House will help Dist. 214 special ed students learn life skills
Students with intellectual disabilities in Northwest Suburban High School District 214 will have a new permanent place to learn and practice life skills — a new day school in a Rolling Meadows home that was built for students and by students.
The home, at 2702 Sigwalt St., will serve students age 18-22 with mild to severe intellectual disabilities and operate only during school hours, 7:30 a.m. to 2:50 p.m.
In Sigwalt House, students will be taught skills to help them live independently, cleaning, cooking, gardening and generally taking care of a home.
The Rolling Meadows City Council on Tuesday approved a first reading of the special use request for the residential property. The residence will be used as a classroom, so a special permit is needed to allow more than eight unrelated people to occupy the home during daytime hours.
It will accommodate 12 students each morning and another 12 every afternoon with a certified special education teacher and two support staff.
“The house will provide life skills and learning opportunities for our most significantly disabled students,” said Johnnie Thomas, associate superintendent for student services.
“It (helps) them be more self-sufficient and independent in terms of their ability to take care of themselves after high school.”
Most of the students will have gone to Hersey High School for four years, but state law requires special education through age 22.
The district has run a similar day school at 3411 Campbell Ave. for at least four years, but it was renting the property and not able to make changes to it.
When that lease expires the program will move to the Sigwalt property and the Campbell House will return to being a normal single-family home, said Jeff Jerdee, director of careers and technical education services.
“The Rolling Meadows community has been tremendous in terms of how they have supported the house on Campbell, and we’ve heard from residents in the Sigwalt area that are equally excited and supportive,” Thomas said.
District 214 will manage all maintenance and snow removal. Students who attend the day school will not drive, but be dropped off by bus.
The home has a special meaning for District 214 officials because it was built and renovated by district students
After District 214 bought the house last spring, about 40 students from the building and trades architectural program renovated it, keeping in mind the students who will be using it.
The house is now ADA-accessible, meets safety codes with sprinklers and ramps, and has an extra 600-square-foot addition, Jerdee said.
“The students took an existing house, stripped it down and rebuilt it,” he said.
“We described the project to the kids before they started building and they took a lot of pride knowing it would be in the district forever and that they would be helping their fellow students.”