Wanted: Worst homes in Berwyn and Cicero.

That is essentially how Bryan Revor’s want ad would read as the Morton East High School carpentry teacher looks forward to next school year. After a three-year hiatus, Revor is hoping to revive his vocational carpentry class and have his students repair the area’s worst homes.

“My goal would be to get the worst, run-down house we can, and rebuild it with all new plumbing, electric, insulation, everything,” Revor said.

Although the class has been absent for three years, it has a long history at Morton East. Since 1994, Revor’s advanced carpentry students have completed more than 100 projects on area homes. Work has ranged from repairing roofs and building wheelchair ramps for low-income seniors, to completely repairing dilapidated homes.

With the new school year approaching, Revor is now hoping to build partnerships with Berwyn and Cicero officials to bring the class back and repair any blighted homes the municipalities may buy or already own.

Such a program would mirror one the school had with Cicero in 1995 when Revor’s students repaired three homes the town purchased. If run right, Revor said, the program could eventually sustain itself as money made from the repaired home’s sale could be used as seed money to buy and repair the next home.

“It removes the blighted housing, teaches (students) real hands-on job skills, gives them pride in their community, and is a benefit to the community as a whole,” Revor said. “It's just really a great program for the kids and the community. And hopefully it will pay for itself.”

The district is also looking into applying for grant money that could help the school purchase homes through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Youthbuild Program.

Vocational Carpentry began in 1993, just a year after Revor began teaching at Morton East and the summer after one of his former students was paralyzed from the neck down in a diving accident.

“I had him in a class and he was just one of the nicest kids,” Revor said. “I (contacted) his parents and asked them if there was anything they needed.”

The mother later called Revor in tears, and asked if he could build a wheelchair ramp for her son. Teachers and students rallied to raise $1,000 and a local lumber yard donated $500 worth of materials.

With the money raised and the labor of Revor’s carpentry students, they built what would be the first of many wheelchair ramps. Word of the project spread and soon calls started pouring in from seniors and, later, town officials with requests for Revor’s students to do more work.

The program became so popular that Revor had to set up a waiting list to handle all the requests.

After more than a decade, the program fell victim to the No Child Left Behind Act, which forced the school and students to put a greater emphasis on classes that helped them meet the act’s yearly progress requirements. Revor said he used to teach two three-hour classes and was eventually forced to cut back to one class as the number of students who had three free hours dwindled.

With the program’s return, Revor hopes to start with one two-hour class and add a second the following year.

“With that, myself, and a teacher’s aide, you can move along at a pretty good pace,” Revor said.

As he waits to find a vacant home to repair, Revor said the class could be brought back in the fall with students completing small projects for individual homeowners.

He hopes to have a home in place by January for his 2010-11 students to begin work on.

Although his students take longer to complete a project than a professional contractor, Revor reminds homeowners the work is free and is supervised by himself and a teacher’s aide.

The only requirement Revor has for projects is that the homeowner ask for carpentry work and not tasks such as painting or cleaning sidewalks.

“It does have to teach a valuable job skill,” Revor said. “But if residents — low income (families) or seniors, for instance — need some work done, and they don't mind high school students doing the work, and the homeowners can purchase the materials, we'll do the labor for free.”

Principal Frank Zarate lauded the program’s return, saying the class helps students understand how their education is applicable to their future experiences.

“We try to connect the students’ learning to real life experience and this is it,” Zarate said. “This is a great example of connecting education to real-life experience. The students gain a lot and the community gains, too.”