DuPage may lease courthouse space for school training group

A government-run center that provides professional development training for thousands of DuPage teachers and school administrators could be moved to the county courthouse in Wheaton.

County board members on Tuesday discussed the possibility of spending $500,000 to remodel part of the third floor of the courthouse along County Farm Road so it could house the DuPage Regional Office of Education's Center for Professional Learning.

Darlene Ruscitti, the DuPage regional superintendent of schools, said the new space is desperately needed because the regional office in June lost the lease for the center's previous location in Lombard. Ruscitti said she was unable to find other sites in the county that her office could afford.

"I need a pretty big space," said Ruscitti, adding that roughly 10,000 educators - including teachers, deans, counselors, principals and superintendents - are trained at the professional learning center each year.

As part of a proposed deal with the county, the regional office would pay $141,000-a-year rent to use roughly 7,000 square feet at the courthouse. The rent would be used to repay the $500,000 the county would spend to convert the vacant space into four conference rooms, two offices and a reception area.

While members of the county board's public works committee talked about the proposed lease on Tuesday, it still needs to be considered by the full board. A vote on the deal could happen as soon as next week.