NATCHEZ — In an effort to improve student achievement, the Natchez-Adams School District wants its teachers to take professional development more seriously.

The school board Tuesday approved a plan to pay its own teachers $400 to facilitate workshops, and raise the rate of pay for certified teachers to $25 per hour and teacher assistants to $15 an hour for attending workshops.

Curriculum and Instruction Director Alice Morrison said the district would improve more quickly if its in-house teachers built up knowledge rather than looking for a consultant outside the district to teach the teachers. She said setting up the district’s teachers to conduct workshops would be a tool to empower teachers and boost morale.

“An investment in our teachers is an investment in our children,” Morrison said.

Superintendent Fred Butcher said when NASD has its own trainers, a teacher having problems would have an easier time reaching out to someone within the district for help.

Butcher said he believes professional development should be mandatory, even when it is on the weekend and during the summer.

School Board Secretary Thelma Newsome said she concurred. The teachers who attend extra-curricular professional development end up ready to go, while those who do not end up wondering what they should do, she said.

Over the summer, Newsome said it is vital teachers build knowledge on lesson plans and have one in place to start the year.

“You can’t teach without a lesson plan,” she said. “If you come in and make your lesson plans as you go along… then you may end up missing something and you are not prepared as you could be.”

In other news, the board entered into an agreement with Core Learning to review and revise the district’s strategic plan. The vote was 3-1 with Cynthia Smith absent and Newsome voting against contracting with an outside firm for the strategic plan.

Newsome said in her experience, districts that review and revise their own strategic plan end up performing better. While she understands Core Learning will work with the district on the plan, Newsome asked the administration to make sure its own goals ended up being reflected in the final document,

Butcher said he appreciates Newsome’s concern, but noted he wanted to focus on the upcoming five-year review.

Board policy requires the district to annually outline, review and monitor the strategic plan. The strategic plan outlines the goals and strategies for impacting student achievement.