Ellington

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi school district proposes combining its nearly all-black high school with a racially mixed school by the fall of 2017 to follow a federal court order in a longstanding desegregation case.

Cleveland School District filed a proposed timeline Friday for merging the two high schools.

The district said it reserves the right to appeal the May 13 order by U.S. District Judge Debra Brown that it combine East Side High, where all but one student is black, with Cleveland High, where 48 percent are white and 45 percent are black.

The district proposes the same timeline for the court-ordered merger of D.M. Smith Middle, where all but two students are black, with Margaret Green Junior High, where 41 percent are white and 54 percent are black.