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Published Friday, August 29, 2008 in Local

Clayton students must meet all rules to attend Coweta schools

By Winston Skinner

The Times-Herald

Students from the Clayton County School System -- which has lost its accreditation, effective Monday -- are welcome in Coweta County, but they will have to live here and meet all the criteria other students meet.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools announced the Sept. 1 revocation of the Clayton County system's accreditation Thursday -- a move blamed in part on what has been called a "dysfunctional" school board. SACS, which is based in Decatur, had issued a report outlining problems in the Clayton system in February, but only one of the nine mandates in that report had been met, according to Mark Elgart, head of SACS.

Some Clayton families have already moved to Coweta County and enrolled their students in the local system. When the SACS decision was announced Thursday, the telephones at the Coweta County Board of Education switchboard began ringing.

Some 20-25 calls came "in an hour or two" from Clayton residents "wanting to know what they could do to get their children enrolled," according to Coweta County School Superintendent Blake Bass.

Bass said some students who attended school in Clayton County last school term are now students in Coweta. "We did have some students transfer in," he said.

"They had to go through the affidavit process," Bass explained.

As part of a consent order to end U. S. District Court supervision of the Coweta system -- which dates back almost 40 years to desegregation -- the Coweta schools are in a multi-year process that requires parents to prove residency each year.

Parents are required to provide signed and notarized affidavits of residency to their school, accompanied by documents offering proof of district residency. Coweta parents had to provide the affidavits during 2006 and 2007.

In fulfillment of the court order, parents will have to do so again this year. Those rules would apply to families moving from elsewhere, including Clayton County.

Between Sept. 2-Dec. 18, all parents, legal guardians or other lawful custodians of Coweta students will have to sign under oath and deliver to the school an affidavit of residence and two items for address verification. Items permitted to prove addresses are:

* property tax records which indicate the location of the residence.

* mortgage documents or a security deed which indicates the location of the residence.

* apartment or home lease or rent receipt indicating the current address.

* current utility bill for electricity or utility application for electricity showing the current address.

* voter precinct identification card or other voter documentation indicating the current address.

While Clayton parents began checking on their options for school on Thursday, there has not been a corresponding move in real estate inquiries -- at least, not yet.

Sherry Stone Blackmon, current president of the Newnan-Coweta Board of Realtors, said she heard from several Fayette County residents who were upset when it appeared a bill might be introduced in the legislature that would allow Clayton students to attend school in other counties. That legislation did not come to pass.

Blackmon, who is with Keller Williams Realty Connect, said she has not heard from Clayton residents who are looking to relocate because of the school issue. "I have not heard from anyone this week," she said Friday afternoon.

She said she does see interested buyers from time-to-time from Clayton and Fayette. "I think our property taxes are a little lower," she said, adding that Interstate 85 is often seen as an easier and more pleasant commute than I-75.

"Those two things tend to play into the decision" to relocate from counties to the east, she said.

Some Fayette residents choose to move to Senoia or Sharpsburg -- and lower taxes -- once their children finish high school. "There are some advantages to crossing Line Creek," Blackmon observed.

The lack of calls to local real estate agents probably has several causes. Blackmon said Clayton has been hit hard by subprime mortgage foreclosures. That trend, coupled with the school system's accreditation problems, could make it more difficult to sell a home in Clayton County than in some other places.

In addition to gaining some students from Clayton County, the Coweta School System also hired some teachers this year who previously taught in Clayton County. Bass said 8-10 teachers from Clayton were hired this year. All were hired early since the Clayton system put teachers under contract in February and would not release teachers from their contracts.

Coweta and most Georgia systems ask teachers to sign contracts later in the year. In Coweta, the deadline to signing contracts is often in April.

Clayton's school system was notified six months ago that it would lose accreditation Monday if it didn't meet the SAC's report's requirements. Elgart said Clayton school officials only started work on the problems three months ago.

Clayton's system -- which has about 50,000 students -- is down about 2,000 students this year.

Gov. Sonny Perdue ousted four members of the Clayton school board Thursday based on a judge's recommendation that they be removed for violating Georgia's open meetings laws and ethics code.

"I can only hope the remaining members of the board, parents and teachers will treat the loss of accreditation as a wake-up call to pull together and make substantive changes in the way this system is operated," Perdue said in a statement.

Clayton County Superintendent John Thompson said the district did its best to prove it was fixing its problems. "We should have gotten a little more consideration," Thompson said at a news conference at school headquarters in Jonesboro.

He said the district would appeal the ruling within the required 10 days and remain accredited during that process.

Losing accreditation means students who graduate from the district would not be eligible for some scholarships or admission to many colleges. It also could drive down property values in the county and hurt economic development, community leaders have said.

If the district meets SACS' mandates in the next year, accreditation will be granted retroactively so that this year's graduating class will have accredited diplomas, Elgart said.

(Associated Press contributed to this story.)