NATCHEZ — Natchez-Adams School Board members will meet today to finalize a list of the top goals and objectives they hope the district can achieve in the next five years.

Board members are participating in a two-day board retreat at Copiah-Lincoln Community College’s Natchez campus to discuss a variety of topics including the district’s strategic plan and to hear updates from various departments.

Board President Wayne Barnett said Thursday the first day of the retreat also included a presentation of the results of a curriculum audit done by Phi Delta Kappa International and an evaluation report by AdvancED, which is the organization that accredits the district.

“Those two documents verified that what board members and the superintendent have been working to fix is what needed fixing,” Barnett said. “There were also a lot of positive things brought out in the documents to show we’re on the right path.

“I walked away this morning with a renewed feeling of confidence in the way our district is going.”

Barnett said today’s portion of the retreat will include reviewing material Superintendent Frederick Hill has prepared for the district’s five-year strategic plan.

“Some of the things reflected in that plan will be how to bring the test scores up, how to recruit and keep good quality people in the district and how to be efficient in the use of our resources,” Barnett said. “All of those things need to be in our plan in order for us to stay on track to achieving those goals.”

Board member David Troutman said while board members and the superintendent agree on a majority of the same goals, having them on paper will ultimately help.

“We all talk now about what we want, but it needs to be more accountable than that if we want to have long-term plans and goals for the district,” Troutman said. “We need to have it on paper.”