On Monday, Oct. 12, the Natchez-Adams School District (NASD) will hold its second P-16 meeting for the year at 4:30 p.m. in the Steckler Multi-purpose building. The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) and the district are in need of you. Do you reside or have a business or organization permanently located in Adams County? This is the first and most important question on whether you qualify to be a member of the reorganized P-16.

Next question: Are you concerned about the success of the District? You no longer have to limit your candid feedback to small circles or online forums. You can become a part of a very influential 30-member committee tasked with forming and recommending policies to the district’s board of trustees for required action. The board must approve or deny the policy recommendations as with any other item on its monthly agenda. Some policy ideas given by MDE include school/student health, student dress code and uniforms, staff hiring, school attendance, school environment/discipline and parent engagement. MDE recommends members to form such policies based on data.

If you have heard of P-16 but do not exactly know what it is, it is an independent group of community members, leaders and educators that want to better the education of all students from before kindergarten (the P in P-16 for pre-K) through their higher education (the 16 in P-16 for college graduate). MDE mandates having a P-16 in Natchez-Adams County through the department’s Accreditation Standard 18. NASD’s P-16 continues to rank as a leading council among all councils in the state.

At the first P-16 meeting on Sept.14, more employees attended than community members. We essentially would like to flip that makeup and here is why. Only one out of five categories can include employees, which speaks to the magnitude of the community’s involvement on this council. At the first meeting, the attendees decided to include five members in six MDE-established categories. The categories are:

Category 1: local community-based organizations working on public education issues within the local school district

Category 2: NASD Parent Teacher Association or Organization members

Category 3: NASD Student Council or Student Government Association members

Category 4: Community leaders (e.g., pastors, community activists, etc.), public officials, and members of the business community

Category 5: Community members at large interested in public education issues who may or may not be part of the other four categories. MDE recommends one at large member to represent each school board election district or ward.

Category 6: NASD employees

Again, members, business or civic organizations must have permanent residence in Adams County. After considering the categories, where do you fit?

We hope you find your fit and will take a seat at the table on Monday. We anticipate this second meeting to be the last district-run meeting as the last portion of housekeeping will take place such as election of officers. Following this meeting, the council will proceed independently as established with a monthly meeting at 4:30 p.m. at Steckler on the first Monday, excluding holidays and summer non-school months.

We need you and hope to see you on Monday. If you have any questions, you may contact NASD’s public relations at 601-445-2811.

 

Steven Richardson is the public relations coordinator for the Natchez-Adams School District.