1808 Laurel Ave, Evanston, IL 60201

We have 3 kids. Our first 2 went to neighborhood elementary and middle school and they were a decent fit. However, with our youngest we felt like they might get lost in the crowd at the larger middle school and decided to send them to King Arts. Academically it’s very weak. There’ve been a couple decent teachers, but some absolutely awful ones that pretty much cancel out the positive experiences. We had hoped the art-infused education would be a bright spot, but overall it’s been a huge disappointment, with the exception of the band program and the regular art teacher who are both clearly passionate about what they do. The leadership of the school is pleasant, but ineffective and very inconsistent communicators. For example, this year 2 teachers went on leave. We had zero communication, timeline or plan for their absences. Kids with IEPs and 504s weren’t receiving what they should have been and assignments weren’t being consistently posted in google classroom. There was a rotating group of subs and finally after a month of this, it took parents posting on FB to get leadership to send an email of explanation. It was vague and there was literally zero follow up from them. Simply inexcusable. Now we are paying money we don’t have for private tutoring to catch our kid up in math since the year was essentially a wash. Grrr. I was born and raised in Evanston. I went through D65 and graduated from ETHS. I moved away for college and lived in different cities for several years after. When I got married we decided to move back here because of the great education and quality of life I remembered growing up. Sad to say, it’s not the same. I feel like for what we pay in taxes we should be getting a much higher quality of education in D65. Its so wrong that we have to tread water through 9 years of elementary/middle school mediocrity to wait to get to 202. Being on our third kid, I’m beginning to question if it’s even worth it because with the preparation in 65 being so poor, a lot of time is wasted on remediation in 202. I no longer feel like Evanston is a place to brag about unless you’re wealthy and can afford private school until 8th grade. Long story short, no 65 schools are amazing, but there is really no reason to go to King Arts. Stick with your neighborhood schools, be an advocate for your kids and jump for joy the day they’re done with D65!