Imagine as a parent you are on the border of Franklin Park and Northlake and you get to pick what school your child goes to based on how the students are at the school. Where are you going?
Well, at West is a circle while East is a square. West is simple to leave out of, it’s like ABC 123 because all you need to do is walk in a circle and you will find an exit. Plus everything at West has signs where to go plus staff and students are more likely to help you if you are lost. East has so many twists and turns, more doors that lead to a class room, trying to get out of the East campus is like a dog trying to find the way out of a bag they accidentally put over their own head because they thought it was food in there. East is hard to get out. I went to East for a student led panel to teach new teachers about Leyden and let them ask all the questions they want.. Once we were done we ate and then we started to leave. I was with Grace Dillon and we were trying to find our way out and we could not like we were walking around in circles. So I called the only person who would know how to get out of East Leyden, Sebastien knew only because he played football and he was mostly at East for football. When I called him he laughed at me because I could not get out on East. If I could’ve gotten out of East I would have hung up on him but I couldn’t because he was laughing at me the whole time. We did get out but it was hard to get out of East.
West Leyden students stay out of trouble unlike East Leyden students. Between the 2 campuses when you look at the student discipline report East Leyden is higher than West Leyden. East Leyden has approximately a total of 1,800 students and between them 374 students stay in trouble with the deans which have led to a total of 1,080 student discipline incidents in the whole school year. While West Leyden has the same amount of students there, but their discipline rate is lower than East Leyden. There are 246 students at West Leyden that get in trouble and between those students it’s only 767 total incidents in the whole school year. It would make sense that East Leyden students stay in trouble more than West Leyden students because West Leyden has always been strict with their students. From what I had heard from a few East Leyden students. Is that their security is super nice with them and sometimes tends to look the other way. Here at West Leyden, security is strict. They are friendly but they can be strict when needed but are always there if you need someone to talk to. Everybody has a favorite security guard at school. West Leyden may seem like the students stay in trouble but not as much as East Leyden students.
Now what do these numbers mean?? I just gave you a bunch of numbers with no explanation.
When you think about a school you want what’s best for your baby. For them to be safe at school. For them to graduate and be the very best they can be. You also want teachers that are going to want the best for your child. You never want to worry about if your child is going to make it home after school because they don’t go to a safe school. West Leyden made it seem more strict but they want what’s best for the kids.
West Leyden students tend to go to school more than East Leyden students. East Leyden Chronic Truancy Rate is 20% while West Leyden Chronic Truancy Rate is 10%. There is a 10% difference between East and West Leyden students that go to school. East Leyden’s chronic absenteeism rate is 34% while West Leyden is close to that but it’s only 2% lower than East Leyden and maybe this could have something to do with the fact that East Leyden students are always getting in trouble which lead to suspensions for more than 2+ days. East Leyden Chronic Truancy Rate could always be because students are always fighting, skipping school, talking back to teachers, etc.
Although West Leyden dropout rate is 1% higher than East Leyden. West Leyden has a graduation rate of 83% that is still higher than East Leyden which is 82%. Going forward we might see that East Leyden students may start to stop getting in trouble. They may decide to start coming to school for a change. But at the end of the school year… West Leyden will always be better than East Leyden. No matter what they do, West Leyden is still better than East Leyden.
Work Cited
“West Leyden High School (9–12).” Illinois Report Card, Illinois State Board of Education, https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/School.aspx?schoolid=060162120160002. Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.
“East Leyden High School (9–12).” Illinois Report Card, Illinois State Board of Education, https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/School.aspx?schoolid=060162120160001. Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.
