Local School board loses accreditation amid internal problems

By Narda Sigala

MONTROSE, Ga. – On Monday, The Montrose Country School Board lost their accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) due to reports of internal problems within the school board.

         The reports of internal problems within the school board were consistent over the past several years. There were alleged reports of wrongdoings such as misuse of funds, bid tampering, conflicts of interest and micromanaging within members of the board due to the lack of strong leadership. After many articles within this newspaper over the past few months, there are witnesses to screaming matches and even fist fights between the board members. These actions ultimately led to the investigation of the accreditation of the county.

         After these reports, the school district of Montrose County was warned during their last accreditation review by the SACS that the school failed on certain review categories, which led to the SACS threatening to revoke their accreditation if it was not fixed, a big flaw being the lack of leadership. Attorney Glenn Brock was hired by the school board to address the findings of the investigation.

After his investigations Brock said, “Montrose County Schools are fatally flawed” and concluded that the school would have to have board members either resign or adhere to stricter ethical guidelines to gain their accreditation back. Montrose County is the first school in the state of Georgia to have their accreditation revoked by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the third in the nation over the past 20 years. The loss of the schools’ accreditation has led to more than 50 families moving out of Montrose Country.

For Montrose Country students the loss of the county’s accreditation causes several problems for them with college enrollment. Graduating students will no longer be eligible for state-sponsored scholarship programs and will have difficulty getting into colleges due to colleges requiring high school diplomas from accredited high schools.