NATCHEZ — Wayne Barnett has been just about everything in the Natchez-Adams School District. As of Wednesday, he can add school board member to his résumé.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors appointed Barnett to fill the slot vacated in March when Kenneth Taylor’s term ended.

Barnett said he was glad to hear of the appointment, and he has one agenda — to improve education and educational opportunities in Natchez.

“At one time, any way you rated a school, Natchez was on top, and we need to get back to that,” Barnett said. “I think every board member has that in mind, and I am glad to be joining them to work for the good of the boys and girls of Adams County.”

Before he retired, Barnett served as a teacher; an assistant principal a co-principal at Natchez High School during integration; a principal at both Natchez Middle School and Natchez High; curriculum coordinator for secondary schools; director of student activities and safety; and director of operations.

“I have a lot of experience, and I worked under some great people, and I also worked alongside a lot of great people,” he said. “I learned a little bit from every one of those people.”

Barnett said his experience as a co-principal at Natchez High will be particularly useful when working with the board.

“When you have five people who were supposedly principal, you had to work together, and to have success in a school district you are going to have to work together,” he said.

Along with improving education, Barnett said he has another goal, to improve the perception of public education in Natchez.

“The Natchez school district has a lot of good, hardworking people working for them today,” he said.

“The only kind of language we need to speak today is positive language.”

Barnett was one of eight candidates the supervisors interviewed for the position.