NATCHEZ — Data discussions dominated the Natchez-Adams School Board’s monthly meeting Thursday.

Board members discussed a number of professional development programs, including National Institute for School Leadership coaching on school leadership for principals. Principals have already gone through the training for it, and coaching is the second part of the program.

The proposal was met with questions from board members about whether or not data was available to see if the group’s efforts had been met with success in the past.

Superintendent Frederick Hill said the data for the program had been presented when the first phase of the program had been approved.

“It’s not two different programs,” Hill said.

Although vice president Benny Wright initially made a motion to approve with a report at the end of the training period, the motion died for lack of a second.

In the end, Board member Amos James Jr. made a motion to table the discussion until they could get a report with data showing that NISL coaching helps schools. Board member Cynthia Smith seconded, and it passed 3-1 with Wright voting against.

“I just wanted to make sure that we’re spending our money in the right way,” James said after the meeting.

In other action:

– The board approved the use of materials from the Kirkland Group, a consulting group that creates materials including lesson plans and pacing guides aimed at helping improve test results.

-The board approved the use of professional development math materials by the Greene Education Group and English language arts training submitted by the Mississippi Writing/Thinking Institute.

-The board motioned to appoint Moses Ard as a voting member on the recreation committee. The board also moved to have President Timothy Blalock Jr. continue in his position as liaison to the committee.

-Hill gave a report in which he discussed new statewide test scores, including scores released Thursday, as well as how each school compared to the district and state averages.

Most schools fell below state averages in the areas of math, English and science. Hill said he didn’t know how the district’s schools were going to be scored overall.

Scores are only part of the criteria for determining a school’s grade, Hill said.

“I cannot predict what our grades are going to be based on this alone,” Hill said.

-The board went into closed determination to hear seven legal reports and one report on existing litigation.