By Christian Coffman

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — New teachers are set up and new curriculums are in their final drafts at Adams County Christian School.

Headmaster David King said the school has made many positive changes over the years and the recent changes made for the upcoming school year are no exception.

“We’re trying to improve every day, and I think we’ve narrowed that gap of where we want to be and where we are,” King said.

King said three new teachers and an IT person have been hired for the new school year.

“We just had a couple of teachers that have retired and have taken some time off, and we’ve replaced them with some outstanding teachers,” King said.

The headmaster said the IT person has been in the works since the beginning of summer.

“Technology continues to be a big part of education … there’s a lot of day-to-day operations that require a good technology leader,” King said. “We’ve been in constant contact with the man. He’s been in place since early summer.”

The teachers were also hired near the beginning of summer, King said.

The new teachers will be educating first- and fourth-grade students and a history teacher will be at the junior high.

King said that no staff members were terminated at the end of the last school year.

“We just had a teacher that took off for some maternity time and another that left town,” King said. “We replaced them with some good, quality teachers.”

King said three members of the ACCS staff — Angela Cotten, Bridget King and Rick Fife — have been the keys to the success of the school in their implementation of new ideas.

Elementary principal Cotten said that students in grades kindergarten through fifth would be using a new math program called iReady.

iReady is an electronic test students take three times a year in order for teachers to gauge strengths and weaknesses.

“What makes it different is that it has a computer-based diagnostic,” Cotten said. “It maps out the student’s math knowledge.”

Students will also have to spend 45 minutes a week on iReady to practice math-oriented games geared toward their grade levels.

“Everything else we’re keeping the same. One big change is enough for us,” Cotten said.