NATCHEZ — Two longtime assistant principals in the Natchez-Adams School District are preparing to take over schools of their own.

Cleveland Moore was named Natchez High School’s newest principal, and Vera Dunmore was selected to run Frazier Primary School.

Both Dunmore and Moore, Natchez natives, have several years of experience as assistant principals in the Natchez-Adams School District.

“Obviously, as an assistant principal, this is what you’re working for,” Moore said of his recent promotion.

And it was three years ago when NASD Superintendent Anthony Morris developed a program to put the district’s assistant principals on the fast track to running their own schools.

Morris said for the past three years, the district’s assistant principals, including Moore and Dunmore, have been attending the Assistant Principal’s Academy, to prepare administrators to lead their own schools.

“There’s a gap between what principals and assistant principals do in managing a school,” Morris said. “(The academy) is designed to bridge that gap. It teaches them things they may not be exposed to in their regular day.”

In addition to providing that much-needed exposure, the academy gives the district its own crop of quality assistant principals to hire.

“Anytime we can hire from within, it’s good for the district,” Morris said. “It greatly cuts down on the time it takes for a principal to get accustomed to their new school.”

And for Moore, the six years he has spent as NHS’s assistant principal will work to his advantage, he said.

“I know the students, the faculty and the staff,” he said. “That’s going to make this transition a lot easier.”

If Moore’s transition is easier, then he can make the transition for his students easier, he said.

“This is like the last stop for students before they have to get our there in the real world,” he said. “We want them to be as prepared as possible.”

While Moore is putting the finishing touches on students, Dunmore will be laying the groundwork for the future of their schooling.

Morris said Dunmore’s more than 20 years of teaching and administrative experience at several schools in the district make her an ideal candidate to run the primary school.

Most recently, Dunmore served as assistant principal at Frazier.

“She has seen what students are going to need down the line, and she works at the front end to make sure they’ll be ready,” Morris said.

And both Dunmore and Moore have plans for changes at their new schools.

Dunmore said she will be working to bring back the school’s computer lab, which is no longer in existence.

“We are in such a technological world, we want the students to be ready for that as soon as possible,” she said.

And Moore will be working to increase cooperation between his faculty and the parents of his students.

“We have to work together,” he said. “Their success depends on it.”

While NHS has not named its new assistant principal, Tony Fields will fill Dunmore’s empty position at Frazier.