In the end, six months of management reforms and the hiring of an experienced urban superintendent failed to keep the Clayton County, Georgia, school district from becoming the nation's first district in nearly four decades to have its accreditation stripped. Last week's decision by the Atlanta-based Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)--capping nearly a year of investigations involving the Clayton County school board--could complicate everything from students' college applications to teachers' continuing education credits. However, the August 28 move also brought swift assurances from state officials that they would work to prevent harm to students from a penalty blamed squarely on members of the suburban Atlanta district's dysfunctional school board. Mark Elgart, the president and chief executive officer of SACS, said the Clayton County school board has succeeded in meeting only one of the nine mandates laid out earlier this year: ensuring that all members of the board are legal residents of the county. On the rest, he said, the board has not provided "evidence of substantive progress or completion," and the conflict between the board members is "still evident." He said the decision to revoke the district's accreditation came with "great concern and disappointment," but he added that if the board members committed to meeting the necessary steps, the district could regain accreditation as early as this school year.