The Ryan Ward Group at Keller Williams Realty Consultants. Stay informed with information on neighborhoods, market statistics, homes and editorials on local, regional and national news that affects all of us here in Atlanta and elsewhere. I enjoy life and writing so don't be surprised if you read something thsat isn't directly related to real estate. We all need a break sometimes. If you have any questions about what you read or would like additional information, please fill in the form below or give me a call at 404.630.3187.
August 31st, 2008 at 4:38 am
That is pretty sad to hear about. So what happens to the kids now. Are they going to be transferred to another school district. Or are they forced to attend a school district with no accreditation.
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
What, exactly, does this accreditation mean? Will Colleges and Universities not honor the test scores and grades from kids from this district?
September 4th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Tammy,
Here is a good article about it.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Ryan,
It sounds like your county is having simular problams as my county. It is really sad that we spend so much money on education and we still have a failed system. This is another reason why I favor charter schools, where they treat education like a business. This way you dont have the waste, you dont have the unions, and you dont have the crappy teachers.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
How sad. You hit the nail on the head about people having trouble selling their homes because of this as well. In my area if your school district is not top 50 for the state some home buyers will shun it.
September 8th, 2008 at 4:31 am
We are told we have choice, but really, we are allowed to express a preference only. The only way poor schools will do better here is if middle class parents send their children to their local schools, take an interest in that school and demand better standards. But we have the situation where better off parents move to get into the catchment area of a school and the price of real estate in that area goes sky high. We even have a huge rental market for parents moving into rented home for the period of the application process. Its a complete nightmare, but we have a short window for the education of our children and cannot think of the long term benefits of the poor local school.
September 8th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Wow — that really is awful! It is just so disappointing to hear!