I am not really sure what the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accomplished by its political move to say that the education of children in Clayton County is inferior to all Schools they continue to give Accreditation. What was their motive to cause the 50,000 Clayton students to have trouble getting into some colleges and universities, or receiving scholarship money?

____According to news accounts.............

Accreditors were particularly concerned that the board gave away its governing authority to superintendent John Thompson, Elgart said. In April, the board signed a contract that allowed the superintendent to violate board policies and circumvent the board, as long as it doesn’t violate state law.

“The current contract cedes authority to the superintendent,” Elgart said. “It not only violates standards for accreditation, but board policy and violates state law.”

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*Note: A contract that violates any law is not a legal contract.
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Obviously, this isn't good. Regardless of why that issue wasn't properly dealt with by the state or by the county; exactly why does that mean that the students of Clayton County should be told that their education is inferior to all other schools to the degree they should not be allowed into colleges.

How Governor Purdue is handling this situation should send a chill through all state school districts. It is similar to Russia sending tanks into the Nation of Georgia because they don't like the elected government of the Nation of Georgia. Our Governor Purdue moves to take over the Clayton County School System, kicks out the elected school board, and calls for new elections because he doesn't approve of the School Board the people previously elected. Isn't Democracy in Communist America a wonderful thing. : -( Governor Purdue himself has said he wants laws to make it easier to do the same thing to other School Districts.

____from news ............

School officials can regain accreditation if they show before Sept. 1, 2009 that have met all the mandates. If successful, accreditation would be restored and would be retroactive to Sept. 1, 2008. If they aren’t successful, the school system would have to start the accreditation process from the beginning, which likely would take about three years.

That means that if Clayton meets the mandates by May, this year’s seniors could graduate with an accredited diploma. Already, juniors and seniors will be able to maintain Hope scholarships because of legislation signed earlier this year by the governor.

School officials have 10 days to file an appeal, but will have to show that SACS was incorrect and they have met all the mandates.

County Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell said he and Thompson are already laying out a strategy to meet the mandates by this spring.

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This kind of politics does not belong in our educational system. The Federal Government needs to be restricted from say in the system. The state government needs to be restricted from say in the system. Accreditation boards need to be abolished.

States should focus on libraries and text books and software and teachers and tutors and other resources to give every person an opportunity to learn; but to whether a child takes advantage should be left to the parents and the child. Learning is a life time thing and the system needs to be redesigned to better serve all Americans throughout their life.

Diplomas and Certifications need to be based on test to gauge actual qualifications for x, y, or z or to help a person gauge to whether they are ready for the next stage of learning what is needed to become qualified for x, y, or z. Employers need to base hiring not on bogus Diplomas and Certifications but on their own test to gauge what they are looking for in an employee.

I am not talking about socially bias testing or esoteric test that have little to do with testing qualifications for anything. I am talking about test to benefit people with skills and not bogus test to use politics to handicap people from receiving higher education or employment.

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I think what the governor and the accreditation board has done in the case of Clayton County is politics of the most dirty kind. It does not help the children of Clayton County. It hurts the children of Clayton County. Perhaps I am not aware of all the facts and there might be an argument to justify what has been done. I just don't see it.