Sunday, March 30, 2008

Clayton County Schools Crisis (Atlanta Journal-Constitution; 3-28-08; D3)

By: Megan Matteucci

Members: Quit or stay on?

Every member of the Clayton County School Board (Georgia) says his or her first priority is the district's 52,800 students.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools plans to revoke Clayton's accreditation unles it overhauls the school system.

SACS gave the district until Sept. 1 to meet nine mandates or become the first school system in the U.S. to lose accreditation since 1969.

The first mandate is to establish a governing board that is capable of fulfilling its roles and responsibilities. To do that, all nine board members must resign, said three top officials involved with the system's accreditation.

As of Thursday, the board has removed one board member and two have announced plans to resign.

For many parents, the question remains: Why are any of them still in office?

B. Brown's comments on the situation:

There seems to be a recurring theme in Clayton County right now and it is that the people in charge of the Educational system do not know what they are doing. For the second (2nd) time in five (5) years the county has been under investigation and the possibility of losing its accreditation has been hovering overhead.

I believe that the parents of the Hip-Hop Generation in Clayton County, GA should petition for the immediate removal of the nine (9) Board Members and absolutely demand that the county meets the other eight (8) mandates as soon as possible. Numbers are the key and parents have to step-up in big numbers to let the county know that the accreditation for the county must be saved at any cost.

Many parents have stepped up and made their voices heard, but in this day and age, you must be able to effectively get your point across legally! It takes some money, not necessarily a lot and effort! Effort is the key because many attorney's and organizations will work pro-bono. A movement is needed at this time!

Parents, the next time around, please nominate and push for good (quality) candidates to run for the School Board and vote for the best candidates that will sincerely help Clayton County improve its School System and restore it to a school system of excellence as it was up to the middle 90's.

Parents, it is up to you to LOVE, TEACH & DISCIPLINE your children and then demand that your children receive the best education possible from the school system he or she attends. When a child goes to school to learn, that means they have books, paper, pens, pencils and other items that they need to actually learn and achieve! If you don't see your children with any learning materials, ask them why they do not have any books with them and then check with their teachers. Believe me when I say this, the reason school systems have problems with securing and keeping good teachers is because teachers do not want to deal with kids that cuss them out, skip their classes repeatedly and just flat out don't know how to act. Too many children do not respect adults and they get that from their parents. Once again, parents step your game up!

One Love!

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