Clare Woods Academy Working to Become Part of Wheaton Community

Following its move to the former St. John’s Lutheran School building in Wheaton, the special-needs school Clare Woods Academy is working hard to settle in and integrate itself with the Wheaton community, the Suburban Life reports.

According to the paper, the 45-year-old Academy, which moved to the City from Bartlett this year and currently has about 80 students, is working on reaching out to form business partnerships, increase enrollment and find opportunities for mutual benefit, including helping to place its graduates in appropriate vocations.

“We went from sort of a rural environment on some acreage to pretty much a downtown location,” Clare Woods principal John Utterbach told the paper. “So it does give us access to vocational job training, life skills, mobility training and other potential partners within a close proximity.” 

Reading resource teacher Linda Frya-Danner agreed, telling the paper that “being so close to downtown gives us opportunities to spread education beyond the school walls, bring opportunities for our young adults to be working within the community. It’s just such a good fit.”

The school prides itself on providing students with special needs with a “normal” schooling experience, with features like prom, art and music classes, a library and homecoming, the paper said. 

Read the full story at the Suburban Life website.