Friends School wants to expand on Roosevelt Road

Oak Park Friends School, located at the corner of Roosevelt Road and South Cuyler Avenue, would double in both classroom size and students if the village of Oak Park approves a proposed expansion.

The 7,500-square-foot daycare/preschool, located at 1192 S. Cuyler Ave., typically serves between 150 to 200 children from infants trough age 5, according to Friends School cofounder Talley Hann. The building entrance is on Cuyler Avenue, but the southern portion of the structure faces Roosevelt Road. 

Hann says the plan is to expand the school to an adjacent doctor’s office to the east of the existing school at 6300 Roosevelt Road. That would give Friends School an additional 5,000 square feet of space and the ability to double its student population.

Hann and her co-owners will make their case to the Oak Park Plan Commission at a meeting set for Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. at Oak Park Village Hall, 123 Madison St., Room 201. 

It wouldn’t be the first time the village has approved a new school on the corridor, which is zoned for commercial uses. Last year, the Oak Park Board of Trustees approved a plan by Alcuin Montessori School to expand their campus to a second location in the 6900 block of Roosevelt.

The Friends School must get approval for its expanded campus, because of the commercial zoning restriction.

Hann said the current facility has four full-time classrooms; the expansion plan would double that number. It also would allow enough space for the school to install a kitchen. The school currently has to rely on a caterer to ship in food for the children, she said. 

The kitchen would be more environmentally sustainable, she said, noting that Illinois Department of Children and Family Services now requires the school to use paper plates for the meals, Hann said.

She said zoning wasn’t a problem when the school relocated from her home on Cuyler Avenue in 2015, because Friends took the place of an existing children’s school known as Morningside Academy.

The Friends School has grown rapidly since first launching in 2007 and now has a two-year waiting list of about 200 prospective students. 

Hann said the expansion would not negatively impact traffic in the area, noting that as many as 25 percent of parents walk from the neighborhood to pick up their children and there is no hard start time or end time for classes.

Parents drop children off between 7 and 9 a.m. and pick them up between 4:30 and 6 p.m., she said.

“There are no masses of parents picking up at the same time,” she said.

The school is not officially aligned with the Quaker religion, but Hann said she attended Quaker schools her entire life and the curriculum and philosophy of the Friends School is influenced by the Quakers.

“Stewardship and equality and peace are some of the core values of the Society of Friends,” she said. 

Oak Park Friends School implements a play-based curriculum where teachers take their cues from students. 

“There are few play-based educational models for Oak Park that have full-time programs with a flexible attendance option,” she said.

tim@oakpark.com