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Board considers AUSL teacher residency partnership; administration to bring MOU and budget request for July start
Summary
Waukegan CUSD 60 discussed partnering with non-profit AUSL on a teacher residency program that would include a $20,000 stipend to residents, DePaul graduate coursework and an expected four-year service commitment if hired; the administration said it will request funding in next year’s budget if the board approves.
Waukegan CUSD 60 trustees heard a presentation on Feb. 18 about a proposed partnership with AUSL (Academy for Urban School Leadership) to start a teacher residency in Lake County, a program that combines in-class residency, a master’s degree and an expected service commitment to participating districts.
Adam Case, executive director of AUSL, told the committee that AUSL’s residency model places a resident with a mentor teacher for a year while the resident completes a DePaul University master’s program and receives a stipend (AUSL cited a $20,000 stipend amount in the presentation). Residents commit to four years of service with the district if hired after the residency period. Doctor Andrews, a former principal who has used AUSL residents, said the program helped fill hard-to-staff schools and produced high retention of teachers who complete the program.
Board members asked whether the district would use existing grants, such as the teacher vacancy grant, to pay for AUSL participation; administration said the district is not planning to use the teacher vacancy grant for this partnership at present and will seek budget approval for FY26 if the board chooses to proceed. The MOU clarifies that residents are not district employees during the residency year; AUSL staff described that arrangement as standard for residency models but said residents make a commitment to work with the district for four years if hired.
Administration said the district would begin recruitment only after a board decision and that, if approved, the program would begin in July 2025. Board members generally endorsed the goal of “growing our own” teachers, emphasized the program’s potential to improve teacher diversity and asked staff to return with clarified MOU language, demographic goals, and a clear funding plan before final action.
No final vote was taken at the meeting; staff said it will present the MOU and requested FY26 funding in the upcoming budget process and bring the agreement to the board for approval.
