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Second chances The Clarke County School Board recently hired a former Thomasville police officer to be in charge of the alternative school in Grove Hill. Superintendent of Education Gerald Stephens recommended Carey Clayton and said he would do a good job. The Democrat pointed out that Mr. Clayton was dismissed from the Thomasville police force in 2001 after charges were filed against him for bad checks and for theft of property (not paying for a set of tires). The bad check charges were dismissed when he paid them but a grand jury indicted him and following a trial a Clarke County Circuit Court jury found him guilty of the theft charge. He was sentenced to one-year probation and ordered to pay for the tires and court costs, $276. In 2004 he was granted a pardon. The pardon, in effect, wiped out the conviction so Superintendent Stephens was technically correct when he said Mr. Clayton had no convictions. The Democrat thought our readers ought to know the background and we detailed it under the headline, "Pardoned ex-cop to be director of alternative school." Opinions have differed on the hiring. Some think it was a mistake, others, like Clarke County High School Coach Allan Floyd, in a letter to the editor on the opposite page, think Mr. Clayton a "wonderful hire." Coach Floyd's letter suggests that Mr. Clayton's past transgressions should be overlooked. His letter preaches forgiveness and second chances and even throws up, as many people are wont to do, former President Clinton's well-known miscues. Like Coach Floyd, we too believe in the Christian principle of forgiveness and second chances. But we also believe our readers deserve as full and as accurate a picture as can be presented on the stories we cover. That is what we tried to do in this case. We sincerely hope Mr. Clayton will be the "wonderful hire" that Coach Floyd says he is. The alternative school is for students who have been thrown out of regular school for any number of wrongdoings. The director of the alternative school is more of a disciplinarian and an administrator (perhaps warden is a good term) than a teacher. In fact, we are informed that people in such positions are rarely certified teachers. The students get their assignments from qualified teachers in the system. Maybe an ex-cop is the best person to keep unruly kids in line and should certainly be better qualified than a sweet and naive little old lady Sunday School teacher.
Mr. Clayton may be in a position to be more understanding of wayward students' mistakes and willing to give them second chances.
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