NATCHEZ — Community leaders of all types talked — some said for the first time — about the public school system in Natchez-Adams County Monday.

“We have not had a candid enough discussion (about) the level of poverty we have,” Ward 4 Alderman and Morgantown Elementary School vice principal Ernest “Tony” Fields said of the Natchez-Adams School District student make-up.

Fields spoke to between 30 and 40 leaders, including three of his fellow aldermen, the mayor, one Adams County supervisor, three Natchez Inc. board members, three school board members and members of the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce Education Committee, which hosted the meeting.

“We have 90 percent (of students receiving) free and reduced lunches, do we really know what that is and what that looks like — that level of poverty?” Fields said.

Mayor Jake Middleton asked how much help and motivation the students of the public schools were getting at home, suggesting parents should play a bigger role in their children’s education.

“I concur,” NASD school board member Dr. Benny Wright said. “But some parents don’t help, and we have to teach them all.”

Education committee member David Carter said he agreed parents should have more responsibility.

“But (the community) has made that an excuse for failure sometimes,” Carter said.

“Enabling excuses is the basis for mediocrity.”

Fields said it is possible to get a good education with NASD.

“There’s a lot of us who came through (the public school system in Natchez), and we are not unexplained anomalies,” he said.

However, Fields and others agreed the district need to do a better job at “mass production” of successful students.

Carter said it was also important to teach students, in addition to academics, to be contributing members of society by fostering work ethic.

“If you build those things in kids the academics will come too,” Carter said.

School Board President Wayne Barnett said he wondered if restructuring schools based on community or neighborhoods rather than grade levels would be beneficial.

Barnett said the board members can only hold the superintendent accountable, and the superintendent can only hold the principals accountable.

“If a principal loses 50 percent of their students every year it’s hard to hold them accountable for achievement,” Barnett said.

District 1 Supervisor Mike Lazarus said community schools might create a deeper sense of pride among students and families.

“I think it’s worth looking at,” Lazarus said.

Natchez Inc. board member Phillip West said he understood that the purpose of restructuring schools by grade levels was to avoid segregation lingering from the 1960s.

Ward 2 Alderman James “Rickey” Gray said the district should consider placing the best teachers at the lower levels to give students a chance to do well once they know the basics.

School board member Thelma Newsome said updating school buildings should be the priority for the school’s vision.

Middleton said the district cannot operate on less or the same amount of money than it did 10 years ago.

“Why are we scared to raise taxes? Why are we scared to take out a bond issue?” Middleton said.

“We have to convince people that if you want quality of education you’ve got to spend money.”

Chairwoman of the education committee and Vice President of Copiah-Lincoln Community College Teresa Busby said the community needs better public schools to attract industry and to provide a workforce to industries that have recently announced plans to locate in the area.

“The fact is education — and we all know this — feeds into economic development,” Busby said.

Committee member and Chamber CEO Debbie Hudson said the economic development aspect should help rally the community support of public schools, regardless of where residents send their children.

“The community wants us to put out a better product, once we start doing that, these great ideas will (gain support),” Fields said.

Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard and Ward 5 Alderman Mark Fortenbery also attended the meeting from the board of aldermen.

Darryl Grennell, the president of the board of supervisors, said at Monday’s board meeting he could not attend because he was teaching class.

In the short term, Busby said committee members or volunteers could work to paint some of the schools with the help of students.

Busby said the boards and committee would meet again Oct. 17 and establish five short-term goals for the group.

“We don’t just want to be a committee with a name, we actually want to work,” Busby said.