It Takes A Village At River City - Chicago, Illinois

Topanga

I am absolutely appalled by the lack of care at this daycare. My daughter was left in the same dirty diaper for 8 HOURS, which caused her to develop a painful rash. When I confronted the teachers about it, instead of addressing the issue professionally, they made a FALSE report to DCFS, accusing me of neglect. I am beyond upset with how this situation was handled. This daycare is completely unprofessional, and I would never trust them with my child again. They clearly do not prioritize the well-being of the children in their care. Avoid at all costs!

Jasmine

I would not recommend this daycare for an infant baby. The rooms are small. Too many babies to one teacher. Babies were not being attended to just laying there crying. The rooms were not well taken care of as far as cleanliness. The tables were dirty, pile of dishes in and by the sink. There aren’t enough equipment (bouncers, swings etc) for the babies. They share one of each thing and don’t wipe them down or anything after one baby gets out. Every baby was sick and my baby got sick ( while on vitamins ) from going there for one day which he had to be rushed to the emergency room.

zaira Q.

Do not bring your infant to this daycare! since the beginning of the application process there was red flags that i blindly did not notice. The office lost my documents the first time applying. Once my son was approved i went to drop off my son on the first day on a Monday and no one in the office had any idea that my son was starting that day. Friday i spoke the the admission staff Mea and she assured my son was ready to start Monday. Monday morning in the daycare and they did not want to accept my son because they didn't have notice of him starting. I left the daycare crying and frustrated when 10 minutes later they called me saying it was a miscommunication my son start day is today. At no moment was i aware that the babies don't go to their actually classes until 9 am. So the babies stay in a 'receiving' room with veryyyy young girls who don't even look like they are certified. My son only went to this daycare three days when i received a call that MY 6 MONTH OLD SON HAD A NOSE BLEED. I ASKED WHAT HAPPENED AND THE TEACHER SAID NOTHING HE JUST STATED TO BLEED. THEY ASKED IF MY SON SUFFERED NOSE BLEEDS I SAID NO. i ASKED MY BOYFRIED TO PICK OUR SON UP AND ASK FOR A FORMAL INCIDENT REPORT. THEY GAVE US A COPY THAT STATED THAT MY SON WAS SITTING DOWN THE TEACHER PICKED HIM UP AND NOTICE THE BLEEDING . I DID NOT BELIEVE THE SECOND STORY SO I ASKED FOR CORPORATE AND THE DIRECTOR TO REVIEW FOOTAGE. FOR THE THIRD TIME NOW THEY GAVE ME A DIFFRENT STORY THAT A GIRL PUSHED MY SON AND HE FELL AND THATS HOW HE GOT THE NOSE BLEED. I UNDETSRTAND ACCIDENTS HAPPEN BUT WHY DID I GET THREE DIFFRENT STORIES. I ASKED TO SEE THE FOOTAGE AND THEY REFUSED. I BELIEVE MY SON WAS HURT BY ONE OF THE TEACHERS SINCE THEY HAVE TOO MANY KIDS FOR TWO RECIEVING TEACHERS. THEY ALSO LEAVE KIDS ALL DAY IN ONCE CLASSROOM. PLEASE DO NOT TRUST THIS PLACE . IT IS POORLY RUNNED AND THEY LIE ABOUT WHAT REALLY IS GOING ON. THIS IS NOT THE FIRST REVIEW ABOUT KIDS BEEN HURT.

Jeffrey Z.

Our 2 children (Ages 2 & 4 now) were at ITAV since they were both toddlers, and we have had a great experience overall (we moved away from Chicago). I would give them a 4.5* overall (split a 5* in Yelp and 4* in Google).

Pros:
* The education is top-notch. Only through comparison with what other daycares are learning in our new city now did we realize how much advanced the content our 4yo was learning compared to other schools. My kids know so many random facts and songs they never cease to amaze me.

* In addition to reading, writing, math, the focus on the project based arts and sciences is really nice and appreciated. They teach Spanish. Again, many daycares I visited didn't have the volume of student projects hanging up.

* The add-ons (they do cost $$$ like $300 per 10-weeks) offered like karate, violin, basketball, are pretty unique to ITAV and convenient.

* The final icing on the cake is they recently started Field Trips, which no other daycare we visited does.

* They feed lunch and snack, which not all daycares offer lunch, though taste quality highly varies on this :).

* Teachers know the kids' names from all classrooms pretty quickly which is a nice touch.

Cons:
* The biggest issue that other 1* reviews highlighted, is that your kid will have about an incident report monthly, and sometimes a scratch or bump that no one noticed. My 2yo lost a tooth at daycare and they had no clue how. I can't say if this is above or below average, as kids get into accidents was always our assumption and we are now just starting them in their new daycare. Most incidents happen end of day during pickup, when they're put into a general playroom that often are not their primary teachers, with a lot higher student:teacher ratio. So if you want to avoid the accidents, pick up your kids in that 4:30-5pm window before their main teachers leave.

* There is noticed staff and teacher turnover. This hasn't affected the quality of care for our kids, but I have talked with the teachers who left and they've uniformly cited that ITAV does not pay their teachers well - assistant teachers are paid @ $12/hr and lead @ $19/hr as of 2018, so teachers will leave. That's something the teachers and the owner needs to work out, but from the parents' side, they interview candidates well and have consistently good teachers so for us we don't dock them for that in our rating, but I'm providing the info here as FYI.

Overall, I would have no hesitation putting your child into ITAV and you'd get a top-tier education and can easily avoid the physical accidents issue by picking up earlier.

David W.

Great Great Great place for infants and Toddlers to Learn early skills that will help them Excel and Exceed in future academia. The environment is warm and friendly. The staff are welcoming, and completely engaged with the children. My wife and I love this place. Moreover our children love ITAV and look forward to seeing their classmates and teachers each day. Come and join us.

Plausible L.

I recommend this school to working mothers. Very Good school, teachers are awesome, patience, dedicate, knowledgeable, focused, respectful towards the children. My son daycare/school at 6 months old. And most of all It Takes A Village opens at 6:00 am in the morning for working mothers that start work at 7:00am in the morning. LOVE IT !!!

Kia B.

I wouldn’t recommend this place for an infant. Their prices are higher than most, and the infant room is very small. No space for babies to crawl around and explore. They also require you to provide a bottle for every single feeding. Out of all the schools I’ve toured, they were the most expensive, and disappointing.

Katie S.

During our tour staff was very unfriendly, children did not appear to be well taken care of, a man who was not introduced was roaming the halls aimlessly. A baby in the infant room had fallen asleep with food from her hair to her clothes. Once the staff finally picked her up, she had a mark on her face from sleeping there for so long. Do not recommend taking a tour of this facility.