NATCHEZ — The Natchez-Adams School District’s route out of probationary status requires only minor format changes to meet state education department standards, district representatives said Monday.

The corrective action plan, created to rectify areas in which a district does not meet accreditation standards, was not voted on Thursday during a Mississippi Board of Education meeting.

The reason for the exclusion of Natchez’s and two other school districts’ plans, Mississippi Superintendent of Education Carey Wright said in the meeting, was because of “information that may be missing or wording that needs to be changed or an increased focus on student outcomes.”

The only matters keeping Natchez’s plan from a vote, Deputy Superintendent Zandra McDonald said, were a formatting change and a redaction of teacher names.

McDonald said she has already made those changes.

The Natchez-Adams School Board accepted the changes to the corrective action plan on Feb. 13 at its regular board meeting.

The updated CAP, McDonald said, has been sent to the board of education for review.

The plan would rectify a lack of licensed teachers in the district, for which the MDE placed the Natchez-Adams School District on probation in October.

Natchez-Adams schools had a total of 16 unlicensed teachers in classrooms during the 2016-2017 school year and two other teachers who worked outside of their subject certification areas.

Already, the district has hired five new teachers to fill the gap, though Superintendent Fred Butcher said two of those teachers are retirees, meaning they can only work six months consecutively.

The plan has two major goals: To aid teachers who need to renew licenses or take licensure exams and to hire new, licensed teachers.

The corrective action plan lays out three strategies to meet these goals.

The first suggested action is told hold monthly technical support meetings with Mississippi Student Information System personnel specialists to give updates on group performance.

Second, the plan proposes to assure that staff members are working on their areas of certification through the MSIS Data Verification Procedure.

And, finally, employees of the district will cross-reference master schedules with personnel data reports, ensuring that licenses are renewed or received on time.

In the Thursday state board of education meeting, Wright said the revised plans would be voted on in the March meeting.

If passed in the March meeting, McDonald said the Natchez-Adams School District will begin implementing the plan immediately.