The former longtime director of the Metco program, which enrolls minority Boston students in predominately white suburban schools, will be the keynote speaker at Cohasset’s 15th annual Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast.

Jean McGuire had led Metco since 1973, leaving at the end of 2016. She also was the first female African-American on the Boston School Committee in 1981, serving for a decade.

Metco was established in 1966 as a way to address de facto segregation in public schools, both inner-city and suburban. McGuire became the agency’s executive director one year before court-ordered busing in Boston, and over the years she oversaw the voluntary placement of tens of thousands of students of color from Boston for an education in the suburbs.

The Metco board said McGuire retired last year at age 85, but she told the Globe in an interview in December that she was forced out and had planned to work for two more years.

She said she still felt insulted by the circumstances of her exit. Charles Walker, president of the board, said that the leadership change was necessary to move the organization in a new direction and to address such pressing issues as fund-raising and finding a new location for its Roxbury offices.

About 3,000 Metco students attend schools in 35 school districts today. Cohasset has participated in the program since 1968.

The Cohasset clergy and Cohasset Diversity Committee sponsor the annual MLK breakfast, which will be held Jan. 16 at St. Anthony’s Parish Center, 10 Summer St., from 9 to 11 a.m. Admission is $5 per person or $15 per family.

Johanna Seltz can be reached at seltzjohanna@gmail.com.