NILES SCHOOLS Tax renewal to be on ballot

Fifth-grade transfers must have passed the fourth-grade reading exam.
By AMY HOUSLEY
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- Voters here will be facing a school tax renewal on the November ballot.
The emergency operating levy was first approved by voters in 1997. It raises about $1.3 million each year and, if passed this time, will run for five years. The levy is set to expire in 2003.
Renee Ruman, lead principal of teaching and learning, introduced the board Thursday to the district's new reading series for kindergarten through fifth-grade classes, starting this fall.
The Trophies program, through Harcourt School Publishers, costs $151,179.40.
The price includes a complete program package for the kindergarten classes and selected materials for the other grades.
Complimentary materials provided by the company would have cost an additional $149,303, school officials said.
What's included
Textbooks, workbooks and teachers' manuals and aids are included in the package, and there will be teaching aids for standardized tests, such as the state proficiency exams.
Ruman said the program will become a part of the curriculum for grades six through eight once a new middle school is built and in use.
The board also approved a resolution requiring pupils transferring into the district who will be in the fifth grade to have scored at the proficient level or above on the fourth-grade proficiency test reading exam, or they will be assigned to the fourth grade.
Superintendent Patrick N. Guliano said pupils transferring to the district will be held to the same standards as current pupils.