The DuPage Regional Office of Education is moving its Center for Student Success, which provides alternative education programs to students in the county, from its current location in Addison to Indian Prairie School District 204’s old Indian Plains School building in Aurora, officials said.
The agreement was approved by Indian Prairie’s school board at its meeting Monday. Classes will begin at the new location on Aug. 20, according to a news release from the DuPage Regional Office of Education.
The Center for Student Success hosts several programs for students, including Rebound, Partners for Success and the Alternative Learning Opportunities program. The Rebound program allows students who have received out-of-school suspensions of four to 10 days to continue doing school work rather than remaining at home, said DuPage Regional Office of Education Regional Superintendent Amber Quirk, while the Partners for Success program places students out of school for longer periods of time. The Alternative Learning Opportunities program helps individuals looking to earn a high school equivalency prepare for the exam needed to earn it and look into postsecondary options.
In the new facility, the Regional Office of Education also hopes to host workshops for educators, Quirk said, as the Indian Plains building is bigger than its current space in Addison.
The DuPage Regional Office of Education operated programming out of the Old Mill School in Addison for more than two decades, Quirk said. She said the current building needs renovations, and that they’re looking for more space.
The move to the Indian Plains building is temporary, however. The lease agreement is set for a two-year period starting July 1, per Monday’s meeting agenda, with the option to extend for a third year. The DuPage Regional Office of Education has said it is continuing to look for a permanent location for the center.
The Indian Plains building at 1322 N. Eola Road in Aurora has not been used for student programming by the district for several years, according to a memo from District 204 Chief School Business Official Matt Shipley. It is currently being used for professional development, offices for a few district staff and storage for the district, all of which will be located to other facilities when the Regional Office of Education begins using the space.
The building is “near the end of its life,” per the memo included in Monday’s meeting agenda, although it has been maintained up to code. The district is developing a plan for eventually divesting itself of the building.
The first year’s annual rent of the space is set at $175,000, per the lease agreement between the district and the DuPage Regional Office of Education, with increases to $185,000 for the second year and $195,000 if the office extends the lease for a third year. That covers all operating and maintenance costs for the facility, the memo from Shipley said, and the Regional Office of Education is to reimburse the district for custodial, maintenance and utilities services, as well as use the district’s food service program.
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
