NATCHEZ &045; At Tuesday night’s No Child Left Behind meeting sponsored by the Natchez-Adams School District and the Mississippi State Department of Education, parents left satisfied they knew more about the legislation and what it means for their children.

In the crowded Natchez High School auditorium, parents and community members listened to Lionel Knight from the Mississippi Department of Education as he spoke to the audience.

Knight said the crowd Tuesday night was the largest he had spoken to throughout the state, also having the most men in attendance and the Natchez meeting was the only one he had been to where the mayor of the city was in attendance.

But the meat and potatoes of the seminar was not only to get parents to attend but get them to understand about the federal legislation.

Parent’s described the meeting as &uot;informative&uot; and &uot;educational,&uot; most saying they knew nothing about the legislation before Tuesday night.

Now, &uot;I can tell somebody else,&uot; parent Rhonda Bell said. I &uot;know more about what to do with them at home,&uot; this parent of a Frazier Primary student said.

One objective of the meeting was to get parents involved in helping their children at home, and Linda Birdsong, mother of twins in the third grade at McLaurin Elementary, said that was the most important thing she learned.

It &uot;re-emphasized something I already knew &045; it starts at home,&uot; Birdsong said.

Birdsong said she now knows her children need to be in the proficient or advanced levels of testing and if they are not, she now knows what to do &045; take advantage of after school tutoring, the parent center and enrichment programs at the schools.

Birdsong also said she now understands why her children are taking the tests in the school year and knows how to read the scores and knows what the scores mean.

&uot;I feel I know a lot more,&uot; she said.

Not only did parents turn out for the meeting, but an Alcorn State University language arts class attended the meeting, helping the class members to learn more about No Child Left Behind.

Sandy Dunn, one of the students who is taking classes to become a teacher, said she wanted to come to the meeting because, &uot;for teaching, we needed to know. It was just a name until you came.&uot;

Even Vidalia resident and teacher Sandy Dunn attended, hoping to learn more about No Child Left Behind. She said she did learn things she did not know before.

Since this legislation is federal and not specific to one state, Dunn said she came &uot;to be informed because it’s going to affect us all, it does affect us.&uot;