Lake County Gazette

At its April 10 meeting, the Village of Gurnee Board welcomed Warren Township High School Superintendent Daniel Woestman, who was invited to give a general update. 

Woestman thanked the board for its warm welcome during his first year as superintendent and its continued support of the school. 

The board uploaded a livestream of its public meeting to the village’s YouTube channel.

Woestman told the board the district has seen declining enrollment over the past several years, peaking at 4500 students a handful of years ago with a steady decline ever since. This is a common trend throughout the area and the state, as there were just some lower birth rates in those years. Although the population of Lake County remains fairly steady, the high school predicts continuing decreases in their enrollment, estimated from the numbers in their feeder elementary and middle schools. The trend would show an enrollment of 2,900 in the year 2028, after which it is expected to level off for some time.

Woestman said WTHS has some great numbers to report, with a 93% graduation rate and 85% of graduates enrolling in college within 12 months of high school graduation. They are also showing an attendance rate above 90%, with 92% in the last year. This is much higher than many schools after the pandemic, and the school is working to continue to improve that number. 

Woestman also talked about the passing of a referendum to increase by 60 cents the district tax rate, making an average of a $50/month increase in Gurnee. The referendum would preserve the eight-period day, protect activities and clubs in the program, and support academic help and mental health support for students.

“So as soon as I came into the school district, the referendum had just passed, and pretty quickly my board gave me the directive to relook at our long-term planning to make sure that what was in there was in line with what we had promised the community for the referendum,” Woestman said. “They also wanted to do that in a way that was a little bit different than in the past. So instead of getting a group of stakeholders together, they wanted to see what they could do to involve students more specifically in our long-term planning process. So I brought together a group of four student leaders, one from each grade level, and they helped me put together a cadre of 25 other student leaders.”

Warren Township High has just over 3,600 student currently enrolled, and it covers the communities of Gurnee, Beach Park, Waukegan, Grayslake, Park City, and several other towns nearby.

In other business, the board discussed paying $4.4 million to J.A. Johnson Paving for the city’s 2023 Street Maintenance Resurfacing Program.

The board will meet again at 7 p.m. on April 24 at the Village Hall on 325 North O’Plaine Road.