The Saga Of Clayton County Schools: The Vote To Revoke Accreditation

AJC Article: Board votes to revoke Clayton schools accreditation

To be honest with you I am surprised that the National Accreditation Commission board voted to move forward in the vote to strip accreditation. I hoped that their initial actions were an attempt to scare the various players into action.

At the same time there are 9 specific actions that must be taken in order to spare the school system from this disastrous fate. From this threat I hope will come new leadership that rules with clarity. They must run a tight ship and keep everyone focused on the primary mission - the education of the more than 50,000 children.

At the same time this is more bad news for Clayton County. My neighboring Fayette County to the south has been receiving an influx of Clayton County residents seeking to escape the drama and foolishness of their northern neighbor If the ax falls I assure you that this will lead to a dramatic exodus from a county that can't afford to be further destabilized.

Yes Clayton County enjoys quite a bit of my attention. It is not out of hatred or meanspirtedness though. I am just tired of the foolishness that is handed to us as the public and amazed that so many people take it, not realizing the long run damage that results in the process. All that I ask is that the community do a better job inspecting the character of the character of the people who come to them asking for their vote. Over the last 5 years the residents of Clayton got drunk off of the notion that their county had "flipped", becoming majority Black and thus "we run things now".

Indeed RACE has been the subtext of much of this drama. Unfortunately where as typically with Black folks it is "those White folks don't want us to have any power" in the case of Clayton County - those who were operating with such an assumption in mind FAILED to inspect those who they put into power. The need is to grab your yolk from its current EXTERNAL positioning (upon White folks) and to bring it INSIDE of your collective body once again. Manage your own business and the rest will take care of itself. Take your eye off of the ball as has been the case in Clayton and you will precipitate greater anguish as those who seek to maintain standards via their certification and accreditation processes will take yours away. On this track a community is "ghettofied". This can't afford to happen in Clayton County. A different end must be MANAGED.