PEORIA, Ill. – It won’t start the school year in that location, but the Peoria County Regional Office of Education’s alternative high school will likely end the year in a new home.
The ROE is negotiating with the Peoria Park District to lease the now-closed Franciscan Recreation Complex in West Peoria — which Regional Superintendent Beth Crider says will be a much better fit than the school’s current home at Wildlife Prairie Park, for one main reason.
“The final part of that decision was around transportation,” said Crider. “We do not provide busing throughout all of Peoria County — we just can’t. This gets us more centralized, it puts us on a bus line, and it allows families that are more in the population centers to be able to get access to the school.”
The Franciscan Recreation Complex has been closed since the early days of the pandemic, and the Park District would still be able to use the facility for programming and events outside of the school day.
Crider says some building work will need to be done before the ROE can move in, and once negotiations are done, the Peoria Park Board will have to sign off on the deal.
But, Crider has no doubt the deal will be done, given all its benefits.
“The access our students will have to all the community services, the medical facilities, mental health care, and all the things that we can provide when we are closer to the city…and then workforce development,” said Crider. “We are excited to partner with the Park District and their workforce needs, the city of West Peoria…there are so many opportunities right now for students to work.”
Crider says the construction work needed at FRC will be paid for with grant money, and will not directly otherwise cost taxpayers anything.
She says several dozen students graduate from the alternative school every year, with ceremonies in both December and at the end of the school year.
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