NORWOOD — An official count of nearly 7,700 votes cast Nov. 7 on the Norwood school levy has turned an apparent defeat into a four-vote victory for the levy.

        But the optimism of officials Wednesday was tempered with caution — the four-vote margin confirmed Tuesday triggers an automatic recount.

        The official count of ballots cast on the five-year, 7.68-mill emergency levy for Norwood schools reverses the loss announced two weeks earlier.

        It's another chapter in the struggles of Norwood schools, which have faced — and overcome — a barrage of difficulties since the 1987 closing of the General Motors plant in this community surrounded by Cincinnati.

        News of the victory trav eled quickly as school officials launched the phone chain usually reserved for snow emergencies just minutes after the Hamilton County Board of Elections finished counting more than 14,000 walk-in votes — including 277 in Norwood.

        Hamilton County voters who were registered to vote one place but had moved without notifying the elections board cast those votes Nov. 7, but they weren't counted until new addresses were confirmed, said elections board worker Mike Tolbert.

        It was enough to reverse the election night loss.

        Norwood's count now stands at 3,878 for the levy and 3,874 against, Mr. Tolbert said. Because the difference is less than one-half of one percent there will be an automatic recount beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the board of elections.

        Under Ohio law, election officials must conduct a recount in any race where the margin of difference is less than 0.5 percent.

        During the recount, Norwood schools will be able to have an observer present, as will opponents of the levy. In a Hamilton County recount, the punch-card ballots are run through the counting machines and a sampling of votes equal to 3 percent of the total cast are hand-counted and matched against the machine results.

        “I think the last two weeks I was filled with mixed reactions,” said Susan Geselbracht, president of the Norwood Board of Education. “Certainly we were disappointed but also hopeful of the 277 walk-in votes. We never lost faith.”

        Optimism, however, was tempered with the possibility that the loss would stand — making it the second time in four months voters in this blue-collar, middle-class community had rejected an oper ating levy. Because of that, administrators last week presented board members a list of possible cuts to reduce spending by more than $1 million for the 2001-02 school year. Those cuts would have come on the heels of $1.2 million in cuts — including the loss of 39 jobs — just to balance the current school year budget.

        “We are cautiously optimistic,” said Steve Collier, Norwood's assistant superintendent. "We're hanging by a chad.”

        This is not the first time this district has faced adversity and survived. Shortly after the final car rolled off the GM assembly line in 1987, the board made the difficult decision to close an elementary school, leaving four in the district — one in each quadrant. With the closing of the plant came a fiscal emergency for this close-knit working class community where almost all children walk to school. About half the families in the district qualify for free or reduced lunches.

        Should Tuesday's recount go against the board, the district once again will discuss the possibility of closing a school in a district that has seen its enrollment drop from 3,600 in the late 1980s to 3,000 last year and again this year, Mr. Collier said.

        "It was traumatic here after GM pulled out, but we made it,” Mr. Collier said. "It's not a pleasant experience to go through.”

        At the time, the schools fought a move to merge the district with Cincinnati Public Schools. Levies were passed and the schools came out of fiscal emergency even as the city struggled.

        Three years ago the district faced another crisis after its superintendent and assistant superintendent — both lifelong Norwood residents — along with the treasurer resigned after several disagreements with the board. Although the board is looking for another treasurer, things have calmed down and were on the upswing despite cuts earlier this year, Mr. Collier said.

        Should the final results stand after next week's recount, the district would begin collecting $1.6 million each of the next five years beginning in January. The net tax increase to the owner of an $84,000 home would be about $128 through 2005.

        School officials as well as representatives from Norwood COAST — Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending & Taxes — have been invited to next week's automatic recount, Mr. Tolbert said. Former Norwood Board of Education member Edward Casagrande, who lost his 1999 re-election bid, heads the opposition group.

        Calls Wednesday to COAST's office were not returned, and Mr. Casagrande could not be reached for comment.

       Howard Wilkinson contributed to this report.

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