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A community forum at 6 p.m. on Dec. 17 at the Vidalia Convention Center will address needed changes that the Concordia Parish School Board may vote on to end a nearly 60-year-old ongoing desegregation case.

“The public is invited to come and learn about the plan,” board officials stated in a news release. “School board members want to hear from the public because the proposed consent order would cause changes throughout the school system, including where students attend schools, the Board’s hiring procedures, what types of transfers are allowed, and other areas of operation.”

The Concordia Parish School Board has been negotiating with the United States to move the school board’s pending desegregation case toward dismissal.

The desegregation case was originally filed on Nov. 30, 1965. As a result of those negotiations, counsel for the United States and counsel for the school board have developed this proposal which, if accepted by the school board and implemented over the next three years, would entitle the school board to seek dismissal.

The court has ordered that the school board vote on this proposal before Dec. 31, 2024.

For a summary of the steps and changes the Board would be required to make, together with the proposed consent decree itself, click here.