Strickland points to Toledo school as model for state

2/2/2009

Grove Patterson Academy is a model for what schools in Ohio could and should be, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said during a visit Monday to the Toledo school.

"It’s a great school and a lot of things are happening in this school I’d like to see happen at schools across our state," the governor told a seventh grade English class during his visit.

During his State of the State address last week, Mr. Strickland proposed extending the school year from 180 days to 200 days and implementing all day kindergarten.

Students at Grove Patterson, which is a part of the Toledo Public Schools district, have five extra days scheduled into the year and spend two extra hours each day. That adds up to about 52 extra days of instruction, principal Gretchen Bueter said.

Mr. Strickland appeared particularly interested in the foreign language classes at the school.

Grove Patterson students spend thirty minutes each day, starting in kindergarten and lasting through eighth grade, studying either German or Spanish.

He told the students in the sixth grade German class he visited and a fourth grade Spanish classes that they were learning a valuable skill they will use throughout their lives and that he wished he could speak those languages.

The students demonstrated their knowledge to the governor by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in the foreign language.

There are about 400 students at Grove Patterson, which is in its 10th year as an extended learning school.