The Natchez-Adams County School District has changed its mind about a controversial plan to mix advanced elementary students with students of varying ability next year.

&uot;There will be no changes made,&uot;&160;said Mary Kate Garvin, assistant superintendent of elementary education. &uot;They will be grouped as they have been in the past.&uot;

Currently, advanced students at each grade-level are separated out from lower-performing students and placed in one classroom together.

The district had considered breaking down these groups and spreading theses students among other existing classes in their grade.

However, this concept drew criticism from parents who worried advanced students would no longer get the attention and challenge they need.

&uot;We are pleased that they decided to reevaluate the situation,&uot;&160;said Connie Sirman, a parent of two high achieving children at McLaurin Elementary School.

Parents were also concerned this plan would place too much extra work on the teachers. It would have required teachers to prepare three lesson plans per class.

Parents also worried it would also be a bad situation for students not in the advanced classes.

&uot;I’m happy for the teachers and the parents and the students that they are not going to make this drastic change,&uot; Sirman said.

Superintendent Dr. Carl Davis said the district decided not to implement the change this week after some discussion.

District officials decided they first need to study the issue further and get more community input.

&uot;What I’ve learned in Natchez is you don’t make big changes without educating the people (and) letting them know exactly what’s going on,&uot; Davis said.

A group of parents signed a petition against the change and presented it to members of the school board.

The board discussed the issue briefly during the executive session of its regular meeting Thursday night.

School board member Terry&160;Estes said several parents had called him objecting to the change.

He said Davis presented the ideas as being workable but &uot;the perception is (that) it won’t work.&uot;

Estes thinks it is okay for the district keep the set-up the same for right now.

&uot;I was kind of relieved,&uot; Estes said. &uot;There have been a lot of people talking about it.&uot;

And Davis thinks the district does not have to make this change now, students are still getting a good education under the current system.

&uot;The question is can we do a better job of educating them?&uot; Davis said.

Another question that came up was &uot;how important is this right now?&uot; he added.