Zion Central Middle School hosted its CTE Shark Tank event on March 13, where students presented their inventions and ideas to a panel of judges made up of district staff. The event gave students the opportunity to showcase their entrepreneurial skills as each group delivered sales pitches and demonstrated creativity.
The Shark Tank event is part of efforts to encourage innovation and practical learning among students in Zion Elementary School District 6. Such activities are designed to help students develop critical thinking, teamwork, and communication skills that are important for future academic and career success.
Zion Elementary School District 6 serves Lake County and 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 according to the Illinois Report Card. The district enrolled 2,483 students in the 2019-2020 school year and provides education from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade according to the Illinois Report Card.
The district employs 164 teachers with an average salary of $58,629 before pension contributions; women make up 83.3 percent of the teaching staff while men account for 16.7 percent. There were no teachers with more than ten absences in a school year according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Demographically, Zion Elementary School District 6 is composed of 4.9 percent White students, 36.6 percent Black students, 50.9 percent Hispanic students, and 0.2 percent Asian students according to the ISBE. In terms of spending, the district allocated $27,927 per student in 2020 for a total expenditure of $69,342,294 according to the Illinois Report Card.
Chronic truancy remains below state averages in the district: there were 179 chronically truant students during the 2020 school year—a rate of 7.2 percent—compared with a statewide average of 9.6 percent according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
