Clayton County Board of Education is What Gives Georgia Education a Bad Name
categories: Schools
If you thought the "sub-prime meltdown" was bad for property values and the real estate market, try losing your school accreditation. Whoops, there goes 30% of your home’s value faster than a high school student can skip class.
Unfortunately for the homeowners in Clayton County, which is SOUTH of Atlanta, their homes are now more liabilities than assets. But more to the point, the students, who are mostly innocent bystanders in the dysfunctional political world concocted by adults, are the big losers. Have you ever tried to get into college from an unaccredited high school? No accreditation also means no HOPE scholarship, Georgia’s big educational plum funded by lottery money. And for the little kids? Well, they lose, too: no pre-K funding.
If Clayton County does not meet a set of nine requirements by September 1 set forth by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, it will have the infamous distinction of accomplishing what no school district in the country has accomplished since 1969: revocation of its accreditation - primarily due to mismanagement and ineptitude. You see, those elections to the School Board that you never vote in…THEY MATTER.
The reasons for the loss of accreditation are a litany of typical bureaucratic abuses: unethical behavior by Board Members; misuse of funds; abuse of power; bid tampering and conflict of interest. This is the second time in five years that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has investigated Clayton and I wouldn’t be surprised if this time they pulled the plug.
As much as my sympathies go out to the Clayton school children, I’m also aggravated by the Clayton School Board because of the negative shadow it casts on the rest of public education in Atlanta. It is bad enough that people from the north and west already think that we are a bunch of illiterate rednecks right out of the north Georgia mountains. Now we have Clayton’s incompetence compounding our public image.
What gets lost in the shuffle is that Atlanta does have some very good schools, namely the public schools in East Cobb, North Fulton and South Forsyth. Clayton County’s problems are symptomatic of larger problems of poverty, depreciating property values and deteriorating social fabric…and it is in the SUBURBS, not the inner city.
Clayton’s struggles beg the question recently asked by Matt Miller in his article, First, Kill All the Schools Boards in The Atlantic: Should school control really be in the hands of local (mis)managers?
The argument for local control (and local control is mostly an historical artifact) has always been that it keeps the parents and community vested in the success of the schools.
The flip side is that our current system has unbelievable funding inequities because school financing is tied to property tax values and we have no clear measure of how schools perform relative to each other, within Georgia or when comparing to other states.
Additionally, Clayton County’s troubles could have come at no better time to make Miller’s points that local school boards are incompetent and cannot govern effectively because as independent political entities, with off-year elections in which no one votes, they have effectively become controlled by competent teachers’ unions and other vendors with large financial stakes.
I write all this just to say that there ARE some good schools in Atlanta; we aren’t (all ;->) a bunch of hicks, nor are we incompetent boobs. I’ve written about the quality of North Fulton Schools here many times before and will continue to harp on the topic because I believe that when people are looking for a new home in Atlanta, one of the first things they consider is the quality of the schools.
Without the benefit of national standards - yet - the closest thing we have to compare Alpharetta area schools to those in other states is the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS). Last year, all the Middle Schools in North Fulton (Northwestern, Hopewell, Autry Mill, River Trail) scored above the 70th percentile in reading and the Fulton Science Academy, which is a charter school focusing on math and science, scored in the 80th percentile.
At the 3rd Grade level, North Fulton has FIFTEEN schools score in the 80th percentile or better for reading, including the likes of Dolvin, Cogburn Woods, Barnwell, Crabapple Crossing, Summit Hill and New Prospect. Shakerag was the leader at the 85th percentile. You can get the complete scores here.
The situation in Clayton County makes me sick, because a lot of those school children are fighting an uphill battle to begin with and now they have to deal with this. What about kids who are juniors in high school and whose family cannot move - what are they supposed to do? But as sick as this makes me fell, it would make me even sicker if you thought that every public school system in Atlanta was like this. They aren’t and we aren’t.
Damage control done.
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I have several problems with your article. The first would be your grade of “F” to Clayton County schools. I applaud our teachers, administrators, school support staff, and especially our students during these trying times. The schools themselves our excelling despite everything that has happened with the school board. Look at Jonesboro High School with their Mock Trial team going to Nationals for the second time in a row. The school board deserves the “F” not the schools themselves. I am also troubled by the statement you made that Clayton County will have the infamous distinction of accomplishing what no school district in the country has accomplished since 1969: revocation of its accreditation. Clayton County is not the first school system to lose its accreditation. In the past 20 years, only two school districts in Hartford, Conn., and Duval County, Fla. have lost accreditation. (reference AJC 2/15/08) Clayton County would be the first in Georgia however. I also find it very hard to believe that Clayton County has so much influence in the minds of other Metro Atlantans as to cast a dark shadow over Atlanta. Clayton County will rise from the ashes just as Tara rose from its ashes.
Eric, I appreciate your comments, however, I believe that it was pretty clear my gripe is with the School Board, and frankly with other responsible adults in Clayton County for allowing the situation to get where it is today.
I’m sure there are some very dedicated teachers, administrators and staff - and i definitely feel for the students because they are the real victims here…them and property owners with and without children who will see their property devalued.
You seem to be defending Clayton County for some reason. It is not like the Clayton School Board didn’t make their own bed. What has recently amazed me is that it has taken so long for the entire Board to resign in Clayton. Only this week did Eldrin Bell call for all of them to resign.
Bottom line is that for all your Mock Trial teams, the Clayton County schools overall performance is abysmal: just look at the stats.
Clayton is 159th of 176 districts in SAT score at 1291.
If you look only at districts that have about 1000 or more students taking the test, Clayton is last (but Atlanta City Schools are close). Dubious company.
CRCT scores tell the same story: poor performance. Am I being too hard on Clayton County or am I just highlighting the obvious? Clearly there are huge issues of mismanagement and any other malady you might suggest.
PS: Yes, Clayton will be the first to lose its accreditation in the last twenty years, if that is how it plays out. Duval County lost accreditation in 1969. Hartford was on the verge of losing it, but the State stepped in a somehow prevented it. Check out the AJC on this point: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/clayton/stories/2008/03/15/claysacs_0316.html
I think you both have great points. However, what good can possibly come of downgrading one another. I think in times like this we need prayer. We need to
work together as a state.I am thankful to all of the educators that have worked so hard inspite of being downgraded by individuals looking from the outside in. Are we happy that this has happened? Of course not. Regardless we have no choice but to rise above it and not let it or others keep us down. I was born and raised in Clayton County. I love it here. I have 2 children in our schools. I am not happy with what is happening being that I have one going into the pre-k program and another going into middle school. My middle schooler is incredible. She has straight A’s,
Member of the Jr. B.E.T.A. Club,on the School News Crew, 4-H Club and others. She wants to go to college. At the age of 11 she is worried about getting into the right college. This situation does not help her worries at all. Then our children get online and read blogs that people put up without any concern for the children who might read them. Reading blogs, such as the one posted, are not only hurtful, they do not help the situation. So,if you want to make sure that the people who are thinking about moving to Georgia, know the good it has to offer, start by showing how much we care for one another and lets work together to find a solution..To Clayton County OF Georgia,I will PRAY for resolution and peace everyday. God Bless you all!!!!!
Our children should have a say in what their future holds! I took the initiative to enroll my children at Ashworth High School. They are fully accredited - my kids have already started and they love it!
Go to: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5j9WTO32URM
for more information.
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