Already on probation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the DeKalb County School Board is about to go on trial. That proceeding before the Georgia State Board of Education could end up with the entire DeKalb School Board being thrown out of office.

DeKalb School Board members have been summoned to appear en masse before the state board on January 17th for what amounts to a trial, where the state board will act as jury. Members from each of Georgia’s 14 Congressional districts will hear two basic arguments.

“One being why the recommendation should be to remove them and the other being why they shouldn’t be removed,” explained Matt Cardoza at the State Board of Education.

When it is over, the state board can do nothing – or it can recommend to Governor Nathan Deal that the DeKalb Board be sacked altogether. That is a recommendation Deal can decide on his own whether to follow or not.

As for school parents, Cardoza says they are welcome to attend the meeting, but probably will not have a chance to speak.

DeKalb is the state’s third largest school district, but it is by no means the first to face disciplinary action in the wake of adverse findings by SACS. In 2008, the Clayton County school system was stripped of its accreditation by SACS and suffered tremendously as a result. Thousands of students fled to neighboring school districts or private institutions. Clayton schools lost millions of dollars in state and federal funding. Home values, already slammed by the faltering economy, raced through the basement floor.

The DeKalb School system has until December to address the concerns raised in the SACS report. If those concerns are not adequately dealt with, a similar fate could follow.