Portage Park Elementary School

Being totally honest, I’m pretty frustrated with the situation at Portage Park Elementary lately. My kid is constantly coming home with some kind of bug, and it feels like the school is always playing catch-up. I saw some public records about their floor scrubbers needing major repairs because the batteries and parts are dead, and you can really tell when you walk through the halls—it just doesn't feel or smell super clean. With CPS's chronic absenteeism rates being so high right now (around 30% for our school), it's clear families are stuck in a loop of getting sick and staying home because the germ management just isn't there. Communication from the office about illness outbreaks is basically nonexistent, and the student-teacher ratios make it impossible for the staff to keep an eye on hygiene. It feels like a 'survival of the fittest' environment rather than a wellness-focused one.