NATCHEZ &8212; In July the Natchez-Adams School District got a $20,000 check for its homeless students and was told to have it spent by the end of September.

Typically a district with 75 to 90 children classified as homeless, spending that much money might have been hard.

But that worked itself out several times over, Assistant Superintendent Larry Little told a group of child oriented community leaders Friday.

At its highest, the district had enrolled 629 evacuee students now homeless thanks to Katrina and Rita.

The $20,000 went quickly on supplies and uniforms and was aided on Oct. 1 with a $75,000 Katrina Homeless Supplement.

&8220;We applied for $50,000, and two days later we found out we&8217;d get $75,000,&8221; Little said.

That money will cover needed instructional materials, salary for tutors, contracts with nurses and contracts with psychologists.

Now the district is down to about 450 students and things are getting back to normal, administrators said.

Still, the district has experienced a 14 percent increase in enrollment, the largest percentage increase in the state.

Discipline hasn&8217;t been a major problem, and the district has been able to access educational records through the department of education databases from both affected states.

Various schools and civic groups around the country have sent donations totally more than $20,000, Little said.

The school has more than it needs for the time being and groups that call wanting to help are being forwarded to the coast.

District Director of Special Services Annie Patterson said the schools had about 20 evacuee special education students, with the most at the middle school and high school level.

Katrina also affected in at least a minor way most other child services organizations in town.

Marc Taylor of the Adams County Youth Drug Court said his routine drug testing programs were disrupted when local electricity and phone lines went down, but the hurricane also benefited the students in the program.

&8220;It offered an opportunity for community service,&8221; he said. &8220;The judge required that they work in shelters and a couple came back and said they enjoyed it and did more than they were required to do.&8221;

Glenn Arnold, administrator of the Juvenile Detention Center, said he was expecting to see an increase in jailed youth with the additional evacuees, but did not.

&8220;It didn&8217;t happen and I was pleased by that,&8221; he said.

&8220;The sheriff&8217;s office and the police department stayed on things and handled things properly. We didn&8217;t see things like the things that went down in other parts of the state.&8221;