Marklund cuts ribbon on completed $9.5M special needs school

BLACKBERRY TOWNSHIP – Marklund at Mill Creek staff and supporters cut the ribbon Friday on the new, $9.5 million two-story day school that will serve 66 special needs children.

Standing in the shade of the new day school, Foglia Education Center on the Marklund campus in Blackberry Township, Frank Murnane Jr., chairman of Marklund’s board of directors, welcomed a crowd which included Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns, St. Charles Mayor Ray Rogina and Kane County Board member Drew Frasz, R-Elburn.

“Thank you to the Marklund community for every one’s individual and group effort to benefit this beautiful building,” Murnane said. “This building was made possible by a lot of hard work.”

Gil Fonger, president of Marklund, said the name of the new school, Foglia, reflects the lead donor to the school, a family of philanthropists who donate to libraries, hospitals and other causes.

“They make a difference in the lives of people,” Fonger said. “They make their lives better and that of their families. … This school is literally going to change the lives of thousands of children and their families over the coming decades.”

Fonger said Foglia was the largest single donor to the new school, providing $1 million.

Fonger said the 96 residents of Marklund at Mill Creek will also be able to use the school in the evenings and weekends as well.

The school was a long-planned expansion to the residential service Marklund already provides to adults with profound developmental disabilities on its campus.

Principal Paula Bodzioch led a tour of the new school, which will start taking applications Aug. 5 and expects to be open for classes Aug. 20.

The school will serve 36 children on the autism spectrum from age 3 to 22 on its second floor while the first floor will serve children who are non-ambulatory and non-verbal.

The first floor flooring is a light gray vinyl with a wood grain look, with the hallway walls a deep blue and purple. But Bodzioch pointed out the wall colors are also tactile with raised patterns because the children like to feel their way along.

“It’s not just decoration,” Bodzioch said. “It’s actually to help the kids transition into the building.”

Some of the rooms have booths with one-way viewing so parents can see their children without distracting or interrupting, Bodzioch said.

The second floor provides teaching life skills to students with autism – including a model apartment with a kitchen, microwave, refrigerator, washer and dryer – to aid them in learning to be as independent as possible, Bodzioch said.

“We have a Prowise board here where we can do interactive lessons, call up recipes,” Bodzioch said. “We also teach them a lot of independence skills, so heating up their lunch is really important. … Our goal is to create independence.”

A Prowise board, also known as a smart board, assists with digital education.

On Mondays, they would go grocery shopping, learn to put things away and during the week, they can make snack, she said.

Marklund students from Sycamore and Batavia who currently go to Marklund’s Bloomingdale location for day school can now apply to come to the Mill Creek location, much closer to home, Bodzioch said.

“For Batavia students, this is like a godsend because now they’re on a bus for 45 minutes. This is 10 minutes,” Bodzioch said.

To maintain social distancing in the classroom, Bodzioch said instead of six students, they would likely have four so they can be six feet apart from each other.

John Baloun, the high school life skills transition teacher, who will work with autism students age 18 to 22, was getting his classroom ready.

Baloun just retired from teaching life skills to special needs students at Glenbard North High School.

“This is my retirement,” Baloun said with a big smile, gesturing to the classroom.