Irving Park Early Learning Cnt

It's a pretty standard neighborhood preschool, but I have mixed feelings about the health side of things. The facility is older and while they clean daily, it feels a bit cramped which makes it hard to stop bugs from spreading once one kid gets sick. Communication from the staff about when a virus is going around could be a lot better—sometimes I only find out a kid was home sick when I'm chatting with another mom at pickup. Their sick policy isn't the strictest I've seen, which is a double-edged sword when you're a working parent, but it does mean my son catches a cold almost every other week. It's affordable and the teachers are sweet, but don't expect a high-end wellness focus or fancy air filtration here.

My little one has been at Irving Park Early Learning for a few months now, and overall I'm pretty happy with the health vibe. The classrooms usually look super tidy when I drop her off, and you can tell they actually scrub the toys down after school. They’re really strict about the '24-hour fever-free' rule, which can be a pain when you have to call out of work, but honestly, it keeps the constant preschool crud from spreading quite as fast. My only gripe is that I wish they’d give us a heads-up a little sooner when hand-foot-and-mouth is going around the neighborhood, but the teachers are great about making sure the kids wash their hands a dozen times a day!