Grove Patterson will have 7th grade next school year

8/3/2002

Grove Patterson Academy will have a seventh grade for 20 students for the 2002-2003 school year, district officials said yesterday.

The Toledo Public Schools academy opened in 1999 with 220 pupils in kindergarten through fourth grade. The school added a grade each year.

In the spring, many parents said they wanted an academy option for their children's junior high years. The board of education last month approved the purchase of a portable classroom to make room for the seventh graders to remain at the academy.

This week, the district confirmed that 20 would attend, Craig Cotner, the district's chief academic officer, said yesterday. One teacher will be hired to teach the core academic classes at the academy, 3020 Marvin Ave. Students will have physical education, art, and music at the former DeVilbiss High School, 3301 Upton Ave.

Busing the students to DeVilbiss will cost the district up to about $10,000 for the year, said Dan Burns, acting chief business manager.

The district has not made any plans for eighth grade for the students, Mr. Cotner said. “We'll have to talk about that,” he said.

If November's planned bond levy passes for the Ohio School Facilities Commission building renovation and rebuilding project, funds would be available for construction at Grove Patterson and DeVilbiss.

“There's a whole realm of new parameters that open with the passage of the levy,” Mr. Cotner said. “The issue of Grove Patterson and seventh and eighth grade becomes one of those parameters.”