Marion Jordan Elementary School

We love GMS! Our son is in 1st grade, and he has grown so much over the last two years. We had Mrs. Moore in Kindergarten and honestly if we could have her every year we would. She is absolutely the best and so caring.This year we have a new teacher, Ms Jusi, and she is also very good. Our son is excited about school and always talks about the new things he is learning. He often shares stories about how if he doesn’t understand something both Mrs. Moore and Ms. Jusi take time to help him and try to see it from his perspective and if that doesn't work, they get him help from other departments.The best part is how happy all the kids seem to be with each other. It is such a positive and supportive environment, and we could not be happier with GMS.

Extremely high turnover for teachers, staff in general. In the last few years the school has lost more than one of their main teachers each year. Only two good ones remain. Unstable environment and constantly changing plans/layouts. They come up with new ideas each year, test them out, then realize these ideas don’t work, change again, etc. Very disruptive for the students to be in such a constantly changing environment. Controversial ideologies are implemented in the curriculum and parents are not given a choice to opt out. If the parents decide to pull their children due to the controversial curriculum, the school steals their $1500 deposit. Families have to pay a $450 “field trip” fee during enrollment for the next school year. During the school year, they cancel field trips left and right , basically stealing the money that the families paid for the field trips in advance. Refunds are never offered. They “charge” for certain field trips for example the Shedd Aquarium and then end up taking the students on a “Illinois resident free day” to the Shedd, which does not cost the school anything, except for the bus fee. They charged families for an overnight field trip to one of the museums ($85) and notified parents later that the museum was under construction and they could not attend the field trip. Nobody ever got their money back! Instead they hosted a “sleepover “ at the school to compensate. The school is run by an emotionally unstable Head Of School, with an enormous ego, who is not interested in any feedback, constructive criticism.

Holy Family Catholic Academy was the perfect school to prepare me for William Fremd High School. The schools rigorous math curriculum made the transition to high school math seamless, as Holy Family's Honors Geometry course in 8th grade is tailored exactly to the Fremd curriculum. For science, the state-of-the-art middle school science lab provided me with all the resources I needed to develop a strong understanding of scientific concepts, leaving me more than prepared for Honors Biology at Fremd. In English class, I benefited from Holy Family's low student to teacher ratio, which gave me the opportunity to have more one-on-one interactions with my English teachers. From these interactions, my writing has become more concise and I have developed writing skills essential for Honors English at Fremd. Overall, I could not have had a better grammar and middle school experience at Holy Family.

I would strongly caution any parent considering this school.For the level of tuition being charged, the leadership and overall student environment are deeply disappointing. While there are a few dedicated teachers, they are not enough to make up for the lack of effective leadership and accountability.The most alarming issue is how bullying is handled. Based on my experience, there are little to no meaningful consequences for students who engage in harmful or exclusionary behavior. Incidents are often downplayed, and students return to class as if nothing happened. This creates an environment where unacceptable behavior is tolerated.There also appears to be a broader cultural issue among many students, where empathy and kindness are not consistently present or reinforced.Parents should be extremely cautious and ask direct, detailed questions about how bullying is addressed — not in theory, but in practice. The answers may be very different from what is presented during admissions.

We've had our boys at St. Theresa for four years and couldn't be happier. The tight-knit community means everyone looks out for one another. The faith curriculum has established a strong foundation for our kids outside of our home. And the academic rigor is above and beyond what they could get anywhere else at their ages. Teachers are great, administrators care about the students, and the community is strong and connected. Highly recommend.