NATCHEZ &045; A kind gesture and a postage stamp are setting the bar high for the Natchez-Adams School District.

The school board agreed Thursday to send congratulatory letters to 12 other schools in the state and six other districts lauding them for their recent level 5-school status, based on No Child Left Behind standards.

In the process, Chairman Norris Edney said he planned to be on the receiving end of some of those letters in the future.

&uot;We are going to get there,&uot; Edney said. &uot;I hope I’ll be sitting here saying these are the five letters from so and so congratulating us.&uot;

The schools that achieve the top ranking based on test scores receive Closing the Gap awards and are at the top of their academic game.

&uot;It is very significant when a school can come to that level,&uot; Edney said.

&uot;We have something to work toward.&uot;

Currently McLaurin and Morgantown Elementary and Natchez High are level 2 schools and Robert Lewis Middle School is a level 3.

In other business the board heard the attendance report for the month of October in which NHS and RLMS did not meet the necessary 93 percent needed for NCLB. Attendance was also down at Morgantown Elementary.

The schools and the district will be graded on their attendance at the end of the year, so there is still time to improve those numbers, Edney said.

&uot;Presuming we can make some response to it now we will be OK,&uot; he said.

Superintendent Anthony Morris said higher attendance rates are a constant goal for the schools.

All schools in the district met the attendance requirements last year. A school must drop below 93 percent for two years in a row before consequences are felt.

The board also reviewed changes to policies including leave time, sexual harassment, staff concerns and vacation and holidays, among other things.

The policies will be voted on in the December meeting. Edney asked school employees and the general public to review copies of the policies before that time and inform the board of concerns. The policies will be available in the superintendent’s office.

&uot;We don’t want to make those policy changes if things that can be done better,&uot; he said.