District plans to offer state-exam intervention

The classes will take place from January through March at Bonham and the high school.

BY JORDAN COHEN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

NILES — For the first time in its history, Niles City Schools will initiate a coordinated after-school intervention program to help students, from third grade through high school, who have problems passing state examinations.

Curriculum Director Robert Marino Jr. told the board of education Thursday he anticipates a program cost of about $60,000, which would include the hiring of 25 part-time teachers and food provisions for each student.

The classes will be held from 3:15 to 5 p.m. from January through March next year. Elementary students will be transported to and from Bonham Elementary School, while middle and high school students will attend classes in Niles McKinley High School.

“The parents will have to approve student participation in these after-school classes, but I’m confident they’ll support this,” Marino said.

Funds have already been budgeted for the program, and position openings will be posted next month, he added.

“We’ll need 12 teachers for the elementary students, eight for the middle school and five for the high school,” Marino said. The director said current teachers in the Niles schools can apply for the positions along with instructors from outside the district.

Fifth-graders will have the highest priority among the elementary students, particularly in reading and math. “That’s because it’s a big adjustment moving from fifth grade to the middle school,” said Jerome Gentile, Bonham principal and program coordinator.

State educators recommended the intervention because of problems experienced by students in the lower grades with the Ohio Achievement Tests and with high school students in the Ohio Graduation Test.

“If they don’t pass the OGT, they don’t graduate,” Marino said, “so I believe their parents will want them to attend these sessions.

Marino said he expects about 130 elementary and middle school pupils to attend the classes in January. He did not have figures available on the number of high school students who may participate.

“The program is cost-efficient,” said Marlene Rhodes, board president, noting that the district will not have to pay benefits because the after-school teachers will be part-time. Marino estimated that full-time intervention instructors would have cost Niles schools more than $50,000 each.

The board will vote on approving the program in November.