The Exeter school district will purchase new reading textbooks for students from pre-K to sixth grade to replace outdated materials.

Tim Jordan, Exeter superintendent, said the district was able to utilize some of the ESSER funds that were meant to help with learning loss during the pandemic to make the purchase.

“I know that our current elementary, pre-K through sixth grade, reading series is older and outdated,” Jordan said. “It was time to make an investment in a more current product.

“We made sure to do the research to make sure the content was suitable and acceptable for families and students in our community.

The cost of the new program is divided out for 6 years worth of materials, some of which will be replaced annually for no additional charge each year.”

Lucretia Brattin, Exeter elementary principal and curriculum director, said the publisher the district is using is Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and the book series is “Into Reading K-5.”

“This is the current program that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) has for reading,” she said. “Our previous series was a HMH product as well.

“Our teachers were included in the decision making process by having the opportunity to preview series from HMH, McGraw Hill and Scholastic. As a staff we met and discussed each series and after going through that process they felt like this product would best suit our student needs.”

Brattin said the annual cost for grades K through 5 is approximately $6,000.

“That amount includes all teachers’ resources, online content, a leveled library for each class, and student workbooks,” Brattin said.