NATCHEZ — After a heated meeting in which one Natchez-Adams School District’s trustee questioned decisions by the superintendent and another affirmed them, the Adams County Board of Supervisors voted to ask for the resignation of the school board president.

The supervisors met Monday with school board President Tim Blalock and member Cynthia Smith — the county government’s appointees — to discuss community concerns about the school district, especially turnover of administrators at Natchez High School. NHS has had three principals in as many years.

“To me, there is a problem somewhere,” Supervisor David Carter said. “Teachers are leaving, too. When we see issues of teachers leaving, we see somewhere there is a problem.”

Blalock said the issue has been a low-functioning school with “a pervasive culture throughout.”

“If you raise your expectations, the students will follow through,” Blalock said. “Unfortunately, a lot of teachers — and principals, administrators — don’t like it when we raise expectations.

“You take a 10th grader, this is the only time they’ve been to the 10th grade so if we expect a lot out of them they say, ‘Alright, this is what it is like to be in 10th grade.’ The only people who only know what it is like have been teachers and administrators. And we have had a lot of resistance to that.”

Blalock said any time there is meaningful change, there is significance to that change.

Smith — who joined the school board in August — disagreed with Blalock, however, saying she didn’t think the problems in the school district had to do with expectations. Instead, she focused on administrative changes that she questioned.

In particular, Smith noted the transfer of teacher Virginia Robinson from NHS to the ninth grade academy. Robinson was Teacher of the Year at NHS.

“Nothing against the ninth grade academy, but that is not where Mrs. Robinson performed best,” Smith said. “Why was this change made. We still don’t know. I don’t know what that change was made.”

Smith is a former administrator in the NASD and Concordia Parish. She currently works at Adams County Christian School. Her daughter, Shannon Doughty, is a former NHS assistant principal who is currently suing the district.

Smith said former NHS principal Will Smith — who resigned at the end of the school year — told her he had felt pressured to make changes, and read aloud from a communication between Smith and Superintendent Frederick Hill.

“The administrators at NHS do not have confidence in the superintendent,” Smith said.

“There have been people, teachers who have come to me — why they come to me, I don’t know, I am just one of the board — expressing concern that they are perhaps pushed or bullied to make a certain decision or do a certain thing.”

Other people in top positions in the school district aren’t appropriately licensed, she said.

“I think there are decisions that are made that are not acceptable, and the people who have to deal with it on a daily basis are fed up,” Smith said. “I think there are things that need to be questioned.

“I will be honest. We are about to give this man (Hill) another contract, we are about to invest a half million dollars in this man, and I am not sure our community is ready for that.”

Blalock said the school board had hired the superintendent to bring the school district up.

“We said do whatever you have to do to get that done,” he said.

Supervisor Angela Hutchins objected to the idea of the superintendent being able to move teachers around, saying principals should have some say in what happens at their school.

“(Hill) is showing the results we desire,” Blalock said. “How he does it is up to him by law.”

Carter said teachers and administrators are leaving the district because they don’t have any confidence in what the central administration is doing, to which Blalock replied, “Who are we looking out for, our employees or the children?”

Blalock said the district routinely surveys its employees, and 85 percent “agree wholeheartedly with what we do.”

When Supervisor Mike Lazarus said he thought employees might be hesitant to speak up, Smith agreed, saying, “They are afraid.”

Smith said school board members are not the ones who make day-to-day decisions, and sometimes when they do question them the board members’ motives are questioned. Smith again cited the move of Alice Morrison from a principal’s job to school improvement officer at the central office.

“Why are we moving a great person who was doing a great job?” she said.

Smith said even as a board member she has not been able to get answers to questions.

“I gave a list of all these questions to the board in December, and I have not heard back from the board or Dr. Hill. (What) I have heard (is), ‘I have something personal against him.’”

Carter said he appreciated the honesty of the conversation and he understands the district still has some great teachers.

“They are stressed out, but they aren’t leaving,” he said. “I truly appreciate what they are doing.”

Blalock said schools have been improving and that “Nobody harps on the good things.”

“The world of teaching as it used to be is over. It is no longer an art, it is a science,” he said.

“How you can tell the difference between a good teacher and a bad teacher, and it isn’t the talk on the street. You have to have the numbers.”

Supervisors President Darryl Grennell said he didn’t have the power to remove Blalock from the board, but he wanted him removed.

“There is a problem in the district, and for some reason you don’t want to see it, as I can ascertain,” he said.

After the school board members left the meeting, the supervisors discussed what they thought could be done to address their concerns.

After an initial suggestion from Grennell that they seek to find a way to remove Blalock from the school board, the supervisors decided to ask for his resignation.

Board Attorney Scott Slover said school board positions are term appointments and members cannot be removed except in cases of negligence, malfeasance or criminal activity. Blalock’s term ends in February 2016.

Grennell made the motion and Hutchins seconded it to ask for Blalock’s resignation. Carter, Hutchins, Grennell and Lazarus all voted for the motion.

Supervisor Calvin Butler abstained from voting and left the room during the discussion of the motion because his wife works for the school district and he has been previously advised to avoid participation in such discussions.

Slover also recommended the supervisors renew their call for the school board to be an elected rather than appointed body, something the supervisors did not take up Monday. The board passed a similar motion last fall.