NATCHEZ — On Monday the floor of Wayne Barnett’s office was covered in moving boxes.

He was emptying his bookshelves in preparation for his retirement — it starts today.

For the past 38 years Barnett has been serving the community in various administrative roles within the Natchez-Adams County School District.

Barnett first began teaching in the district at Natchez-Adams High School in 1970.

He was there when the district first began to employ its new integration policy and worked at both North and South Natchez High School.

Shortly after that Barnett briefly moved from education to retail management then ultimately back to education.

In his 38-year career, Barnett has spent 35 years in administration.

And Natchez-Adams School District Superintendent Anthony Morris said that makes him difficult to replace.

“It’s not going to be easy,” he said.

Morris said people with Barnett’s experience level are simply not easily found. For the past five years Barnett has served the district as director of operations.

In his role he monitored the food service staff, maintenance crews, janitorial staff and acted as a liaison between the district and the transportation company that handled student bussing. And that’s only part of the list.

“I get all the complaints,” he said jokingly.

And while Barnett was a key component in the district’s day-to-day operations as director, he said his most rewarding and important work was as principal of Natchez Middle School.

From 1992-1996 Barnett supervised the crop of students.

“If you can handle that age group, you can handle just about anything,” he said.

Barnett said students in the 12-15 year old age bracket are challenging because they are in a near constant state of change.

“They change every day,” he said. “One day they act like a young man or woman then they act like kids the next day.”

Barnett said his experience with the kids was lengthened because he went on to serve as principal of Natchez High School and had the opportunity to observe several students grow and mature from middle school to high school graduation.

But those days for Barnett are now over. Barnett said he reached a point in his state-managed retirement program, PERS, where it became more financially beneficial to retire that continue working.

Morris said it might be difficult to find a replacement for Barnett before the beginning of the school year.

“But he deserves it,” he said. “I respect his decision and we appreciate everything he has done for this district.”

And for a man in Barnett’s position he has a surprisingly humble view on his years of service.

“The district has been good to me,” he said. “I just hope I have been good for the district.”

While Barnett did not discuss any specific plans for his retirement he’ll likely be putting some miles on his motorcycle starting today.