Ga. District Loses Accreditation; First in Decades "Fatally flawed" schools become the third to lose accreditation in four decades.

Aug. 28, 2008  -- The embattled Clayton County school district has become the third U.S. district in 40 years to lose accreditation, according to a county commissioner.

Commission Chairman Eldrin Bell's office confirmed the loss an hour before the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools was expected to announce the news.

The 50,000-student district has scheduled a news conference for 4 p.m. Thursday.

SACS gave the district until Sept. 1 to address nine mandates outlined in a scathing February report that called the school board "dysfunctional" and "fatally flawed." Clayton County has turned over more than 2,500 pages of evidence to SACS to prove it's fixing the problems.

A team from SACS visited the district last week and made recommendations on whether the district has done enough to keep accreditation.