NATCHEZ — Members of the Natchez-Adams School Board along with a team from the administration visited Biloxi High School earlier this week.

NASD Interim Superintendent Fred Butcher said the district took the tour to learn more about constructing a new school. Biloxi High School was built approximately 15 years ago, but the Biloxi district is currently building a new junior high school next door. Butcher said Biloxi leaders guided them through how the construction was funded.

The board of trustees members have said they would like to build a new high school in the coming years if they can locate financing. Building a new high school would cost approximately $42 million.

The trip cost approximately $1,000, Butcher said.

“It was worth it,” he said. “When you are looking at a project of this magnitude, you have to make sure you analyze everything you can possibly analyze.”

The district met with the principal of the high school and also the Biloxi Municipal School District’s chief financial officer Shane Switzer. The junior high is a $40 million project and approximately of the same scope Natchez officials seek for the new high school in terms of total students it will house, Butcher said.

Natchez-Adams’ business and finance manager Monica Anderson was present to meet with Switzer.

“Mr. Switzer gave a lot of information concerning financing, construction management, furniture, equipment and technology,” she said. “He stated he would be happy to help us in anyway that he could, and he also would send us information that was used during their construction process that might be useful for our project.”

Anderson said visiting Biloxi High School, which is an A-rated school in an A-rated district, officials realized how far behind NASD is in technology and various curricular and extra-curricular offerings for students.

“A new school would really boost the morale and motivate the students, faculty and community,” Anderson said. “I think a new facility with the upgrade in technology would assist in making our school district a better rated district with a greater chance of recruiting highly qualified teachers.”

Board members Thelma Newsome, Amos James, Phillip West and Cynthia Smith were all part of the trip.

West said it was interesting to hear how Biloxi was able to finance the school within their budget — though Biloxi does get more tax revnue from local casinos than the Natchez-Adams district does.

“I believe it was a worth-while trip,” he said. “I think it helped all of us individually and collectively to give us the opportunity to move forward in our vision of helping develop a new school.”

James, the board president, said the trip to Biloxi was good, and now it is time to get back to working on financing a new school.

“I think we need to get back to the table and discuss it and see if we are financially sound,” he said. “We have three options — build a new school, renovate the old school or do nothing.

“The most important thing is finding out what we are able to do financially.”

This coming week, Butcher said the board will make another trip to see the progress on the construction of a new Farmerville, La., high school.

The school construction in Union Parish is being managed by Volkert Inc., which is the company that has been advising NASD.