Natchez principal resigns after students arrested

NATCHEZ, Miss. (AP) - Natchez leaders held a closed meeting with parents, teachers and others to discuss the arrest of 17 Natchez High School students and the subsequent resignation of the principal after a disturbance at the school.

The Natchez Democrat reports (https://bit.ly/1mXSeVF ) that the newspaper’s employees were kept out of Wednesday’s hour-long meeting.

Those attending included Natchez Police Chief Danny White, an alderman, the Natchez NAACP president, Natchez High parents and some teachers and coaches.

Some of the loud conversation could be heard from outside, and topics included the resignation of Principal Fred Butcher.

Natchez Police Department Detective Jerry Ford says 17 students were arrested Monday after police received a call about a fight in the gymnasium. The juveniles were jailed briefly and charged with disturbing the peace. Their names were not released.

School safety and security supervisor Ray Brown said Wednesday he would not discuss details of the incident and referred all questions to Superintendent Frederick Hill.

Hill did not respond to messages asking about the fight.

Earlier in the day, however, Hill commented on Butcher’s Tuesday resignation, but declined to go into specific details.

“I know there’s a lot of commotion going on right now concerning the move,” Hill said. “All I’m going to say is that Mr. Butcher retired, and that’s it.”

Natchez resident Barney Schoby, whose daughter was one of the 17 arrested, was at the meeting Wednesday and said he was not pleased with the conversations that took place at the meeting.

“Everything that was said at that meeting was about bringing Mr. Butcher back or the teachers being able to secure a job for the following year,” Schoby said. “Not one conversation was structured around the children of the Natchez-Adams School District or them being in an environment that is clearly unsafe for the students.”

Schoby said he was upset with how district administrators handled Monday’s altercation, which he said included taking all the students to jail without first notifying parents.

“How are you going to do all that without even contacting a parent?” Schoby said. “These children were taken to jail in handcuffs without one single parent being notified or given any kind of due process whatsoever.”

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Information from: The Natchez Democrat, https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/