Waukegan Public Schools announced on Apr. 1 that its Bilingual and Multicultural Department will hold the next Academia 60 Parent Education Series session, focusing on how families can support bilingual children and the advantages of learning more than one language.
The event aims to help parents understand how children acquire two languages and highlights the strengths of being bilingual. The session will be led by psychotherapist Sandra Gomez, who will provide practical advice for families to encourage their children’s language development at home and in school.
The workshop is scheduled for Thursday, April 7, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at Waukegan High School’s Brookside Campus in Cafeteria A, located at 2325 Brookside Avenue (entrance through Door 11). Families also have the option to join virtually via Google Meet in either Spanish or English. Those interested are encouraged to reserve a spot by completing an online registration form.
Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 represents Lake County and includes several schools such as Andrew Cooke Magnet Elementary School, Carman-Buckner Elementary School, Daniel Webster Middle School, Waukegan High School, among others according to Illinois Report Card. The district enrolled over 15,000 students during the 2019-2020 school year and serves grades pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade according to Illinois Report Card.
Demographically, Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 is comprised of approximately 3.2 percent White students, 13.2 percent Black students, nearly four-fifths Hispanic students at about 79.5 percent, and around 1.3 percent Asian students according to Illinois Report Card. The district employs over one thousand teachers with an average salary of $63,524; women make up about seventy-one percent of teaching staff while men account for nearly twenty-nine percent according to Illinois Report Card.
In terms of resources and challenges faced by the district: spending per student was $23,429 in the year 2020 with total expenditures reaching over $359 million according to Illinois Report Card. Chronic truancy remains a concern as well; there were more than three thousand chronically truant students during the same period—about twenty-one percent—compared with a statewide average just under ten percent according to Illinois Report Card.
This parent education series reflects ongoing efforts within Waukegan schools to address diverse needs across its community.
