NATCHEZ — On Tuesday morning at its next board meeting, the City of Natchez will begin seeking applications to fill a vacancy on the Natchez-Adams School District Board of Trustees.

A vacancy will open following Benny Wright’s resignation, which he announced last week, after serving on the board for eight years. Wright said his resignation would be effective Sept. 30.“I appreciate his service to the school district,” Mayor Darryl Grennell said Thursday. “He even went through a period where he had a stroke but hung in there and continued to work hard for the school system. I really appreciate his dedication.”

Grennell said before the city gets to the school board appointment, the board of aldermen first has to pass a balanced budget and make selections for the Natchez Convention Promotion Commission.

Alderwoman Joyce Arceneux-Mathis said she hopes the board will be able to interview and make a selection for the school board in two to three weeks.

“I would hope we would get an applicant who No. 1 is interested in education, No. 2 would like to see the school district improve to the highest level we can get within the state and No. 3, someone who possibly has children currently in the schools,” Arceneux-Mathis said. “Basically we want someone who has an interest in education, an interest in our children and an interest in seeing Natchez and the Natchez-Adams School District move forward.”

Grennell said in addition to the qualifications Arceneux-Mathis mentioned, he’d like to see someone who understood the budgeting process and was dedicated to learning themselves.

“Budgeting is a major role that the school board members are involved in,” Grennell said. “According to school board members I have spoken to over the years, they also have to go through a lot of training with the state to get familiar with the process of being a school board member.”

Board of Trustees President Amos James said he is willing to work with whomever the city nominates.

“I hope it is someone who believes in the mission of the district and is ready to get to work,” James said. “I hope they can come in and gel with us.”

James said he wished Wright well in his future, but he did have some concerns with a statement Wright made in The Natchez Democrat Tuesday.

Wright said one of the reasons he is resigning is because he believes trustees James, Phillip West and Cynthia Smith make decisions before meetings and vote as a block. Wright said he believes this act is leading the school district in the wrong direction and his efforts to stop it are “futile” because votes will always be 3-2.

“If that is what he thinks, I can’t change his mind,” James said. “All I can say is we do not discuss things before meetings.

“All that being said, I do want to thank him for the help he has put in on the board and wish him well in the future.”

West said he has only spoken to Smith once outside of meetings, and that was when she called him to congratulate him on being selected to the board.

Regarding discussions with the board president, West said James did call him before he was sworn in at the March regular meeting. West said James asked him about his opinion on then superintendent Frederick Hill.

“I told him from day one, I would offer the motion for (Hill) to be terminated based on the decision of the court,” West said. “I shared with Mr. James he did not have to vote along with me, but that was the position I was going to take.

“I guess Dr. Wright is referencing that, but since that time the entire board has been open and respectful of all the views and members of the board, including Dr. Wright. There is no conspiracy taking place as it relates to three board members making decisions beforehand.”

West said he was also disappointed Wright said to his knowledge the board has declined to proceed on a superintendent search.

When Hill was fired in April after a federal jury decision that he discriminated against a former district principal, West said it was late in the year and the district had to work to complete the semester and plan for graduation.

This summer and early so far in the fall, West said the district has been working on filling more than 60 vacant positions, improving curriculum to match state requirements, getting the school year started on a strong footing and trying to provide some stability to the district.

“I plan on having an item put on the agenda addressing the short-term and long-term leadership of the district in the near future,” West said. “We have just been tied up in many other things. But we do know it is something we need to do in the very near future.”

West said he believed Interim Superintendent Fred Butcher was doing a good job in providing stability to the district.

“I do see things having improved a great deal as it relates to his leadership,” he said. “Dr. Wright is entitled to his opinion, but the facts are the facts. I am just extremely disappointed he chose to make statements with no factual basis.”

Butcher and Smith said Thursday they had no comment on statements Wright made.

“We appreciate the time that he has served on the board,” Butcher said. “I wish him well in the future.”