A judge is telling Sonny Perdue to remove four members of the Clayton County School Board:

Judge Michael Malihi of the Office of State Administrative Hearings said Wednesday that Michelle Strong, Sandra Scott, Lois Baines-Hunter and Yolanda Everett should be removed for violating Georgia’s Open Meetings act and the state ethics code.

“The probative evidence shows that the respondents have violated the Georgia Open Meetings Act, have violated the board’s code of ethics for board members, and have engaged in conduct unbecoming of a board member and in breach of the public trust,” Malihi wrote Perdue Wednesday in his ruling.

Bert Brantley, the governor’s spokesman, said it is unclear if or when Perdue will act.
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Perdue asked the judge to get involved in July after five Clayton residents filed a complaint, alleging the four board put the school system’s accreditation at risk by violating state ethics law.

“The evidence, as [the judge] pointed out, was so overwhelming that it would have been a shock had he not ruled the way he did,” said attorney Albert Wallace, one of the petitioners and a former Clayton district attorney.

School board attorney Julie Lewis defended the board members, however, saying they did not get due process. She was critical of Perdue for referring the matter for review within his executive branch.

“The judicial process in this instance was fatally flawed,” Lewis said in a statement. “We are not surprised by the decision. We could tell what the outcome was going to be from the very beginning, and it was continually reaffirmed throughout.”

Clayton County will also get a ruling on accreditation from SACS today at 1pm.