The METCO (Metropolitan Council for Education Opportunities) program, a voluntary integration program founded in 1966, provides a suburban public school education for African-American, Hispanic, and Asian students from Boston. Belmont typically hosts 125 students as part of the METCO program.

This program fosters a broader educational and social experience for both suburban and urban children and their families. METCO students participate in all aspects of the academic and extracurricular life of the school and are supported by the METCO Director and staff.

For more information about the program:

• Massachusetts Department of Education METCO page
• METCO, Inc. web site

Without meaningful social contact, talk of tolerance and cooperation is nothing but an abstraction.

--- US Federal District Court Judge Nancy Gertner regarding school integration efforts