Yates Elementary School

My child attended half-day PK-3 last year. She loved her experience there, and we were impressed by how much learning could be done in just 2.5 hours a day. Previously she had been at home with a nanny or parent. She learned concepts that I hadn't learned until Kindergarten or 1st grade back in the 1990s, like syllables, phonics, etc. Her teacher and classroom assistant were warm, engaging, responsive, and welcoming, and they adapted very well to a class that varied in its makeup in terms of prior knowledge and experience outside the home. The preschool reflected the diverse country in which we live - Black children, Latino children, white children, recently arrived immigrants, children with special needs, etc. That's a wonderful thing; the kids learn so much from one another. In my observations, the children integrated well as they learned and played together. I noticed no divisions and my child never mentioned any. As white people, our child was a minority at this school, and we had zero issues with that; no one ever made us feel unwelcome and she wasn't teased or anything like that. What stands out the most to me about this school is that it is such a warm and welcoming community. I am not exaggerating when I say in the entire year we attended this school, I never encountered one staff member - whether a teacher, office clerk, security personnel, or janitor - who had a bad attitude. They really mean the "Community" part of the name José De Diego Community Academy. The school received a large influx of Spanish-speaking immigrant children towards the end of the school year, and it was impressive to watch the whole school mobilize and pull together to try to support these kids. There are many bilingual staff. In my daughter's class alone, the kids spoke English, Spanish, Ukrainian and Polish! However, we ended up transferring to our assigned neighborhood school (which does not offer a PK-3 program) albeit with broken hearts. We really miss Diego but think our child's long-term academic needs will be met better at a school with a dedicated Gifted program, and this school does not currently offer that. However, I'm confident that if more families give this school a try, we will see the test scores rise just as they did in the nearby neighborhood schools, Pritzker and Pulaski and Burr over the last decade. And if my child's new school doesn't add a PK-3 program, I will without hesitation send my second child to De Diego for PK-3.

We’ve been so happy with our son’s experience at Chase. Amazing teachers, amazing dual language Spanish program and perhaps one of the most impressive principles I’ve ever met. Families are super involved and we’ve been very lucky to have such a close community to build our life around. It’s slightly smaller than some of the other schools around like Goethe or Pulaski but we find that it makes the community much more tighten it, and there are more resources per student.

Do not send your children here, everything is “GREAT” until your child has an issue or you want to address something. Principal and Assistant Principal will refuse to address the problem and turn you away. We have transferred our daughters out of here immediately. Horrific admin.

This school fails to meet basic expectations. The principal is unresponsive and lacks accountability, and several teachers show little engagement or follow-through. Concerns are routinely delayed or ignored, and students do not receive the support they need. It’s concerning that even the principal’s own children attend other schools, which raises questions about confidence in the environment he leads. Leadership sets the tone, and here it is failing families and children. Significant changes are needed before I could recommend this school.

My son has been accepted into the pre-school program, and thus far, this has been a terrible experience. I'm interested in the dual language program, and every time I call to inquire, I receive a different answer regarding how to get him enrolled in this program. At first, I was told that it's first-come, first-served, so the sooner I complete the registration documents, the better chance my son will have. Then I was told it's a lottery system. And now I'm being told that the dual language program coordinator will reach out to me to setup a meeting to assess my son, and that she's calling people now, but I may not hear from her until the end of August. I'm just not sure I believe anything they're telling me, and it's an unbelievably stressful and convoluted situation. This school is so poorly ranked to begin with that I almost never bothered applying at all, and now I'm really questioning what type of experience my son would have here, if this is how they treat people.

My years here have been good very good there are not problems at Pulaski there is so much to learn and the classes are very talented and I would recommend going to this school