Francis W Parker School

Reviews

• Submitted by other on September 02, 2024
  Staff members (assistant teachers, after school staff members, etc) are given non-livable wages. $19-$20/hour is not adequate in 2024. Substitute and part-time staff are paid even less.Healthcare plan costs are inhumane. For an individual play it’s about $400/month. To bring on a spouse to your plan it’s $700/month. For the family plan it’s $1000/month (half your pay). Noted that these are prices you pay 10 months for the year. No dental, no vision, matching retirement benefits are only provided to higher-level faculty.No pay for summer and winter break drops a $20/hour pay to a 30k salary.. Can anyone successfully live off of that in 2024? Why does the school pay staff members less than the tuition of a single student?Many staff members + teachers are amazing. Patient and kind with students and other staff. Others constantly speak negatively during work hours about students, teachers, faculty, and administration. Certain staff members will not hesitate to scream at young children (as young as kindergartners) daily as their first and only discipline measure. This is unacceptable and should not be tolerated by the school. Please ask and listen to your kids about how the classroom is handled.For a school that speaks so highly of their values and values they want to impart upon students, from my experience in the lower school… They don’t practice what they preach. Actions speak louder than words.But hey; at least they provide staff with a great free lunch right?
• Submitted by parent on August 22, 2022
  It’s one of the best decisions we took for our kids. We have three children at Parker at different levels and they are thriving amazingly.
• Submitted by parent on August 12, 2022
  The lower school is a joke. If your child is advanced, please seek out your local KinderCare/head-start program over this overhyped, laughable institution. They don’t even provide the basics in terms of educational programming which was a true disappointment. While I don’t expect homework daily, a cute project here and there, or letter of the day worksheet would make me feel like my investment was worth it. We got NONE of that. In addition to this, they left a very young student outside unaccounted for, for an unspecified length of time. The response to this was to lazily attempt to blame the child who I later found out actually followed all of the rules, and asked for permission to use the exterior restroom during recess! Why was no headcount made prior to reentering the building?! With child trafficking being a thing, I cringe to think of what possibly would have happened. This, coupled with their insanely unorganized dismissal process makes it a no/go…. I’m admittedly particular about things, but at the lowest levels this school did not make the marks. SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT! Do regular headcounts/don’t release children onto busy streets to walk aimlessly during dismissal! Yes, I noted several instances where children under 10 were just walking back and forth looking for caregivers alone. Later they added added adult walkers, but for what they charge in tuition, this should not have happened. I’ll stop here, but please carefully weight all your options before settling on Parker. So glad we made a better choice for our child! 0/10 do not recommend.
• Submitted by parent on March 22, 2018
  The high school experience at FWP needs an overhaul. With some recent upgrades in the math and science faculty academics are less of an issue (although if you have an exceptional math or science student this still isnt’ the best option for you). Culture is the main problem. First there’s clear favoritism towards certain students (offspring of board members, mostly). Second the unrelenting emphasis on diversity turns off the very kids who could benefit most from exposure to other cultures. But the focus seems to make certain teachers and administrators feel better about themselves. Finally, the high school looks the other way on the question of “extra time.” Whereas nationally students with learning disabilities that require extra time on tests and the ACT are 2% of the population, at FWP it’s closer to 40%. Parents can easily “buy” a diagnosis of a learning disability and the school readily accepts it. It’s cheating, pure and simple. Everyone knows it. Disadvantages the kids who play by the rules who look on in disgust as that group gets as much time as they want (sometimes over several days) and post scores that are abnormally high. FWP does not reveal which kids have extra time on college applications. But conversations suggest that many college admissions office suspect that the system is being abused and assume that ALL FWP students have extra time. That seriously disadvantages the honest kids — and there’s not a thing that they can do about it (other than change schools but by then it’s too late). So if you send your child to high school at FWP you’d better decide early whether you’re going to encourage cheating (“because everyone else does it”) or whether your values are more important than an inflated ACT score. The topic is absolutely taboo at the HS because the teachers, board members, and administrators with kids enrolled there often engage in the dishonest behavior themselves. And just because the colleges don’t push the issue (frightened by the prospect of litigation I’m sure) doesn’t make it right. FWP sends all the wrong signals to these kids, all the while sanctimoniously bragging about their commitment to diversity and their anti-AP test mentality. I’m a Parker parent and my kids go to prestigious colleges, so it’s not sour grapes on my part. I just think it’s important for other parents to understand the culture there.
• Submitted by parent on November 19, 2017
  I am a parker alum, having gone to Parker for 14 years as a child. Parker in the 1960s and 1970s was an amazing school. The student body was diverse in a calculated way (unavoidable in such a small school) but the socio-economic diversity was real. I had some classmates who were truly rich, and others that were middle or lower middle class. And none of the kids knew or cared. Of course, I wanted my child to go to Parker.Parker to day is not what it once was. The lower school remains excellent, but the middle school is in trouble, mostly due to its administration. Political correctness has infected the classrooms, and teachers are hired and retained for reasons other than educational excellence.Worst of all, Parker has become merely a "rich kid" school, with outrageous tuition, and an administration that seems to have lost sight of the fact that in the old days, parents were co-equal participants in the school's "complete community." Today they are simply consumers of a product they have little influence over.Parker still represents a solid education, a great legacy, and a place where many children can thrive. But it is no longer magical. Not by a long shot.
• Submitted by parent on May 30, 2017
  We feel very fortunate to be part of this community of engaged parents and committed students. The educational philosophy focuses on developing all aspects of an individual and I feel confident that my children will learn and experience the necessary "life" skills and not only the academic skills to succeed. The teacher/student ratio is low and there is a genuine interest in each child's learning behaviors and abilities.
• Submitted by other on December 06, 2015
  I am an alumnus and attended high school at FWP 2 decades ago. The high school had a good arts program, as you had options, but the teaching was no better than another arts school in the City. The math and science program was bad. Poor to average teachers, didnt have math books and science teachers were boring. It is not worth the tuition. They habd pick the students, it is the upper 1% and unrealistic environment. A progressive school would include students from all socio-economic backgrounds, otherwise it is in theory only. The best program they had was the English dept. Although a couple of bad teachers there too. What you pay for is for your kids to have small class sizes and hang out with other privileged kids. Some graduates didnt go anywhere with their lives.
• Submitted by student on November 17, 2015
  I went to Francis W Parker as an incoming Freshman. I was expecting an open community with diverse views and people. After going to Parker for a month I realized it was the complete opposite. I would go to school everyday feeling absolutely terrible about myself and my decision to go to Parker. The 'community' that they advertised was all false. I am a girl of color and going to Parker is painful for me. I have to attend a meeting every Friday where I listen to students just like me rant about how much they detest Parker. The only thing that makes me feel slightly happy about going to Parker is the food and building. Parker does have some pretty good teachers, nothing truly exceptional though. I honestly think that the only reason you should go to Parker is if your are white. Being completely honest you will be torn apart if you are of another ethnicity. Please, please trust me. Since attending Parker I have spent most of my nights crying myself to sleep.All I can say is that I can not wait to leave this school and go somewhere that I can actually feel accepted.
• Submitted by other on February 03, 2015
  I'm an alumnus. Francis Parker is the school for legends in their own mind. Parker had one National Merit scholar in each of the past two years. A selective enrollment Chicago Public School has about a dozen. At Parker, everybody thinks they're great, but standards are not particularly high. You can pay $40,000 a year for this, or you can get it for free at Chicago Public Schools. A bonus of the free version is diversity.
• Submitted by student on December 29, 2014
  As a 7th Grade student at Francis W. Parker, I am here to agree with every superlative that you have heard about Parker's educational experience. I commenced attending Parker fairly recently and the insults about it "not being academically satisfying" or "too cosy" are false. The alumni have attended prestigious universities like Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University along with smaller liberal arts colleges like Haverford, Amherst, Wesleyan, etc. Parker also offers clubs that other school do not have like Model UN, Astrophysics, Musicals, Wind Ensemble, Pop Vocal Ensemble, Private Instrument Classes, Jazz Band, Orchestra and Coding. From Middle School to Upper School, students are required to take either "Band" or "Choir". In band, you initially select an instrument of your choice after testing all of them and learn that instrument for the rest of the time, unless you decide later on to switch to "Choir" or switch instruments. The instruments include: flute, trombone, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, tuba, baritone and percussion. Parker is known for giving both an academic and an arts oriented education.
• Submitted by other on August 24, 2014
  I commenced my Parker experience in 6th Grade and I was fortunate to be part of a diverse and connective community. The school offers a variety of clubs and electives and provides state of the art facilities. I am just about to commence my 7th grade year and can't explain the bond I developed with the Parker community in a year. The abstract learning that is taught at school takes the students into different approaches. I love to support Parker by doing athletics. I loved to play soccer and basketball, athletics was a great way to simultaneously bond with your classmates and support your school. The school offers theater and other essential arts. There are many school plays that are performed throughout the year. Parker teaches many music classes. You are primarily given a choice of band or choir. In band, you rent an instrument and primarily perform twice throughout the year. I have family legacy at Parker (3rd generation) and the contagious passion that has ran through the school since my first relative commences his Parker experience is nothing short of remarkable. The energy and enthusiasm displayed every day is great. Parker is a second home, even for the alumni.
• Submitted by other on March 27, 2014
  I love my school. I came to Parker a couple years ago and love the school. I think that the teachers are super kind but also really good at their job. I like how relaxed everything while also making you want to learn. I think that there should be more diversity because there are really only two classes of wealthy: the super rich and the kids with scholerships. There would be more middle class if the tuition is lower. Aside from that it is a great learning environment with great people. Everyone thinks that at Parker everyone is friends, but there are actually the popular kids and things like that. It is definitely not as bad at Parker because everyone is still really nice to each other for the most part. I think that there are these cliques because the more popular people tend to be filthy rich and can just do whatever they want.

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