Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Elementary School

My kid has been at Jahn for two years now and honestly, the health side of things is a total mixed bag. On one hand, I love that they have the garden program where the kids actually get their hands dirty and learn about where food comes from—it’s a nice break from sitting at a desk. On the other hand, the building is super old (it’s a literal historic landmark), and you can really feel it in the winter. The ventilation isn't the best, and when one kid gets a sniffle, it seems to rip through the whole classroom pretty fast. Communication from the office about illness outbreaks is hit or miss, so you kind of have to rely on the parent group chats to know what's going around. It's a decent neighborhood school, but I wish they'd put more into updating the facilities to keep things a bit more hygienic.

Jahn has been a pretty solid spot for my kid's health so far. The classrooms in the preschool wing always seem clean, and you can tell the teachers really push the 'wash your hands' routine after recess. I appreciate that they actually send out emails when something like strep or hand-foot-and-mouth starts going around the grade, so I'm not totally blindsided. My only gripe is the sick-child policy can be a little inconsistent depending on which staff member you talk to, and the nurse isn't there every single day, which is just life in CPS I guess. Overall though, the school feels well-maintained and they seem to care about keeping the bugs at bay.