NATCHEZ — One option the Natchez-Adams School District is considering is to not use three current school buildings as schools, but maintain and repurpose them for other uses.

The district’s current building plan is to build a new Natchez High School, repurpose the existing high school into Natchez Middle School and also renovate both Morgantown and McLaurin schools.

Under this option, which would be constructed in phases, Natchez High School would house grades nine to 12, Natchez Middle School would house grades five to eight, and West, Morgantown and McLaurin would be elementary schools for kindergarten through fourth grade.

Robert Lewis, Frazier and the old central alternative school would be repurposed for community needs and NASD Superintendent Fred Butcher said he would like to see one become a vocational-technical facility.

The M3A Architecture firm, hired by the district to aid in the planning of the building project, estimates the construction and renovations as planned would cost $43.5 million. The school district hopes to pay for the cost of construction with the passage of a $35 million bond issue on May 23 referendum and use additional funds through bonds that will retire in 2018, as well as interest revenue from 16th section land.

Board members Amos James and Phillip West said they would like to consider other building options, but if the plan proposed by the administration is the best, both said they were OK with approving it.

“All I can say is I’m on board with whatever needs to be done for the kids to get a new school,” board president James said.

James said he believes at some point a charter school would open in Natchez, and that development would siphon students from the district.

“At that point we would not have the students to spread out to all the schools anyway,” James said. “I think that is going to happen in a number of years.”

West said the district needed to get the most bang for what it is proposing to spend.

“We want to limit the amount of monies we would be asking the community to support,” West said. “That is one of the options. I am still interested in seeing as we move forward if there could possibly be an amendment to it.”

West said he would like to see the district maintain the buildings that would no longer serve as schools and utilize them for other purposes, such as a vo-tech or other expanded educational opportunities. James said he would also like to see one of the facilities become a vo-tech school.

Butcher said he planned to work with the Mississippi Department of Education, the Adams County Board of Supervisors, the Natchez Board of Aldermen and the Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission to figure out how to best utilize the facilities.

“We know we want to expand the vocational programs,” Butcher said. “We can do a study where we find out what jobs are in a 125-mile radius and what jobs will be around in the next five years and focus on that.”

NASD Public Relations Coordinator Steven Richardson said some programs for an expanded vo-tech could include welding, plumbing, cosmetology, culinary arts and diesel mechanics.

NASD Deputy Superintendent Zandra McDonald said many parties within the community could potentially utilize the facilities.

“We would have space to lend to the community to be used for community activities and non-profit organizations,” she said.

Richardson said additionally the district has floated the option of using buildings as small business incubators.

“We can offer start-ups the opportunity to have space,” Richardson said.

The district would be in a position to seek grants and other sources of funding for the buildings to expand offerings to the community, Butcher said.

Butcher said having fewer campuses would lead to savings including potentially the transportation contract. Fewer campuses would also lead to better utilization of resources such as staff.

“Staffing is our number one priority,” Butcher said. “We could utilize staff better to not have them scattered all over the place.

“Plus that’s a new concept in education, students moving to fewer geographical locations during their time in school.”