CTE students presented their projects at the Zion Elementary School District 6 Board of Education monthly meeting, offering board members a direct look at their work. The presentations featured food truck designs, virtual reality applications in classrooms, and tiny home modeling.
Zion Elementary School District 6 is located in Zion and Lake County and serves grades pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. In the 2019-2020 school year, it enrolled 2,483 students. The district includes Beulah Park Elementary School, East Elementary School, Elmwood Elementary School, Lakeview School, Shiloh Park Elementary School, West Elementary School, and Zion Central Middle School. More information about the district can be found on the Illinois Report Card website: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/
The district has a diverse student population: 4.9 percent White, 36.6 percent Black, 50.9 percent Hispanic, and 0.2 percent Asian according to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). Details are available here: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/
There are 164 teachers in the district with an average salary of $58,629 before pension contributions; women make up over 83 percent of staff while men comprise about 17 percent. No teacher had more than ten absences in a school year: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/
In terms of spending, Zion Elementary spent $27,927 per student in 2020 for a total expenditure of $69 million that year: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/
Chronic truancy was reported at a rate of 7.2 percent during the same period—179 students were classified as “chronically truant,” which means missing five percent or more of required school days without valid excuse; this is below the statewide average of nearly ten percent: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/
Board meetings like this one provide an opportunity for students to share innovative ideas directly with decision-makers.
