North Elementary School is striving to become a beacon of high standards in quality education. The school is the oldest elementary building in the Waukegan School District, going back to the year 1856. The North Annex, although a separate physical plant, added six new classrooms under the jurisdiction of North School. Building characteristics have changed throughout the years, but the main mission of the school remains the same.

With a wonderful representation of students from Waukegan, and an energized, competent staff, North School continues its journey into the future. With a concentration of minority students at the 98% level, of which 95% are Hispanic, the school is enhancing its educational mission in order to assist the students and their families to obtain multi-cultural knowledge and improvement in their acquisition of the English language. Mrs. Gail Hartwell, who has served the students at North School for over 30 years, and just retired from her position as North School’s library aide, said it perfectly when she described the most important quality of North by stating, “We just have a great bunch of kids.” With that in mind, the staff at North Elementary School has begun a new journey that follows a new bearing. They are moving North.

The North School instructional staff includes a building principal with an assistant; regular education teachers, grades K–5; a special education teacher with an aide; specialists in the areas of Reading, Music, Art, L.A.L., and Physical Education. The support staff includes a school social worker, nurse, psychologist, speech pathologist, librarian, computer assistant, and two secretaries.

North School provides a special education L.D. Resource program. This program services North students with special education needs, as a “Pull-Out” program. The L.D. Resource program provides a setting where special education students are serviced for a certain amount of minutes per week. We are extremely proud to be a completely inclusive building.

Our school emblem is the North Stars. This leads us to our motto that North School is a place “Where All Students Shine.” This motto is set forth clearly through high expectations of North’s entire staff to help every student succeed academically and socially. The entire North staff is committed to expectations of academic and disciplinary excellence, and to creating a learning environment conducive to providing a multi-cultural, positive, and collaborative learning community. All of the North School Staff are dedicated to working with our parents and within the community to provide each and every child with the best educational experience available.