NATCHEZ &045;&045; A year and four months after a 14-year-old desegregation court order was lifted from the Natchez-Adams School District, Superintendent Anthony Morris is showing the public what that freedom allows.

A year’s worth of suggestions, talks and meetings became the first step in a plan for the future Wednesday and Thursday when teachers and parents learned of a reorganization of the district’s schools.

To improve student achievement, balance school enrollment and class size and save money, the district’s four elementary schools will have new roles come August.

West Primary, Frazier Primary, McLaurin Elementary and Morgantown Elementary will each house two grades starting with pre-kindergarten at West and going up respectively to sixth-grade at Morgantown.

&uot;This is really the first major outcome from the unitary status,&uot; Morris said. &uot;After we achieved the unitary status, we were interested in doing some things differently and that gave us some flexibility.&uot;

Soon after a U.S. District Court judge ruled on Dec. 5, 2003, that the district had successfully integrated, a new problem arose.

Much like districts across the state, an unfunded average 8 percent teacher pay raise from the legislature left the district with unexpected costs and without expected money.

In Natchez, the loss of several major industries also meant a decrease in ad valorem tax dollars going to the public schools.

More than 100 non-renewed teacher contracts in the last two years and a property tax increase later, reorganization plans were still a goal, Morris said.

&uot;We have been thinking seriously about some sort of reorganization since that,&uot; he said. &uot;The first thought was to revise the lines because Morgantown was much larger than McLaurin.

&uot;It really needed to be a balance and we decided to go beyond that.&uot;

In July 1989, as the result of a lawsuit filed by three black families, Judge William Barbour ordered the district to combine two high schools into one, start a district-wide middle school, close four school buildings and divide the district into two elementary zones.

In 1989 there were 10 schools in the district, five of which had an all-black enrollment.

The current grade assignments at West, Frazier, McLaurin and Morgantown were set up by the court.

In November 2002 the school district filed a motion to get out from under the court order. The district’s argument for unitary status was based on its belief that the court ordered had achieved its purpose and the schools were successfully integrated. A year later, the district’s request was granted.

Now, the reorganization of grades will allow teachers and administrators to work together at each grade level to improve student performance, Morris said.

&uot;I think it is really a good thing for the district,&uot; he said. &uot;I think the community will see some positive attitudes.&uot;

The changes were presented during executive session at last week’s school board meeting.

Morris said the board supported the idea from the start.