NATCHEZ — With Natchez-Adams School District faculty heading back to work in little more than a week, district administrators are still working to fill open positions.

District Human Resources Director John Sullivan said while he’s confident the slots will be filled before the start of the year, the same teacher shortage impacting Natchez is impacting all of Mississippi.

“It’s not a major problem,” Sullivan said. “But it’s something we have to deal with.”

Before students start classes on Aug. 5 the district will attempt to hire 13 teachers, two assistant principals and two teacher’s assistants.

District Superintendent Anthony Morris said one of the reasons districts statewide have trouble finding teachers is because fewer college students are majoring in education fields.

And of those an even smaller amount are taking the necessary courses to become highly qualified to teach upper- level math and science courses, Morris said.

Morris, like Sullivan, said while he believes the openings will be filled, it’s not uncommon to start a school year with some job openings still lingering.

In the event the school year does start before all the positions are filled, class sizes will be altered to accommodate the lack of faculty.

Morris said the amount of this year’s vacancies is a slightly higher than normal so close the start of classes.

“But it’s not cause for concern,” Morris said.

Morris said while administrators at the Mississippi of Department of Education are developing ways to address the shortage, one recent label placed on the NASD could prove very helpful in recruiting teachers to the area.

Mississippi Department of Education’s Director of the Mississippi Teachers Center Cecily McNair said this spring the NASD received designation as a critical shortage district — and that’s a good thing.

McNair said once the NASD was listed as a critical shortage district it became eligible for several incentive packages that can be used to draw recruits to Adams County.

And while the designation suggests the district is in dire need of teachers, the district’s new status can be somewhat misleading, McNair said.

To earn critical shortage distinction 30 percent of a district’s faculty must have 25 years or more of teaching experience, giving them the ability to retire at anytime.

Secondly, a district can be deemed eligible if it has at least 60 faculty members and 10 percent of them are not appropriately licensed.

If a teacher is not appropriately licensed, it normally means that teacher is teaching a subject other than the one they were certified to teach.

The Natchez-Adams District meets both of the state’s criteria to be listed as having a critical shortage.

McNair said now that the NASD is now on the state’s list, teachers coming into the district will be eligible for tuition loan forgiveness, compensation for moving expenses, reimbursement for fellowship and advanced degree programs and reimbursements for the closing costs on a new home in the school district were they work.

Sullivan said since the district’s distinction was not made official until recently, he was not able to offer those incentives to potential teachers coming into the district.

However, now that it’s official, Sullivan will be using the NASD’s new status as a recruiting tool.

And teachers hired this year will be able to reap the benefits even if they were hired after the school got the official word.

“This is going to be a very valuable asset for us,” Sullivan said, “And our staff.”