Fresh Loaf

The AJC writes a thorough report:

Clayton County schools have been recommended for provisional accreditation, and a national commission will vote later this month on whether to accept the recommendation.

The announcement Friday by officials with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools comes nine months after the association yanked its affiliation with the suburban Atlanta system — making Clayton the nation’s first school system to lose accreditation in nearly 40 years.

The recommendation means SACS would back the system but require it to keep working on issues including leadership and governance — major problems cited by the association when it took action last year.

SACS would continue to monitor the school system for improvement and, later on, could nominate Clayton for full accreditation or cite further problems.

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Clayton County, whose turmoil CL covered last summer, is hiring. The county’s school system on Saturday fired John Thompson, the superintendent who was supposed to help the system regain its accreditation. Last year, the county’s system was the first in the last 40 years to lose its accreditation. Thompson was the county’s third superintendent in four years.

Megan Matteucci of the AJC reports:

John Thompson was dismissed Saturday, about a month before the 47,000-student district has one more chance to prove it deserves to be reaccredited. If it fails, the district would need to start over, a process that could take about three years.

Valya Lee, assistant superintendent of student support services, was named interim superintendent. Lee, who started in Clayton in 1993 as a teacher, said she is not interested in the permanent position.

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The leader of SACS [the accrediting body] said the board is heading in the right direction.

“It is clear this board is committed to a fresh start,” SACS President and Chief Executive Officer Mark A. Elgart said Saturday. “They are changing the way business is done in the school system.”

(Photo by Thomas Wheatley)

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It’s not the same accreditation recently stripped from the 58,000-student school system by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, but Clayton officials say the seal of approval from the Georgia Accrediting Commission may help students get accepted to public and private colleges and universities in the state.

Full release after the jump.

(more…)

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UPDATE: We normally don’t correct quoted sources, but I’ve done such to the copy below because of Todd’s comment.

Says the AJC’s Megan Matteucci:

The 50,000-student school system is the first in the nation to lose accreditation since 1969, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools announced today.

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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.

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