JONESBORO --- Clayton County residents are turning to a higher power to help save their troubled school district.

A handful of preachers led a prayer service outside the justice center in Jonesboro on Sunday on behalf of the 50,000-student system. They called for God to calm the chaos that led the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to revoke the district's accreditation Sept. 1.

The event was designed to rally voters before today's special election for the school board.

SACS blamed the district's woes on a "dysfunctional" and "fatally flawed" school board. The crisis led to a complete turnover of the nine-member board.

The board now has five new members. The other seats will be filled through special elections this week and in November.