Natchez-Adams Schools surprised many naysayers last week by posting much better statewide grades than most people thought possible.

Last year, the district was on the brink of being taken over by Mississippi Department of Education after it posted back-to-back F ratings.

If the district had received another F, the state was authorized to take over the district’s leadership.

In an effort to stave that off that possibility, the district restructured itself, a move that effectively reset the failure clock for the schools.

The district-wide performance wasn’t the best in the state, coming in at a D, but it was far improved over the previous year’s results. Individually, three schools — Natchez High School, West Elementary School and Frazier Elementary School — improved their grade levels over the previous year.

That’s an amazingly positive accomplishment and one in which we know Natchez-Adams Superintendent Frederick Hill, members of the school board, district administrators, faculty and staff will take great pride.

We applaud the school district for its success. Perhaps some of the district’s sharpest critics will help support the district’s efforts and realize that perhaps some of the controversial changes made in the last year or two, so far, have had a good result.

The district’s newest school, Robert Lewis Magnet School, received its first state accreditation grade, an impressive B rating. What an excellent first showing!

West Elementary School jumped from an F to a C. Principal Alice Morrison pointed to the school’s team approach as the key to the school’s success.

“We came together with one common goal,” Morrison said last week.

Imagine what might happen if we all took that attitude toward educating our children. The Natchez area would be unstoppable.