Friday, December 5, 2003

Task force meeting Tuesday

A task force looking at alternatives to the Fulton County School System’s Majority to Minority program holds its first meeting December 16 from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. at the Teaching Museum South, 689 North Avenue, Hapeville.

Created as a result of Fulton County’s Unitary Status agreement, the task force includes parents, community members, teachers, and administrators. The group is charged with considering and making non-binding recommendations to the Fulton County Board of Education that will enable students residing in south Fulton County to attend school in north Fulton County. 

These recommendations should be cost-effective, race-neutral alternatives to the current M-to-M Program. 

The Fulton County School System was granted Unitary Status in June 2003. A unitary school system is one in which the segregative practices of the past are no longer evident and no longer affect current operations. The decision brings an end to a school desegregation order that has been in place in the Fulton County School System since 1970.

Terms of the settlement include phasing out the M-to-M program over the next nine years, with the end coming at the close of the 2011-2012 school year. The program allows students to transfer, with free transportation provided, from a school in which their race is in the majority to a school in which their race is in the minority. As of the 2005-2006 school year, new students will not have the right to enroll in the program. 

All meetings of the task force will be publicized in advance and open to the public. The group also will receive community input on the alternatives that are under consideration.