NATCHEZ &045; There were a lot of empty seats across Adams County’s classrooms last year.

The IP plant closure that forced many long-time Natchez families to pack up and move made a difference in the lives of those left behind.

For Cathedral High School student Brittany Funderburg, no IP meant the loss of a classmate and friend.

&uot;He went to school with us since we were in elementary school,&uot; Funderburg said of her friend, whose family moved to North Carolina’s IP facility when the Natchez one closed. &uot;We tried not to talk about it too much with him because he was kind of upset. This is where he’s been most of his life and he had to leave.&uot;

Funderburg said Cathedral High teachers had told classes the IP closing would affect them.

&uot;Our teachers talked to us about it a lot,&uot; she said. &uot;About the effects of it and what it would do to Natchez and our families, that people might have to be moving and that it was probably going to cause a lot of families to be a lot tighter with their money.&uot;

Cathedral Headmaster Pat Sanguinetti said teachers’ predictions of decreased enrollment have rung true.

&uot;We were down about 30 and we are projected to lose more this year,&uot; Sanguinetti said. &uot;I truly believe Natchez hasn’t seen the bottom yet. We are truly going to see a beating soon.&uot;

Sanguinetti and Natchez-Adams School District officials believe the schools will continue to see IP-related decreased enrollment as more families leave town. Natchez-Adams Assistant Superintendent Larry Little said earlier in the summer that many families continued living in Natchez this past year, while their mother or father commuted to work, to avoid taking their children out of school. Some of those families are eventually expected to move.

Adams County Christian School and Trinity Episcopal Day School said they’ve seen a marked decrease also.

&uot;Enrollment definitely did decline,&uot; Trinity Headmaster Delecia Carey said. &uot;It wasn’t huge, but you could see it and tell that it was IP because of the families that are not back.&uot;

Carey said Trinity lost about 17 to 20 students whose parents worked for IP. She said the school has also seen indirect effects of the plant closure.

&uot;If you father worked at a logging company and the logging company was no longer having as much business because IP wasn’t buying the lumber then those people’s jobs were affected. Family income is down and people aren’t able to pay private school tuition.&uot;

For the Natchez-Adams district the losses are not only financial, but may affect overall accountability standard rankings.

In order to meet Average Yearly Progress, a requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act, the school must have a graduation rate of 72 percent. The rate is measured by the number of students who start the ninth grade and graduate within the district. If last year’s ninth graders move out of town before graduation they will count against the Natchez-Adams district’s graduation rate.