3131 Willow Rd
Northbrook, IL 60062

I was in some of the special education (SPED) classes. The school was supposed to support SPED, but the program was a joke and didn’t teach me much. It felt like the school didn’t care about SPED at all. Because I had dyslexia, they put me in very low-level classes that didn’t match my actual abilities. If you weren’t in SPED, your education was perfectly adequate—but for students like me, it wasn’t.

I spent a long time looking for a school with special education classes to support my child. At first, it seemed that the school was willing to help. However, when behavioral difficulties with the staff (adults) arose, instead of adjusting the IEP plan and analyzing what works and what doesn’t, I received a call stating that the administration had met and decided: my child does not belong in their school, and they would consider alternative placement.Some staff members in the administration behaved rudely and unprofessionally. At one point, they even refused to provide the name of my child’s aide, who was involved in the suspensions. When I tried to understand what the problem was and why these things were happening, I was denied information, being told they first needed to consult the aide’s lawyer. It felt as if I had come to their home to check on them, rather than being a parent with the right to know who and how is working with my child.The administration pressures parents, trying to secure an advantageous position for themselves instead of collaborating with parents to find a solution. Parents are often persuaded that their child is exactly as described in the reports, but in reality, I saw that my child is very different. This helped me draw my own conclusion.Special education exists only on paper. In practice, there is no support. When parents request documents or reports, nothing is provided because there is nothing to show — no real evidence of support, only words.If you contact the district, as I did, the administration may become angry and punish your child. In my case, this resulted in two weeks of daily suspension from school and special education classes, placing my child in a separate room without access to learning, and forbidding participation in class trips or activities.The purpose of the special education classes is unclear: over an entire semester, my child learned only a few new words, and that was it. Staff exaggerate information about the child to protect themselves legally, avoid providing real services, and justify transferring the child to a specialized school without valid reasons.I am not calling anyone to action and I am not evaluating the school as a whole. This is my personal experience, which relates exclusively to special education at this school. I am writing this review in the hope that it may help other parents make a more informed choice if their child truly needs support.

It is a very good school. Although it is smaller than other schools, it helps the students to get to know each other well. They have really good teachers who prepares the students for high school. My kid loved the entire middle school journey. The school offers accelerated programs and has an award winning music and band programs.