Stone Mountain High School Marching Band to Participate in MLK Parade

is among five in DeKalb County that will take part in the DeKalb NAACP's 10th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade on Monday, Jan. 16, 12:30 p.m., the school system announced Thursday.

DeKalb schools superintendent Cheryl Atkinson and U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson are the parade's Grand Marshals.

The parade will begin on Fourth Street in the City of Stone Mountain, in the MARTA parking lot. Parade participants must arrive before 11:30
a.m., the school system said.

The parade ends at l, where there will be a peace rally in the school's gymnasium at about 3:30 p.m.

In addition to Stone Mountain High School, the following DeKalb high school bands are scheduled to participate:

• Cedar Grove High School
• Clarkston High School
• Martin Luther King, Jr. High School
• McNair High School

In December, DeKalb County Schools suspended all marching band activities due to "possible inappropriate activities among high school band members, alumni advisors, band directors and others surrounding DeKalb Schools high school marching bands," according to a school system statement.

DeKalb schools' investigation into the matter came after the death, due to suspected hazing, of Florida A&M drum major Robert Champion, who was a Southwest DeKalb high school alumnus.