Hiring a rules expert for school board meetings, adding an internal auditor to the staff, and reworking “corrective superintendent” John Thompson’s contract are some of the measures the 50,000-student Clayton County, Ga., school district plans to implement in order to win back its accreditation.
Mr. Thompson was hired last April and given broad powers to implement policies because of the dysfunctional behavior of the previous board members, who have now all either resigned or been removed. But the fact that the superintendent was taking on responsibilities that the board should have been carrying out was one reason the district lost its accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools on Sept. 1.
Mr. Thompson has said he is willing to stay as long as the board wants him, but not all of the new members agree that he should remain.
Seven of the seats on the nine-member board are now filled, including four new members sworn in last week. Two more will be decided during the general election in November.
