U.S. Cities  

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago Suburbs
Register Blogs Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads.

Get a detailed profile
Search Forums  (Advanced)
Business Search - 14 Million verified businesses
Search for:  near: 
Reply


 
Old 08-02-2008, 10:06 AM
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
1 posts, read 731 times
Reputation: 10
Crissers is on a distinguished road
Exclamation Waukegan

I recently was offered a teaching job at Jack Benny Middle School. I must admit, I applied and interviewed for the position without really knowing much about the area. I have not heard great things about Waukegan.... I have actually heard it being compared to south side Chicago. Now, the suburbs that I have lived and worked in are Lake in the Hills, Schaumburg, and Arlington Heights. They all had VERY good schools and involved parents. Most of the kids were eager to learn. This will be my first year teaching... can anyone out there give me some insight on the area and how their schools are? I need to tell them soon if I accept the position.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-04-2008, 04:56 AM
There's beauty in the solace of not giving a damn.
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Chicago
16,344 posts, read 12,916,169 times
Reputation: 4685
Drover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond repute
Drover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond reputeDrover has a reputation beyond repute
IMO Waukegan's reputation is a lot worse than the reality, but it's still not a particularly nice place. You'll be dealing with a lot of economically disadvantaged students and all of the baggage that goes along with trying to teach in an environment like that. You won't need to fear for your safety or anything but learning may not be a very high priority for many of the kids there and parental involvement may not be as robust as you've experienced previously. In fact a fair chunk of the parents may have limited English skills.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-04-2008, 09:29 AM
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Gurnee IL.
398 posts, read 263,874 times
Reputation: 109
lakecountylifer will become famous soon enoughlakecountylifer will become famous soon enoughlakecountylifer will become famous soon enough
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crissers View Post
I recently was offered a teaching job at Jack Benny Middle School. I must admit, I applied and interviewed for the position without really knowing much about the area. I have not heard great things about Waukegan.... I have actually heard it being compared to south side Chicago. Now, the suburbs that I have lived and worked in are Lake in the Hills, Schaumburg, and Arlington Heights. They all had VERY good schools and involved parents. Most of the kids were eager to learn. This will be my first year teaching... can anyone out there give me some insight on the area and how their schools are? I need to tell them soon if I accept the position.

If your going to decide whether or not to make a career decision that involves moving, I would suggest spending some time in the Waukegan area to get a feel for the area vs relying on input from message boards.
As a teacher, it shouldn't be a surprise that Waukegan is not Schaumburg or Lake in the Hills with top notch schools. It only takes the bare minimum amount of research to learn that Waukegan is more of an urban melting pot with a lower tax base to support schools....but that doesn't mean the parents don't care about their children's education.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-22-2008, 02:53 AM
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
4 posts, read 2,394 times
Reputation: 10
Neighborhoodwatch is on a distinguished road
Ok, about 40 percent white, 40 hisp, 17 black 3 other. Waukegan is not bad at all. Where as I agree with most of what others have posted lakecountylifer's posts are never very postive in regards to Waukegan. Not sure why that is. You would be fine. Teaching in Chicago etc would have same if not more challenges. Lots of schools even Lake Forest schools do not pay very well but Waukegan does. If you are looking for top pay Park Ridge is very good. I was being paid about 39,000 at LF, 61,000 in Park Ridge, 48,000 in Waukegan. Lake Forest was the worst teaching experiance ever. The teachers were very much in clicks and the parents were overbearing or underinvolved. I still have emotional baggage from working there. To bad because that is where I grew up. Hope this helps.

Last edited by Neighborhoodwatch; 09-22-2008 at 03:02 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.



Reply


Quick Reply
Message:

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Similar Threads


Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago Suburbs

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:49 AM.

Copyright © 2005-2009, Advameg, Inc.

City-Data.com - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 - Top