Dist. 211 could buy new Higgins Education Center

Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 will hold an open house on Thursday, Sept. 3 for its new Higgins Education Center, just east of Hoffman Estates High School on Higgins Road.

Though the district has leased the former Barrington Orthopedic building during the yearlong renovation project, school board members will decide at their Sept. 17 meeting whether to purchase it or continue the lease indefinitely.

The hours of the Sept. 3 open house at 1030 W. Higgins Road have not yet been posted on the district's website, school board President Mucia Burke said they would likely be from 4 to 7 p.m.

With the start of the new school year, the Higgins Education Center will become the home of some of the district's special education programs. These include the Adult Transition Program, Academy-South alternative school program, and the New Endeavors program serving students along the autism spectrum.

The Adult Transitions Program had been headquartered in a pair of trailers in the Hoffman Estates High School parking lot and at a leased facility outside the district's borders. The program helps district graduates with mild and moderate cognitive impairments to continue developing their vocational, life and leisure skills through the age of 22.

The New Endeavors program will not only gather students from multiple other locations, but also them back to the district from non-District 211 programs. Many of these students will come from either the Northwest Suburban Special Education Organization's Miner School program in Arlington Heights or a private therapeutic day school.

District administrators are recommending purchase of the 26,000-square-foot Higgins Education Center during the coming budget year for $1.51 million.

The cost of waiting to buy, or continuing to lease, will increase every year, officials say. Between rent and taxes, the district is expected to pay as much to lease the building for only 6½ years as it would if it buys it this year.

Though the district's proposed budget - also expected to be approved Sept. 17 - includes funding to purchase the building, the financial plan could be amended if the school board opts not to buy it at this time, Superintendent Dan Cates said.