NATCHEZ &045;&045; Students attending Natchez-Adams public schools will no longer go to a school based on the side of town they live on, but instead by their grade.

A major reorganization of the district will go into effect in August, meaning a student who attends 13 years of school in the district will attend all six schools.

West Primary will house pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students, Frazier Primary will house first- and second-grade, McLaurin Elementary will house third- and fourth-grade and Morgantown Elementary will house fifth- and sixth-grade.

Currently, West and Frazier have pre-K through first-graders and Morgantown and McLaurin have second- through sixth-graders.

Robert Lewis Middle School and Natchez High will remain unchanged.

One of the major reasons for the change is to balance the enrollment at each school, Director of Human Resources and Public Relations Beverly Raines said.

Right now enrollment at Morgantown is nearly 1,200, while it’s only 800 at McLaurin. Frazier has 500 students, while West has 300.

Raines said the reorganization will put 450 students at West, 670 at Frazier, 695 at McLaurin and 700 at Morgantown.

The change will also balance the range of grades housed together, eliminating the interaction of second-graders and sixth-graders.

&uot;We’ve been discussing this, probably most of this year, since early January,&uot; Raines said. &uot;We started last year (2004) talking about reorganizing and seeing what we could do.&uot;

Administrators at the Central Office level and the affected schools examined the issue through a series of meetings, and Superintendent Anthony Morris recommended the change to the school board during executive session at their meeting last week. The board approved the change.

Teachers were notified in a regularly scheduled staff meeting Wednesday afternoon and notes were sent home to parents Thursday.

The elementary school principals said they are excited about the change and the ability to focus efforts on a smaller grade range.

&uot;With a second- to sixth-grade structure, competencies kind of vary,&uot; Morgantown Principal Fred Marsalis said. &uot;You have to be splitting what you do; now with these two grade levels at each school, implementation can be easy.&uot;

McLaurin Principal Karen Tutor, whose enrollment is going to stay the closest to what it currently is, said she thinks leveling the playing field among the schools is a great step.

&uot;Anytime you focus in this much on student achievement you have to be pleased,&uot; Tutor said. &uot;We are really going to focus in on what they’ll have to know at those grade levels.&uot;

The new arrangements will provide for better grade level communication and make sure students district-wide are receiving the same opportunities.

&uot;You don’t have the same grades across town from each other,&uot; Morris said. &uot;Mrs. Tutor and Mr. Marsalis do a great job communicating, but it is much better to have the same grade in the same building so that you can plan together as a grade.&uot;

Teachers

For the most part, teachers will stay with the grade level they currently teach, meaning a physical move for many of the district’s employees.

Teachers found out Wednesday what school they would be teaching at and immediately to begin plans make the move.

&uot;Any type of change brings skepticism,&uot; Marsalis said. &uot;For an individual teacher who has been in a classroom for 20 to 30 years, it’s going to be a process to relocate.&uot;

Teachers have been told to begin boxing up what they can and working with support staff to determine what materials need to go to which schools.

&uot;I’ll miss my teachers who have been transferred,&uot; West Principal Cindy Idom said. &uot;But we have to do what’s best for the district.&uot;

Tutor said she received an overall positive reaction from her teachers when they heard the news Wednesday.

&uot;I think they are excited, a little bit nervous, but I think they are really pleased,&uot; Tutor said.

Another major benefit of the change will be efficiency in several categories, including personnel, Morris said.

By realigning the grades the district will eliminate the need for at least one teacher at each grade level.

No teachers will be laid off during the reorganization, but teachers who retired, resigned or who were not rehired last week because of budgetary constraints will not be as sorely missed.

By balancing the enrollment at each school, the district is also leveling off the class sizes in the lower grades.

Enrollment has been decreasing for the last 10 years and is expected to remain flat for the next five years, but if numbers fluctuate staffing can be adjusted accordingly, Raines said.

Morris said the reorganization will probably mean the transfer of one assistant principal to Frazier.

Space

Half of the classrooms at Morgantown will be closed off with the reduction in school enrollment, saving operating costs in that part of the building.

At McLaurin, mobile units &045;&045; or trailers &045;&045; currently used for classrooms will no longer be necessary. Raines said one of the units will probably go to Frazier to accommodate the increased enrollment there.

At West, Idom said every classroom is going to be used. Right now, a few rooms are not in use.

Since the four schools affected are all used by elementary age children, each has appropriately sized bathrooms, cafeterias and playgrounds.

Transition

To be ready for an August start date, the boxes started moving Thursday.

Librarians have been given one of the first tasks &045;&045; to sift through what books, materials and resources need to be at which school.

Frazier Primary Librarian Susan Mingee said a librarian meeting this morning would be the first step.

&uot;West, McLaurin and Morgantown will all send things to me, and I’ll send things to West,&uot; Mingee said. &uot;I’ve never quite been through anything like this, and August will be here before we know it.&uot;

District technology coordinator Nick Peterman will head up the move of any computer equipment.

Once the details are worked out and classrooms are in order, the district will host an open house over the summer at each school for parents and students to get familiar with the new surroundings.

Raines said the district would work hard to gain the support of parents and answer any questions about the moves.

&uot;We really want parents to understand that this is really the best thing,&uot; Raines said. &uot;We are looking at student achievement and it is more comfortable for kids to be together in the same age groups. There will be some parents that will be upset because they don’t want to move, but we are trying to do what is best for the students.&uot;

Morris, with the help of his administrative team and his advisory council, will monitor the success of the change over the years to come.