For years and since its formal close in 2022, Grant-White Intermediate Elementary School in Forest Park was underutilized, but since the start of this school year it has been buzzing with activity.
Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 has shifted its Community Integrated Transition Education, or CITE, program from the River Forest Community Center to a larger space at Grant-White, where it leases the first floor from Forest Park School District 91 for the 55 adults in its program. That floor includes five classrooms, the gym, a kitchen, a conference room and the main office.
It’s a solid arrangement for OPRF graduates like Marcus Reed, who attended District 91 elementary and middle schools, and is in his first year in the CITE program.
“Grant-White has been a great place to work on my independent living and vocational skills,” he said. “It gives my friends and I the rite of passage from high school to transition. The building gives us the space to work and the Forest Park community offers so much to practice our skills.”
For example, he said the school at 147 Circle Ave. is perfectly positioned for access to public transportation like PACE buses and Metra.
“I love Forest Park,” Reed said. “I am hoping we can stay in this location.”
Fawn Joyce is the special education program chair for the CITE program and is just as stoked as Reed about the new digs. Joyce, who has been at OPRF since 2007 and the CITE chair since 2014, said that while the River Forest Community Center was workable, it just wasn’t feasible long-term.
“We have the space to spread out and learn,” she said. “At River Forest Community Center we had three dedicated classrooms and one that shared space and we were on top of each other.”
At Grant-White, the “space is huge (and) it’s off-campus. Its best practice to have transition programs outside of the high school,” she said.
The CITE program is for adults aged 18-22 that graduated from OPRF and is designed to provide an outcome-based opportunity that promotes students’ optimal independence, Joyce said, adding students have a wide range of abilities.
“We have students in some of our classrooms who have their licenses and drive to Triton for classes,” she said. “Some students take public transport, most of our students do. Part of the curriculum is managing public transportation. Some students work on independent daily living skills, meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking, hygiene and grooming, health and fitness.”
Andrea Neuman is District 200’s director of special education, and she said the Grant-White space is perfect in part because it is Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant and wheelchair accessible.
Neuman said when space got tight at the River Forest Community Center, District 200 considered multiple options, including houses that could be renovated and other buildings. But then Grant-White School came about and it was a revelation.
“It was important that it was a totally separate building,” she said. “It’s amazing. We have the whole gym.”
The feeling from District 91 is mutual.
“The district is honored to host a special education program at Grant-White for young adults to help them develop life skills,” said interim superintendent Dr. Robert Hubbird.
Shannon Wood, District 91 school board president, highlighted the broader vision.
“The message to our community, by partnering with the CITE program and Oak Park and River Forest High School, is that we are keeping the space educationally focused and supporting a part of our community who need extended care and support learning important life skills,” Wood said.
“This partnership aligns with D91’s mission, vision, and especially our equity statement. We are removing barriers to opportunities that allow all children to reach their full potential.”
CITE member JaQuan Loggins said he lives closer to Grant-White than he does to ORPF.
“Since we have been here, I feel my classmates and I have been less distracted and able to focus on instruction since we have the space,” Loggins said.
Like many CITE adults, he works off campus at Brookdale, the independent and assisted living facility in Oak Park, which is within walking distance of Grant-White.
“This is giving me the real-life skills to become the independent adult I am today,” he said.
In addition to Brookdale, CITE members work at local businesses like Junction Diner, Forest Park Public Library, Robert’s Westside, Play It Again Sports and John Hayley’s Unbreakable Fitness.
Don’t get the impression that once adults exit the CITE program at 22 years old that they are forgotten. CITE not only helps them pivot to independent living, volunteering, employment or post-secondary education, such as at Triton or College of DuPage, but tracks their progress.
“The last day of CITE should look like the first day of what their future should be,” Joyce said.