Therapeutic day school seeks to open in Lake in the Hills

Lake in the Hills village officials are considering a proposal for a therapeutic day school for special-needs children.

Parkland Preparatory Academy, which has schools in Streamwood, Oak Lawn and Plainfield, is seeking to open a fourth school for children ages 5 to 21 years at 40 W. Acorn Lane - formerly Children's World Learning Center.

The applicant is seeking a conditional use permit to operate a school for mentally and physically challenged students in a business zoning district. A day care leasing the other half of the building also operates as a conditional use.

Founded in 2010, Parkland is licensed by the Illinois State Board of Education. It specializes in autism, anxiety and bipolar disorders, Down syndrome and other social/emotional issues. Students are referred to Parkland by public schools when their needs cannot be met by districts' own special education employees, documents show.

Parkland teachers, therapists, paraprofessionals, and administration are certified in special education. The Lake in the Hills school would serve up to 70 students at peak enrollment with a maximum of 20 employees. Hours of operation would be from 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. with no after-school or weekend activities, documents show.

The school is expected to draw a majority of students from within a 10-mile radius of Lake in the Hills.

Parkland's Streamwood site has 30 students from Lake in the Hills, Carpentersville, Algonquin and Barrington who would transfer to the Lake in the Hills school once it is operational. The new location would save districts on transportation and reduce travel time for students, officials said.

The proposal was reviewed favorably by the village's planning and zoning commission earlier this week and will go before the village board for a vote at a future meeting.