Waukegan Public Schools’ Bilingual and Multicultural Department, together with the Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee (BPAC), is organizing a parent workshop focused on social media’s effects on young people. The event, part of the Academia 60 Parent Education Series, will be led by psychologist Dr. Ferney Ramírez.
The session, titled “The Impact of Social Media on Today’s Youth,” aims to help families understand how digital platforms influence children and adolescents. It will also offer practical strategies for guiding safe and responsible use of technology among youth.
The workshop is scheduled for Thursday, March 12, 2026, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at Brookside Campus – Cafeteria A, located at 2325 Brookside Avenue in Waukegan. Attendees are asked to enter through Door 11. Families who cannot attend in person can join virtually via Google Meet at https://meet.google.com/ufw-zeqg-gzh.
To participate, families are encouraged to complete a registration form prior to the event.
Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 serves Lake County and includes multiple schools such as Andrew Cooke Magnet Elementary School and Waukegan High School. More information about the district’s schools can be found at https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/.
According to state data, the district enrolled over 15,000 students during the 2019-2020 school year and provides education from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in Waukegan and Lake County (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/). The student body is predominantly Hispanic (79.5 percent), with Black students making up 13.2 percent, White students at 3.2 percent, and Asian students at 1.3 percent (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).
In terms of staffing, there are more than one thousand teachers in the district earning an average salary of $63,524 before pension contributions; women comprise about seventy-one percent of teaching staff (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/). No teachers have reported more than ten absences in a school year.
District spending per student was $23,429 in 2020 for a total expenditure exceeding $359 million (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/). However, chronic truancy remains an issue: In the same year there were over three thousand chronically truant students—about twenty-one percent of enrollment—significantly higher than the statewide average of just under ten percent (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).
“Families are encouraged to join us for ‘The Impact of Social Media on Today’s Youth / El Impacto de las Redes Sociales en los Jóvenes de Hoy,’ presented by guest speaker Dr. Ferney Ramírez, a psychologist.”
“This workshop will explore how social media influences children and adolescents, and provide families with practical strategies to guide safe, healthy, and responsible digital use.”
“We hope you will join us for this important conversation.”
