NATCHEZ — This year, when the bell rang and the children went back to class, one local school had fewer students and quieter halls.

When classes started at Holy Family Catholic School this year was missing nearly 70 students.

In March the Catholic Diocese of Jackson announced the school would have to stop having first through fourth grade classes because the school had financial difficulties.

In addition, the school owed the diocese $73,000 it was unable to pay back.

While parents of the school’s students fought the closure, the diocese ultimately discontinued the four grades.

Sister Bernadette McNamara, the school’s new director, said the school is now only offering “early learning” classes for students from ages 2 to 5.

And the school currently has less than 100 students enrolled.

While McNamara said the school is doing well, sans the four grades, the staff misses the old student body.

“We all miss them,” she said. “But the early learning is doing fantastic.”

And while the school is doing OK without the original class roster, all those students had to relocate to schools throughout Natchez.

Representatives from Adams County Christian School and Trinity Episcopal School said no students from Holy Family relocated to their classrooms.

But other local schools did see an increase in their enrollments.

And the majority of Holy Family’s students transferred to public schools.

Frazier Primary School, which only has first and second grade classes, got 29 students from Holy Family.

Assistant Principal Tony Fields said the transition for the students went well.

“The whole process was very smooth,” he said. “There were no complications, and the kids are doing great.”

Cathedral Elementary School is now accommodating 19 students formerly at Holy Family.

And like Frazier, school administrators at Cathedral are reporting smooth transitions.

Principal Shannon Bland said all the new students have adjusted well.

“We’re very proud of all of them,” Bland said.

And while all the students have assimilated to their new surroundings, they’ve gone almost unnoticed in the Natchez-Adams School District’s bottom line.

District Superintendent Anthony Morris said the new influx of students has not had any impact of the district as a whole.

“It didn’t impact us much at all,” Morris said of the new enrollment.

While the district does get a financial benefit, in federal dollars, from students enrolled in the free and reduced lunch, that benefit won’t translate to the district as a result of the new student population.

Morris said he believes most of students coming from Holy Family weren’t receiving free or reduced lunch.