NATCHEZ — A school attendance officer with the Mississippi Department of Education praised the Natchez-Adams School District Tuesday during the school board’s meeting.

Specifically, attendance officer Jacqueline Jones praised the district for boosting its student attendance record and lessening the number of disciplinary referrals and dropouts.

More than 3,700 disciplinary referrals were recorded district-wide in the 2017-2018 school year, between the public and private schools, Jones said, and so far approximately 1,500 disciplinary referrals have been recorded in the 2018-2019 school year with only two months left until summer and little change in the number of students enrolled.

“We’re doing much better,” Jones said. “I give a lot of that credit to the administrators … for sending letters to the parents and meeting with them and letting them know where their children are.”

Eight students dropped out of school during the 2017-2018 school year, Jones said, while only three have dropped out this year.

Suspensions also were down from last school year, Jones said, with 1,956 suspensions last year and 1,417 this year. Last school year 27 students were expelled;  no students have been expelled so far this year, Jones said.

Student attendance has improved slightly each year, Jones said, with absenteeism down from 25.55 percent in the 2016-2017 school year to 24.22 percent in the 2017-2018 school year.

“Each year we’re getting a little better,” Jones said.

Natchez-Adams School District Dropout Prevention Coordinator Kelly Thomas said the district has taken several measures to prevent student absences, including assigning mentors at school and making home visits to students who are chronically absent.

The district has also steadily downsized the number of students enrolled at Ombudsman, an alternative school program contracted through a Chicago-based company to provide a supplemental learning experience for students who need assistance either with academics or behavior.

Superintendent Fred Butcher said the contract cost for Ombudsmen has a direct correlation with the number of students in the program — meaning fewer students in the program saves the district money.

“We’re reducing the number slots, because our discipline has improved,” Butcher said. “Fewer students are being suspended and expelled, so we can get by with fewer slots at Ombudsman and reduce the amount of money we have to pay.”

Butcher said the contract cost for Ombudsman has gone down from $709,200 in the 2016-2017 school year to $581,060 in the 2017-2018 school year and $566,128 in the 2018-2019 school year.

During Tuesday’s board meeting, the board renewed its contract with Ombudsman for the 2019-2020 school year for $487,500.

In other matters during Tuesday’s meeting, the Natchez-Adams School Board:

• Unanimously approved accesses for the U.S. Corps of Engineers to make land erosion repairs on district-owned property off Hutchins Landing Road.
• Unanimously approved rental fees for private groups to use school classrooms at a rate of $25 per hour.
• Unanimously approved payments for 660 high school students to take the Work Keys assessment — a career aptitude test intended to assist students with workforce readiness.
• Unanimously approved a summer work hours adjustment for school maintenance workers and staff to allow them to have Fridays off during the summer.