The purchase of Elgin Academy at 350 Park St. by an organization planning to open a K-12 Islamic school, Burhan Academy, is expected to close by the end of the month, an Elgin Academy official said. (Elgin Academy)
By GLORIA CASAS | Chicago Tribune
Elgin Academy has been sold to an organization that plans to use it for an Islamic K-12 school.
Paul Druzinsky, Elgin Academy’s interim head of school, confirmed the sale of the 350 Park St. property to the organization behind Burhan Academy is close by the end of August.
“We welcome this opportunity,” Druzinsky said. “We are thrilled that the land will be used to continue the tradition of being used as a school.”
Officials announced in November 2023 that Elgin Academy, which opened 185 years ago, would close the end of the 2023-24 academic year, citing financial struggles and a low enrollment. The K-12 school had about 180 students enrolled in its last year, and its final graduation ceremony was held Friday night.
Plans for Burhan Academy have been announced via a website, burhanacademy.us, and a YouTube video post a month at www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R3uthmNrwY.
It’s being billed online as the “largest Islamic school in North America.”
“The hallmark of our Islamic civilization promotes education, teaching, and knowledge,” Hamid Nazeer, a member of Burhan’s board of directors, said in the YouTube video. Burhan’s mission is to continue building on the tradition of Islamic education, he said.
The 18-acre Elgin campus has five acres of sports fields and includes eight buildings, a cafeteria with a full kitchen, a gymnasium and a computer lab. “Everything is fully equipped and will come with the school, including buses,” Nazeer said in the video.
Burhan is still in the process of raising $3.7 million by the end of this month to purchase the school, according to its website. Tickets for a benefit dinner on Aug. 23 at Shalimar Banquet in Addision are being sold at eventbrite.com.
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