Jesse Sherwood Elementary School

Honestly, I’m pretty frustrated with the health situation at Sherwood. It feels like the school is constantly struggling with attendance, and with the high chronic absenteeism rates here, it's clear I'm not the only parent feeling this way. Whenever my kid is home sick, the communication from the office is super hit or miss. It's tough because a lot of the focus seems to be on just keeping the doors open and dealing with tech leases rather than actually improving the day-to-day wellness of the students. I haven't seen much in the way of proactive health programs, and the building definitely shows its age—it doesn't exactly feel like the cleanest or most ventilated environment for the little ones.

Sherwood is okay when it comes to the health stuff, but it's definitely a typical big CPS school. My youngest is in Pre-K there and the teachers are pretty good about making sure the kids wash their hands, but once the flu season hits, it seems like everything spreads like wildfire. I do appreciate that they are strict about the sick-child policy—they’ll call you the second a kid has a sniffle to come pick them up, which is annoying for work but I get why they do it to keep the classrooms clean. The building is older, so sometimes the cleanliness feels a bit hit-or-miss in the hallways, but the staff really tries their best with what they’ve got.