Students going into eighth grade this fall at Waukegan Community Unit School District 60’s five middle schools as members of the Waukegan High School Class of 2027 will have a different experience than current students when they graduate high school.
And, fourth graders in the district’s 15 elementary schools who will be freshmen when the 2026-2027 term begins will have an experience unlike previous freshmen when they enter five years from now.
While the high school’s Washington and Brookside campuses may look a bit different from they do now, the experience of today’s students will be significantly changed as the recently proposed five-year High School Transformation Plan will be fully operational then.
The plan was first introduced to the District 60 Board of Education during a regularly scheduled meeting May 24 at the Lincoln Center administration building in Waukegan to give board members an opportunity to thoroughly study it before any detailed discussion.
Jason Nault, the district’s associate superintendent of equity, innovation and accountability, said improving the high school is important because it is the one school in the district to which every student matriculates regardless of their elementary or middle school.
Board President Brandon Ewing said at the meeting the initial presentation of the plan is just the start. Now that the administrators presented the plan to the board, it will be time for further discussion and tweaking.
“This is a major change,” Ewing said. “It is an introduction. We have to introduce the topic so the public knows about it, our staff knows about it and we can discuss it. It’s for us to introduce it (and) dissect it.”
A plan with five pillars — curriculum including instruction and assessment, staff culture and leadership, student culture, support services and life beyond high school — Daniel Hill, the high school’s co-principal overseeing the Washington campus, stresses the educational philosophy.
“Every interaction with a student is an opportunity to learn something,” Hill said after the meeting. “We want to know the students are learning what we are teaching. If we do it well, it’s very noticeable. This is a goal of the transformation plan.”
Though the plan will first be effective when the 2022-2023 school year starts, Hill said it will take five years before it is tweaked and fully in effect. Part of the plan also includes appropriate learning conditions and expectations.
“We want to assure the environment is conducive to learning,” Hill said. “We want the kids to know what is expected of them every single day.”
Flor Carter, the principal of the Alternative/Optional Education Center (AOEC), said enhancing a climate and culture where students feel safe and comfortable so they can learn, while already important, is another element of the plan.
While discipline is necessary at times, Carter said celebrating student success and recognizing achievement is an important part of getting students more engaged in their daily learning. They need to understand their expectations and be rewarded for achieving them.
Carter said one of those events already in place at the AOEC is the gong ceremony. At that campus, students graduate when they achieve the necessary credits rather than in four years or some other time frame.
“Everyone gathers around and the student rings the gong four times,” Carter said. “It is symbolic of the end of four years of high school.”
Hill said meeting expectations can also be celebrated with field trips or making people aware of student success. Amanda Patti, an associate superintendent who is responsible for the high school, said group events outside the daily academic routine are another way to mark success.
“We look for ways to build on the things students are thirsty for,” Patti said. “There could be a cookout in good weather or tie-dying T-shirts. We may want to increase the frequency of things like that.”
While grades will continue to be important, Hill said there are ways to learn early when a student may be slipping academically. When that happens, there is usually time to help the youngster before a poor final grade is issued.
Clubs and athletics will play a role getting students and their families involved with the school, according to the plan. Current extracurricular activities will be studied for relevance and new ones will be considered. Barriers to safety expectations as well as those for attendance will be laid out.
