Announcement expected related to Montgomery Public Schools

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - The Alabama State Department of Education is expected to make a statement Wednesday regarding Montgomery Public Schools.

Tuesday night, Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said there have been rumors that the state is going to intervene with the school system, but he stopped short of confirming that.

Strange did say he expects MPS to be brought up at an upcoming State School Board meeting but didn't elaborate on why. He also recently talked with the state superintendent and the MPS superintendent and expressed his desire to do something different to improve the schools, he said.

"There really has to something done to affect moving in a different direction. I don't know what that is going to be, but I think it is going to happen sooner rather than later. I would expect something over the next couple of months. That really is a State Board of Education decision," Strange said.

Strange said city officials have talked for years about alternatives to move the city's schools forward, including creating their own school district. Strange said that discussion is still on the table.

MPS officials referred all questions to the State Department of Education.

The Montgomery County Board of Education has scheduled a work session for Thursday at noon. The meeting, which is scheduled to be in the Central Office Auditorium, is set to discuss the potential action by the state dept.

MPS is the third largest school system in the state with 51 schools and about 31,000 students.

Montgomery's Forest Avenue Academic Magnet Elementary School and Loveless Academic Magnet Program High School were selected as 2016 National Blue Ribbon schools. They were among 329 schools nationwide that received this distinction.

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