Fire the teacher who mocked Charlie Kirk's death! Horrible you let her around children!!read more

Absolutely never will let 1 single child go to that school knowing that one of their teachers…read morecondon murder

My son goes to the bilingual gifted program. The kids from…read morethis program are challenge they are more advance than the regular clases the only thing I don't care for that it supposed to be bilingual and from 5th to 8 grade I don't think they do a good job to keep up with the bilingual part of it. Other than that we were very happy with the school.

We had a (pretty) good experience at this school, thanks to my son's classroom teacher (Mrs…read more Zederman). She made sure he was challenged when he got his work done early. Other teachers were not as patient with him, and he was sent to in school suspension a couple of times for infractions that could've been dealt with otherwise.

I absolutely love this school. The structure, curriculum, staff, parent nights everything. I am so…read moreglad I was referred to this school.

Chicago Jesuit Academy is the best option for my child to enjoy a free faith base education…read more Students are given rigorous assignments that push them to master grade level content and beyond. All of the staff is welcoming. Teachers communicate effectively. There are multiple opportunities for parent engagement through out the year. My daughter is excited for school and I enjoy being part of the CJA community.

My daughter had came home upset and distressed. She had openly said that her eighth english teacher…read morehad pushed a table into her and previously said that the teacher had threw a chair. The school itself is wonderful although the teacher is not. My daughter had openly told me she dislikes that class and feels discomfort with the teacher. She also mentioned that he had draped himself over her closets friend and she explained her friend felt extremely uncomfortable. I am glad my daughter graduated from that school so she doesn't have to deal with that sort of teacher ever again!

Where I spent my formative years. It's a fairly middling school, according to Chicago Public…read moreSchools report. I wouldn't send my kids there. Its best stat seems to be for attendance: it shows a 94% attendance rate. For what that's worth. The only notable things about the school are 1) it's one of a handful of schools powered by solar energy, and 2) the assistant principal is Julia Roberts.

My son attende Prescott Elementary and I am extremely happy. The school administration and faculty…read morehave dedicated themselves and manage skillfully to oversome challenges of its diverse community of chidlren and parents. Prescott created a highly respectful, confident and motivted body of students through persistent application of innovative educational methods. This is visible throught the yearly award winning and academic results. Thank you Prescott Elementary!

My daughter was bullied there by both teachers and students my daughter tells me. She's out now…read morefor a while. There was some lousy kid who cut my daughter's hair in class. When I went to the school and spoke with the vice principle or assistant principle or whatever that is, one f*****g c***t Amanda Mulch and complained. Know what she said? She said "You don't like it you can take your daughter to another school!" And that's exactly what I did. In a follow up meeting with the principle, one di***head Mr Roche he presented me with a stay order of some type. Yes what another reviewer here said they brush problems and hide them. This school is to be avoided at all costs and both Mr Roche and Amanda Mulch should be sacked immediately.

Update: we have both of our sons, upcoming 6th grade and 2nd grade, at walt disney magnet school…read moreand I just felt compelled to express my absolute joy with this school! Both of our sons have been here since kindergarten, and they are just flourishing. Living in chicago, parents can almost be overwhelmed with the amount of education options and feel stress about if they're making the right call on where to send their children. After being here so many years, we have never once questioned our decision to join the walt disney magnet school family. Whether your child is an excellerated learner or needs some extra help, the teachers optimize the true potential of each student. This is genuinely a school for every and any child and we just feel so lucky to be here. Aside from the teaching staff, the administrative team has found a way to keep a personal relationship with their families, all while managing over 1,400 students. Principal Riskus is always at every field day, concert, play, etc, and not just to show up but to engage with the kids and their families. How these teachers and administrators can be on a first name basis with over 1,400 students and families is beyond me, but they do it. We have never felt like just another name on a list despite the abundant student population. I imagine my review might seem like I work there or this is an AI response (ha!) but i truly am just a parent who loves this school. Again, I just felt compelled to express our true appreciation and cannot wait for the new school year.

I got to go the June graduation here for a family member and was really impressed. She did well on…read moreher state tests and got into a selective enrollment high school. I guess that makes for a short review but thats really all you need to know. Walt Disney Magnet School did its job and did it well.

This is an amazing school in the heart of Chicago. The new building opened about a year and half…read moreago and it is really state of the art. The building may be new but this school has a lot of history in the city. There is a beautiful green space on the roof of the school. It is great to go up here and enjoy the urban jungle which is our city. There is also a fun play area for the students including nets overhead...we would not want a basketball going over the side and hitting someone in the head 3 stories below. Ouch!!! The staff here is great. They truly care about the students. The IB program here is also really great too. I wish I could go back to grade school and attend here. I also love the front office and the security guards too. Everyone here is so friendly and it makes the experience of school fun. I also must throw out some congrats to Kenneth Staral the school principal. He cares so much about education and the well being of all of the students. If it was not for him, I am sure that this school would not be this successful. He is a blessing for putting together such a great education plan for the students. In the warmer months, there is a guy that lives in the high rise, over the school on Oak, that will play his bag pipes on the top floor of his balcony. At first, I thought I was in some movie with hidden cameras but then realized this guy was up there practicing. So if you are ever walking around the school and you hear the music just look up and you will see this guy. I do get a tear in my eye when he starts playing "Danny Boy"! My little one will start to dance...he has even waved at us from 20 stories above. Fun Fact: The school is named after the first mayor of Chicago. Mr Ogden was involved in real estate, he also was involved with canals too. In fact, his company cut out the canal that made Goose Island in Chicago. He later moved on to the railroads and was president of Union Pacific. He built a railroad to Wisconsin to bring grain to Chicago and also a railroad out West too. He was on the cutting edge of progress and growing our nation. The parents, students, faculty and staff make the learning experience here at Ogden great and I look forward to many more years here.

When I was a kid, I had aced the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Did you know you could ace them?…read moreNeither did I. What I mean by that is that I scored a straight 99th percentile on every single one of my Iowa Tests and got a strange invitation in the mail. The invitation was from pre-International Baccalaureate Program to take an exam and potentially join Abraham Lincoln Elementary or William B. Ogden Elementary. Little did I know, this little invitation would change the rest of my life. At the exam, I met a friend that had moved away in third grade and we laughed wondering why we were both here. We both talked and said that Ogden School sounded better than Lincoln Elementary School, so that is what we decided. After taking their exam, I also had an interview. I was informed that I had scored the fifth best in the city and that I could pick Ogden or Lincoln. Seeing as my friend and I agreed on Odgen, Ogden it was. I missed my first day of school because the school bus did not show up until 9 in the morning, but by then I had already walked back to Volta Elementary as I did not know what to do. Over the years the bus was pretty consistent, except for the day that I missed it and decided to take the train downtown to school. Being eleven years old, sometimes you just don't know where you're going. I got off the train and started walking and then realized that I had no idea where I was. I walked into a police station and yelled, "Help, I need help!" After explaining that I was lost and late for school two cops drove me six blocks to school and apologized for swearing like pirates. I arrived to the playground in the back of a cop car and the kids thought that I had been arrested! With regard to the curriculum, it was a bar up from the Gifted Program that I had been in Volta Elementary and the adjustments took awhile because whereas before I was able to dominate, I struggled with the new social situation and had to take extra time to regain my bearings. By 7th grade, I was doing well in school again and liked French class the best since it was the most interesting. I still speak French today, which serves as a testament of the merits of Ogden's rigorous curriculum. At Ogden, you also learn to deal with kids coming from the deep south side and kids who live right around the corner on the Gold Coast. The pre-IB Program at Ogden set me up well for my future IB entry exams at Lincoln Park High School. The French curriculum is a must have for kids who will want to be speaking French in the future and is a cheaper alternative than sending kids out for private lessons. I also learned the ability to respect and tolerate the diversity of races and socioeconomic statuses of the various Chicagoans that will be found at this school. If you ever wonder who William B. Ogden was, he was the first mayor of Chicago. He worked extensively with land developers and reached the epic agreement that guarantees the land on our lakefront as public parks now and forever. Well forever until the city decides to lease it out for the next quick buck.

As time goes by - I see just how important my time here was. The tragedy is that I did not fully…read moreexploit my time here - or what it meant to my life and my career later on in life. The advice I will give to my fellow future graduates is - make use of this privilege - because if a girl in West Africa was given the chance to go to Parker - she would certainly make use of it. And being a wealthy Chicagoan that attends this school only because one's parents pay for it, does not give one the right to take up the space that this West African girl could occupy so much more rightly. Wealthy parents paying for a good education is only a small part of privilege. Use your privilege to become who you are meant to be. And who you become must serve in some way, some purpose, other than self-advancement. Then, and only then, will you have deserved the right to have gone to Parker.

I ultimately did not feel that the educational experience justified the significant cost of…read moretuition. For the price, I expected stronger academic support, more individualized college counseling, and a broader range of opportunities for students. Families considering this school should carefully evaluate whether the benefits align with the financial investment required.

Serious safety issues - I wish we could wind back the clock and avoid this place - there are just…read moretoo many serious issues and not enough resources to provide a safe environment for children.

Great school with awesome teachers. Our kids love to go to the shool and their teachers are very…read moreinvolved and care a lot. So does the principal! It's the public & no-selective elementary school in Chicago with the best test scores, in a upscale neighbourhood with often overachieving and very educated parents. So, yes the school cares about the test scores ... so do most parents, but our kids never felt any pressure to perform, our daughter thinks it's rather stimulating. They also have a special needs class for kids with learning desabilities.

I will caveat this review by saying: If you are a parent looking for a school for your child,…read moreplease don't use Yelp. Talk to other parents, tour the school and discuss any questions or concerns you have with a staff member. Yelp is for finding a good recommendation for dinner, not for a critical decision like where to enroll your child in school. That said, we have two children in the PYP program and have been really happy. Our children are thriving, have surpassed academic standards for their respective grades, and the school is very responsive and communicative with parents.

I do not recommend Daystar based on my children's experience there…read more It has only been three weeks of school, and unfortunately, our experience has already been horrible. My older child has experienced repeated issues with other students that affected how safe, comfortable, and accepted he felt at school. Although we communicated our concerns and appreciated the attempts that were made to address them, the overall experience reached a point where my child no longer wanted to attend the school. I also became concerned about the level of care my 2-year-old was receiving. There were multiple times when she would come home with a dirty, runny nose that clearly had not been wiped or cleaned. I understand that toddlers get messy, but at two years old I expect basic care and attention to her hygiene throughout the school day. Another major concern was how distressed she became about going to school. Every morning, she would scream and cry for me not to leave her. At first, I tried to give her time to adjust because I understand that separation can be difficult for young children. But as the days continued and her distress remained so intense, it became harder for me to dismiss it as simply normal adjustment. The most disturbing concern came when my 2-year-old began telling me that her teacher, Mrs. Begley, had been pinching her on her bottom and yelling at her. My daughter is extremely articulate and bright for her age. She has a very strong vocabulary and memory, and people often assume she is older because of how clearly she communicates. She explained what she said was happening in a very specific way and even demonstrated to me how she said the pinching was being done. Hearing and seeing my child describe this was extremely alarming and upsetting. I take what my children tell me seriously, especially when it involves an adult responsible for their care. I cannot personally say what happened when I was not present, but I can say exactly what my daughter reported to me, how clearly she communicated it, and how distressed she had already been about being left at school each morning. I genuinely wanted Daystar to be a positive experience for my children, but within only three weeks we have already dealt with concerns involving my older child's emotional well-being, my toddler's basic care, her intense distress about attending school, and now an extremely serious report from my 2-year-old regarding her teacher. Every family may have a different experience, but based on what my children and I have experienced in such a short amount of time, I cannot recommend Daystar. My children's physical and emotional safety will always come first, and no parent should have to question whether their child feels safe, cared for, welcomed, and protected while they are at school.