Yesterday (Thursday), CNN broke a story that the Clayton County School District outside of Atlanta has become the third district in the nation in 40 years to lose its accreditation.  I Figuring the story would become overshadowed by our Barack Obama hoopla, I figured I’d wait until today to address it.

Eldrin Bell, the County Commissioner confirmed the loss of the accreditation Thursday.   According to CNN The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools issued a scathing report in February calling Clayton County’s school board “dysfunctional” and “fatally flawed.” At that time it gave the school district until September 1st to get its act together. If you were wondering, yes you guessed it…the school district is almost ENTIREKY black!

Last week auditors visited the schools to see the prograss and determine whether it warranted it keeping the accredication.  Given the announcement they obviously did not.

The loss of accreditation could make trouble for some graduating students trying to attend colleges and earn scholarships. It could also prevent teachers from receiving benefits if they change school systems, and could mean a loss of money for pre-k education.

After the announcem Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue removed four Clayton school board members, Michelle Strong, Louise Baines-Hunter, Yolanda Everett and Sandra Scott, for violations of the state’s open meetings act and ethics code.  ALL of the aformentione boardmembers who were removed are black, and the five Clayton residents who filed a complaint against them that led to Mr. Perdue’s decision are white.

“I can’t believe the state of Georgia would allow adult actions to penalize children,” a mother told the New York Times  choking back tears. “My daughter has been getting college invitations in the mail every day, even from Harvard. Now who knows? Kids don’t understand that. As a parent, I’m having a hard time understanding this.”

No child left behind Bush?!  No you’re right…its an entire school district that’s left behind.  We talk about the stock market crash, the great depression, famine in Ethiopia…when we talk about the great tragedies in history we will have to mention the Bush administration.  January can’t come soon enough.  Shout to miamimarcus for the heads up.