AERO Special Education Co-Op Breaks Ground For New Campus

BURBANK, IL — Kids in special education deserve more, but often get less. The AERO Special Education Cooperative is trying to correct that disparity when it breaks ground for a brand-new building on the former Queen of Peace High School property in Burbank.

On Monday, Nov. 1, Gov. J.B Pritzker will visit the south suburbs for a groundbreaking ceremony at 77thh Street and Linder Avenue. The governor will be joined by area state legislators Sen. Bill Cunningham (18th District), Reps. Kelly Burke (36th District) and Fran Hurley (35th District).

AERO provides special education services to 400 full-time students from 11 member public school districts in Lyons, Stickney and Worth townships. Since 1963, the special education cooperative has offered special education programming and related services in the southwest suburbs to students with physical and intellectual disabilities. Member school districts maximize their resources to provide a full continuum of special education services.

The special education cooperative purchased the 13-acre Queen of Peace property in 2018 from the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters for $3.25 million, after the Catholic girls high school abruptly announced its closing the year before, shocking parents and students.

The original plan was to repurpose the 55-year-old building but AERO executive director James W. Gunnell, Ed.D. said the cost of bringing the existing building up to code was cost prohibitive. The decision was made to demolish the 1960s-era high school in 2019.

“We were to reuse the building, but the infrastructure would have had to be completely redone,” Gunnell said. “The building would have required new mechanics and significant renovations to accommodate our students.”

Member districts put up $25 million that is being matched by a state grant of $25 million from the governor’s $45 billion capital bill. Currently, there are 25 AERO classrooms spread across the 11 member districts.

“I praise Sen. Cunningham for getting us written into the capital bill projects,” Gunnell said. “Our current facilities are antiquated, and they have been repurposed many times. We need a new facility that not only meets current needs but future needs.”

The building is being designed by the Chicago-based firm Legat Architects. Plans call for a 150,000-square-foot, 2-story building. The campus will two courtyards and offers wheelchair accessibility with two elevators.

For the first time in the special education cooperative’s 58-year history, all 400 AERO students will be under one roof, with space to accommodate 200 more, making it one of the largest special education schools in the state. When completed, the cooperative will open as the AERO Therapeutic Center.

“We hope to expand our services to children with adverse childhood experiences, who suffered from trauma in their early lives,” Gunnell said. “We will have the capacity to design programs to address the effects of trauma on the student’s ability to learn and grown emotionally. That’s the future.”

The community is invited to the groundbreaking ceremony that will take place at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 1, 77th Street and Linder Avenue, Burbank.