Helge a Haugan Elementary School

Honestly, I’m pretty worried about the environment at Haugan. While the teachers in the pre-K program are sweet, the school building itself feels really dated and the cleanliness is definitely hit or miss. My biggest issue is how many kids are out sick all the time—the chronic absenteeism here is over 30%, which means there’s constantly something going around the classrooms and it never seems to get fully disinfected. The student-to-teacher ratio is also way too high, so I don't feel like the staff has the time to really manage hygiene or keep an eye on kids who should probably be home resting. It feels like we are just cycling through colds and viruses every other week without much communication from the administration on how they're handling things.

My youngest is in 2nd grade at Haugan and honestly, it's been a pretty good experience so far with the health stuff. The school is older, but you can tell the custodial staff actually cares—it doesn't have that 'old school' dusty smell, even in the winter. I really appreciate that they're still pretty strict about the sickness policy; if a kid has a fever, they are sent home right away, and we get those email blasts whenever something like strep is going around the classroom. It helps me stay on top of things! Only downside is the nurse situation is a bit hit or miss since she’s shared with other CPS schools, so she isn't there every single day if something minor happens, but the office staff is super sweet and handles the scraped knees and tummy aches just fine.