Francisco I Madero Middle School

To be honest, I’m pretty frustrated with the health situation at Madero. While it's great they're connected to the UI Health center nearby, the school itself feels super overcrowded and it shows. The attendance rates have been dropping and chronic absenteeism is a major red flag—it feels like kids are constantly swapping viruses because the classrooms are packed like sardines. The student-to-teacher ratio is way too high, so good luck getting a call back from the nurse or a counselor if your kid is struggling with anxiety or a health issue. It’s hard for the staff to keep things clean and organized when they're this underfunded and overwhelmed. I really wanted to like it for my kid, but the environment feels more like a place where germs just circulate endlessly.

My kid has been at Madero for a year now and the health side of things is pretty decent for a CPS school. They’re super strict about the sick policy—if your kid has a fever, they are calling you immediately to pick them up, which can be a hassle for work but at least it keeps the flu from spreading through the whole 7th grade, right? The building is older so it doesn't always *look* super sterile, but the hallways are usually clean and they have hand sanitizer stations everywhere. I do wish they’d be a bit faster with the emails when there’s a breakout of something like strep, because sometimes I hear it from other moms before the school actually pings us.