PEORIA, Ill. – Plans to repurpose the two Quest Charter Academy buildings in Peoria were presented to the Peoria Public Schools Board Monday night.
Some teachers, parents, and school administrators want to transfer several District 150 programs to the buildings to give them additional space.
One plan would create a biliteracy program in the former Quest middle school building to allow for a progressive expansion, according to 25 News.
Bilingual and Multicultural Programs Director Anna Rose told the PPS board that it’s her dream to create an academy where students can learn two languages by interacting with each other.
Peoria Public Schools already has a dual-language program in place that targets pre-K through 4th grade students, but Rose says there’s a waiting list to get into the program each year.
Rose says by moving the dual-language program to one building (in the former Quest Middle School), it could be expanded until each grade has two sections.
“The expansion would start next year, including the two pre-K sections, and then a year after that we’d add another kindergarten section, the year after that, another first grade, and so on and so forth,” Rose says.
Proposed plans for the former Quest High School building include moving three PPS alternative programs there. Director of Special Education Ann Bond says the committee picked programs that have run out of space.
The general education RISE Academy and special education Peoria Adult Transition Academy and Day Treatment Program would move to the Quest site.
“These programs also serve students district-wide, so to have them centrally located would be really, really ideal,” Bond says.
If plans are approved, both schools would open in the 2025-26 school year.
Bond told board members Monday night that final steps of the plan include determining cost estimates and renaming the Quest schools.
PPS would also have to develop plans to fill the space left open when the alternative and dual-language programs relocate to the Quest site.
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