NATCHEZ — The Natchez-Adams School District currently has 36 vacancies for certified teachers, according to a report presented by Susan Brice Monday at a specially called board meeting.

Brice, supervisor of human resources for the district, said that number was much higher five years ago.

Many of the 36 vacancies are currently occupied by permanent substitutes, who have not passed the Mississippi Educator’s Licensure exam.

The Mississippi Department of Education’s Commission on School Accreditation placed the Natchez-Adams School District on probation this year for this very practice, citing the issue of unlicensed professional staff in the classroom.

Three permanent substitutes recently passed the exam, bringing the number of openings down to 36, but those gains are muted by the resignation or retirement of two teachers in the district.

Joseph Fraiser Elementary School currently has 10 vacant positions. Morgantown Middle School and Natchez High School each have five open certified teacher spots. Robert Lewis Magnet School and Susie B. West Elementary School each have four vacancies. McLaurin Elementary School and the Natchez Freshman Academy each have three, and the Fallin Career and Tech Center and the Natchez Early College Academy each have one open position.

Members of the school board questioned the difficulties in finding and hiring certified teachers in the district.

“I want to make sure we’re gaining ground, not losing ground in regards to certified teachers,” board member Philip West said.

Superintendent Fred Butcher explained that the district is involved in several job fairs and attempts to draw teachers to the district.

Those attempts to draw in new teachers, board members said, has been complicated by the dropping number of available candidates in the state as well as by the lack of enticements from the city.

“One of the things we have to realize, we just have to face the fact … when you start trying to attract young people to come to this area, it’s difficult,” board member Thelma Newsome said. “We have nothing to offer them. … If we could ever get something here that would entice young people to come, I think we could do a little bit better.”

Newsome said that part of the problem is keeping certified teachers who do come to Natchez.

Newsome said 60 percent of teacher resignation letters she has viewed “indicate that discipline is still a problem.

“What are we putting in place to curtail that?” she asked. “Is there anything else we can do administrators can do to get behavior under control?”

Deputy Superintendent Zandra McDonald explained incentive programs the district has begun employing to reward positive behavior and discourage negative actions.

“We’re trying all these interventions, but they’re not working,” Butcher said.

McDonald said principals in the district have also identified students who have repeatedly caused problems in the district. These students will begin attending a special counseling session with the recently hired school psychiatrist, Karen Noone-Yvon.

West spoke of the difficulty in progress without stability in the district.

“In those areas where there has been success there are superintendents who have been there for 20 years,” West said. “We’ve had eight different superintendents of education in Natchez in that time. When you have eight, we have not had the kind of stability in the school district that we used to have, and we should have.”

Newsome, however, said it is also incumbent on the board to provide a sense of stability for the district.

“It’s up to the board,” she said. “The board sets the goals and objectives for the district. The board needs to be cohesive enough to proceed.”