Clayton County Public Schools has regained its accreditation but its reinstatement is on a probationary status.

Mark Elgart, Ph.D., SACS president and CEO, made the announcement today at a special called meeting of the Clayton County School Board at SACS headquarters in Decatur.

The announcement was made following SACS receipt of a 19-page assessment report it received from the special review team which evaluated the progress of the board in meeting the eight remaining mandates.

“After careful review of the findings contained in the report of the Special Review Team, the Accreditation Commission unanimously affirmed the findings and recommendations contained in the report that the Clayton County Public Schools should have its accreditation reinstated,” Elgart said, as a packed media room exploded in cheers.

“This is a critical juncture for the school system as it has the opportunity now to continue its progress forward,” he added.

Elgart cautioned, however, the school system had “much work to be done to ensure students are afforded the quality of education they deserve from Clayton County Public Schools.”

Elgart emphasized the school district “still faces significant challenges that must be addressed in a timely and comprehensive manner.”

As part of its reinstatement requirements in meeting these challenges, Elgart said CCPS must submit an accreditation progress report to AdvancED at six-month intervals over the next two years, in addition to hosting SACS monitoring team reviews to assess the school system’s progress.

“After such time, and when the SACS recommendations have been fully addressed by CCPS or significant progress has been made in meeting these recommendations, the probationary status may be removed from its accreditation,” Elgart said.

However, SACS announcement means seniors graduating this year from CCPS will do so from an accreditated school district.

In addition, SACS has instructed the school system to conduct a comprehensive, system-wide visit of all its schools by December of next year while continuing its work on three of the eight original SACS mandates which the review team concluded were not yet operational.

These included enacting and committing to an ethics policy, implementing procedures to address the findings of the forensic audit and appointing a permanent superintendent.

“In addition,” Elgart said, “CCPS must continually strive to meet all the standards for accreditation.”

The review team report concluded the school district was taking action to address each of the original mandates and is making “substantive progress in establishing a properly functioning board of

education.”