
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 20, 1991                   TAG: 9102200117
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

BUSING RULING PLANNED

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to try once again to define the point at which formerly segregated school systems may be released from federal court supervision.

Barely a month after their ambiguous and tentative 5-3 decision in a school desegregation case from Oklahoma City, the justices placed the question on their docket once again by accepting an appeal from a school district that serves suburban Atlanta.

The court agreed to review a 1989 federal appeals court ruling that the DeKalb County school district, after more than 20 years of federal court supervision, had not yet sufficiently erased the legacy of official segregation to be considered integrated.

The court's decision to revisit the issue may reflect a recognition that the decision in the Oklahoma City case failed to provide much guidance to the school districts that were once segregated by law and which now seek to regain local control, or to the federal judges who retain jurisdiction over day-to-day matters.

by CNB