NATCHEZ — Questions about the school’s parent visitation policy dominated the Natchez-Adams School District town hall meeting Thursday.

The school’s visitation policy bans parents from visiting during instructional time.

During his presentation at the start of the meeting, Superintendent Frederick Hill apologized for the policy.

“It was an oversight, a clear oversight on our part,” Hill said.

But Hill said things are changing.

“We are working, right now, as we speak, to get that policy changed so parents can be back in the classrooms,” Hill said.

The new policy, Hill said, will allow visitation with some stipulations. Hill said he anticipates the new policy will go before the board at its Nov. 12 meeting.

After the presentation, Hill took several questions, many of which had to do with visitation. Attendees wrote their questions down on notecards, although they were able to voice follow-up questions.

Some parents, and grandparents, were concerned about not being able to visit children or grandchildren and asked about visitation rights in the old and new policies.

Hill answered questions and encouraged people to look at the new policy draft, which, after the meeting, Hill said has been on the district’s website since the October board meeting. The draft can also be requested in hard copy form from the Braden Administration Building.

Hill encouraged people who have feedback on the new policy to share their comments, using methods such as the comment box in Braden or by calling his office.

“If we don’t hear from you, we just take what we have and pass it,” Hill said.

Other questions included healthcare for students and academic credit. One question asked why the Mississippi state flag is still being flown.

Hill said it was being flown because it was the state flag.

“This is the first time that anyone has brought it up to me as an issue,” Hill said.

If it does become an issue Hill said it will be taken to the board of trustees.

During his presentation, Hill also discussed subjects including the P-16 Council, employee retention, testing guidelines and teacher vacancies.

“I promise you, we are making a commitment to fill our classroom with certified teachers,” Hill said.

Hill also briefly talked about Initiative 42, which will be on the ballot Tuesday. Initiative 42 is a constitutional amendment, which seeks to change the way the state funds public education.

School districts are not allowed to take sides on the matter, Hill said, and Hill only explained what the initiative was and showed attendees how to vote for or against it, since voting requires two steps.

At the end of the meeting, an independent presentation by Jacqueline Marsaw and Alderman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis came out in support of 42 and passed out flyers on how to appropriately vote for the measure.

“It really is important so we can keep the funding going for the public schools,” Arceneaux-Mathis said.