The A.E.R.O. Special Education Cooperative has reached an agreement in principle to buy the former Queen of Peace High School campus in Burbank for $3.25 million, officials said.
Members of A.E.R.O’s governing board voted unanimously Monday to approve its purchase of the property from the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, which has sought to sell it since Queen of Peace closed in June 2017.
The acquisition will allow A.E.R.O., which provides special education services to about 400 full-time students from 11 member districts in Stickney, Worth and Lyons townships, to centralize its operations and better serve students’ needs, said Frank Patrick, president of the cooperative’s executive board.
“We’re very excited that the agreement has been reached,” said Patrick, superintendent of Willow Springs School District 108, one of A.E.R.O.’s 11 member districts. “I think it opens up a wealth of opportunities for the students of A.E.R.O.”
The approximately 13-acre Queen of Peace property at 7659 S. Linder Ave. includes two buildings — the high school and a connecting building that used to serve as a convent — a parking lot, athletic fields and green space around the campus.
Patrick said A.E.R.O.’s anticipated acquisition of the property, which it will pay for through reserve funds, should eventually allow the cooperative to consolidate its P.R.I.D.E. Alternative School in Oak Lawn, A.E.R.O. Educational Center and administrative office in one location.
He said he was excited about the potential to add more green space, which is limited at the cooperative’s current facilities, and said it should enable A.E.R.O. to enhance programming for its students.
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“A lot of the students at the A.E.R.O. Center have significant physical needs, so having more space to deliver physical therapy, occupational therapies for them would be fantastic — both indoors and outdoors,” Patrick said.
A.E.R.O.’s Executive Director James Gunnell said that, among other things, the additional green space would allow the cooperative to construct a state-of-the-art adaptive playground for its students, replacing its current playground, which he called “small and antiquated.”
Gunnell also said he was excited about the opportunity that additional space would afford A.E.R.O. to expand its services by creating programs focused on building resilience in students, especially those who have experienced trauma or who have emotional or mental health needs.
“That puts us on the cutting edge,” he said. “And that’s where we want to be.”
Because the Queen of Peace building will need to be brought up to code and adapted to meet the needs of special education students, A.E.R.O.’s plan to centralize facilities is not expected to happen until at least the 2019-2020 school year, he said.
Assuming the consolidation is successful, A.E.R.O. would no longer need to rent property for its P.R.I.D.E. program from Oak Lawn-Hometown School District 123 and could opt to sell its Burbank building that currently houses the A.E.R.O. Center and its administrative offices, Patrick said.
Sister Colleen Settles, member of the leadership council for the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, released a statement Tuesday expressing her satisfaction with the pending sale.
“We are grateful to have found a wonderful organization that will cherish the Queen of Peace site as much as we have through the years,” said Settles, who indicated that the money from the sale would go toward funding the Dominican Sisters’ educational ministries.
“As Catholic sisters, education and study are essential to our way of life and we are pleased that A.E.R.O.’s mission aligns with ours in helping build strong communities and a just society now and into the future.”
Queen of Peace, the Catholic all-girls college prep high school that had occupied the property since 1962, closed at the end of the 2016-2017 school year, citing an extended decline in enrollment and mounting financial pressures. The school, which had the capacity to hold 1,400 students, was down to an enrollment of 288 when it shuttered.
Chris Picone, of Picone Advisory Group, who assisted the Dominican Sisters with disposing of the property, said he expects the sale to close by the end of August.
“It’s a true win-win for everyone, including the community,” he said of the deal. “Both sides are happy with where they ended up.”