AERO Opens New, State-of-the-Art School Building
The AERO Special Education Cooperative has opened a new, state-of-the-art facility in nearby Burbank. A grand opening of the AERO Therapeutic Center at 77th Street and Linder Avenue was held earlier this month.
Evergreen Park Community High School, one of AERO’s four founding high schools, is proud to recognize the milestone.
“We are proud to be one of the four founding schools of the AERO Cooperative and to have a role in providing our deserving students with one of the best special needs schools in the country,” EPCHS Superintendent Thomas O'Malley said.
AERO’s new facility, located on 13 acres at the former Queen of Peace High School building, is a 150,000-square-foot, 2-story building with two courtyards, wheelchair accessibility and two elevators. The size of the building means this school year is the first in the special education cooperative’s 60-year history in which all AERO students will be under one roof.
EPCHS – along with Argo, Reavis and Oak Lawn high schools – is a founding member of AERO. The name, AERO, is an acronym that includes the first letter of all four schools. The program has since expanded to include all feeder schools for Argo, Evergreen Park, Reavis and Oak Lawn, which now encompasses 11 school districts.
In all, AERO serves about 400 students who come from school districts in Lyons, Stickney and Worth townships.
The new facility will give AERO the one of the largest special education facilities in Illinois, and has already been called one of the top facilities in the country for special needs students.
