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NATCHEZ — Thursday’s meeting of the Natchez Adams School District’s Board of Trustees contained good news regarding improved student grades, improved attendance and fewer disciplinary actions.

On the flip side, the school district also received news that there were 41 students enrolled in the 2023-24 school year who were identified as homeless.

“That’s 1.5 percent of our school district,” said Superintendent Zandra McDonald.

By comparison, Claiborne County identified 12 homeless students, Franklin County had four, Jefferson County had three, and Wilkinson County had seven, McDonald said.

“It is interesting to know that (Mississippi Department of Education) suggests that the district reserve $25 per homeless student in their federal programs allocation to provide services,” Green said.

This report was answered with raised eyebrows by school board members. Board member LLJuna Weir said, “What can $25 do?”

McDonald added, “To increase that amount that the district must provide justifications.”

“That shouldn’t be hard to do,” said board member Dianne Bunch.

In other matters, it was announced Thursday that nearly half of the school district’s enrollment earned a spot on the honor roll for the first nine weeks of school.

The district recognized 359 Superintendent Scholars — students with straight As — and 590 principal scholars, or students with all As and Bs on their report card for the first nine weeks in school.

Furthermore, McDonald announced that the district’s enrollment has increased to 2,565 students, which is 72 more students than were enrolled at the very beginning of the school year. Enrollment is still down from last school year by 59 students, she said.

Of all the students enrolled district-wide, there are 464 students enrolled in “exceptional services.” These include 81 students in a gifted program.

The attendance rate for September was up to 93.42 percent, she added.

“We are continuously challenging students and parents by encouraging them to have their students at school. We need them in the seats in order to learn. … This time last year, it was at 93.22 percent so it is slightly up,” McDonald said. “We celebrate Natchez Middle School, Morgantown Elementary and Natchez Early College for posting attendance rates 95 percent or above. Our tiered process that we are using to encourage attendance — it’s working. So we applaud all of those staff members who are making contact with parents and children to encourage them to come to school.”

Recognizing that there are some students with families “who have challenges,” McDonald thanked the district’s support workers who go out into the district, knock on doors and provide services to those students.

The district also reported improved numbers in terms of fewer disciplinary actions last month.

For October, there were 257 incidents, she said.

An incident ranges from a simple write up for a cell phone or dress code policy violation or a fight at school. Of those 257 incidents, 62 resulted in in-school suspension and 93 resulted in out of school suspension. For the year to date, there have been 652 incidences reported, McDonald said, “which is a significant drop.”

In May, the school board adopted a new disciplinary policy in response to an uptick in disciplinary referrals. The high school alone of 635 students saw anywhere from 60 to 170 disciplinary referrals written every month over a six-month period. In October, there were a total of 11 students placed at the juvenile detention center with the average length of stay of three days, McDonald said.

“We applaud the hard work of those administrators and teachers to intervene with students and try to de-escalate situations and serve students at school instead of sending them home,” McDonald said.