School Life in Days of William McKinley
From 1934 Centennial
A more efficient school system resulted from the rapid growth of industry and population in the late 1840s. The oldest document sin the possession of the Niles Board of Education were composed by William McKinley, Sr., father of the president, who for several years after 1842 was school clerk. The only school in the village at that time was the little white schoolhouse, and attendance there was not mandatory.

Teachers were required to pass the county examinations and were hired for terms of from two to five months. Men teachers received a salary of about ten dollars per month in money and one hundred pounds of iron. Thus, in 1842, the district school clerk wrote:
“Hired A.J. Luse for the term of two months, commencing December 27, 1842, for which he was paid ten dollars per month out of the school funds and one hundred pounds of iron by collections.” – Wm McKinley

At first, the average salary for women teachers was six dollars per month, half of which was paid in money and the other half in trade to be collected from parents in proportion to the number of children attending. By the time of the Civil War, however, teacher’s salaries had increased and were on a more systemic basis. The record shows that on April 8, 1867, Andrew Dienst was hired for three months at $65.00 per month. Olive Allison for three months at $40.00 per month and Hasey Hardman for three months at $35.00 per month.

When William McKinley attended the small frame schoolhouse which stood at the rear of the present Presbyterian church, three teachers, two ladies and a man, taught in the one large room. The man was considered the principal. McKinley was then only a small boy; among the larger boys were Joseph G. Butler, Jr., James Ward, Jr., and Miles Butler.

A typical report, submitted by the teacher, gives an idea of what the school must have been like:
“Report of the school kept by District No. 8, Weathersfield Township, for the term commencing November 3m 1846 and ending the 17th of April 1847, six months Number of scholars enrolled was 112, of which 56 were males and 56 females. The number in daily attendance 59. Branches being taught being writing, Geography, arithmetic, grammar, philosophy, and algebra.”
By A. Sanford, teacher.

Development Of Niles School System From 1871 Until the Present Time.

Six Teachers In 1871; Four Schools Here In 1890.
Schools occupied and important place in the community life following the creation of the Union School District and the completion of the Central Building in 1871. The increase of the school population soon required that a capable superintendent and school staff be hired and that a more adequate school term be provided.

Six Teachers
When the Central school opened in 1871 there were, for that building, six teachers and a principal. A school report in the Western Reserve Chronicle in 1876 indicated that at that time there were two schools in Niles, valued at $40,000.00, and that the school staff totaled ten. The first extensive school report after 1871 is dated 1889, the first year of Superintendent Roller’s twenty-two-year administration.

Staff Increases
In that year the school force consisted of fifteen teachers and the superintendent; 901 pupils were enrolled for a term of thirty-six weeks, but the average attendance was only 85% of the enrollment.

The above table indicates that school enrollment increased gradually until 1912, since when it has increased more than 195%.

The largest proportionate increase has occurred at the high school, where as late as 1906, the enrollment was but 78, and the largest graduating class 18 in number, as compared with a high school enrollment of 1210 and a graduating class of 181 in 1834.

4 Schools in 1890
To provide for this increasing enrollment has been one of the difficult problems school boards and superintendents have had to meet. In 1890, four school buildings were in use: the Central building, the old wood school on Leslie Avenue, a two-room school on Walnut Street and a two-room structure on the South Side.

5th School Added
In 1891 the brick school on Leslie Avenue was added, and at various times for short intervals before 1905, schoolrooms were provided as follows: Bert Stree-1 room, 1896-1897; First Street-1 room, 1900-1905; and Park Avenue- 1 room, 1905-1905. Of all of these schools, only the Leslie Avenue building remains and it is no longer school property.

Present Niles Schools
The public school buildings now in use and the dates of construction are: Jackson, Warren Avenue-1893 (enlarged 1911); Lincoln, Cedar Street-1896 (enlarged 1905); Monroe, Bert Street-1905; Garfield, Third Stree1905; Jefferson, South Bentley Avenue-1911 (enlarged 1913, 1925);McKinley High School-1914; Roosevelt, Madison Avenue-1919; Washington Junior High, Hartzell Avenue-1924; Harrison, McKinley Heights (acquired as addition to school district-1920); Administration Building, Church Street-1930. In addition to the public schools, the St. Stephen Parochial school, built in 1901, provided for 480 pupils in 1933-1934.

Modern Curriculum
The period 1874-1934, saw the evolution of the modern curriculum, with most of the changes coming after 1900. Before that date the work in the upper elementary grades consisted of reading (from McGuffy), writing, arithmetic, spelling (from Harvey) and geography. The only innovation was the introduction in 1891 of United States History. The early high school curriculum included business arithmetic, algebra, and plane and solid geometry, two years of rhetoric and one of literature, two years of Latin, and for parts of a year: botany, physiology, physical geography, Physics, English history and ‘science of government’. The first addition was bookkeeping in 1891, and ten years later: music, drawing, writing, and German was added. The remainder of the modern curriculum and recognition of extra-curricular activities came later.

Interests Differ
The interests of pupils in the earlier part of the period seem rather remote from those of today. Literary societies aroused great interest and frequent debates, recitations and essay writing contests were held. At one of these programs described in the ‘Trumbull County Independent’ in 1886, thirteen pupils read Whittier’s ‘Snowbound’ from memory before three judges; a vocal solo was interspersed between every second number.

Sometimes, however, the program was of a social nature as when on January 1, 1886, the literary society entertained at a social held in the Falcon skating rink. The literary programs were good preparation for graduation, as each member of the graduating class was expected to give a commencement oration upon some patriotic or other lofty subject

It was an age when reform movements, dissipated by the Civil War, were again gathering strength. In 1886, the entire school population ‘took the pledge’ in writing, to abstain from use of tobacco or liquor, and to cultivate ‘clean and pure living.