The Natchez-Adams School District has a teacher problem — they cannot find enough qualified teachers to fill vacancies in the district.

Two months into the school year, the district had 19 openings for certified teachers.

At least part of the problem almost certainly has to be the uncertainty across the district following a significant turnover in principals in the last few years and a string of lawsuits that followed — one of which the district already lost and several more of which are still pending.

But the district’s leadership woes aside, Natchez-Adams is not the only rural district struggling to recruit and retain good teachers.

The Vicksburg-Warren School District reported approximately 25 vacancies at the beginning of the school year, and in Greenville the district reported approximately 20 vacancies.

The challenge, state education experts say, isn’t that fewer students are graduating with teaching degrees. The challenge seems to be more regional.

The Mississippi Department of Education apparently is encouraging districts to recruit locals who are already in the community, but who are not currently teachers.

The idea is to take advantage of the skills present in the community to turn non-teachers into teachers.

While that may be a good short-term solution, perhaps a longer-term solution is to simply improve the working conditions within the district and staff it with good, inspiring leaders who will attract top talent.

Natchez-Adams once had top performing schools led by high-achieving leaders. That’s what the district needs again to return to greatness.