J Giles Elementary School

Great from the teachers to the students overall I would rate the school a 10

How much I hated my son going to that school. Let's start with his first grade teacher who was very pregnant but still "teaching" or should I say just showing up to work. After couple of weeks in that school she suggested that my son most likely will end up in special education class! She said it just like that. She didn't try to find any solution to help him she just said that to my face and left. It got me so mad but I didn't wan my boy to have any problems with this hormonal piece of sh...t so I kept quiet and got him best tutor I could get. After couple of months my son was scoring well above average on all their test and was suggested that he gets in more intensive program because he was so good. So much for her special education!!!!!! She was just to lazy to help my son, she would send no extra work home or nothing to even help me.Thankfully We're not in that school any more. After going thru hell thanks to the Norridge new superintendent. We have been discriminated over renting our house, discriminated over not being married and I have been treated like second class citizen because I have an accent!!!!Thanks a lot Giles school my son is going to3 rd grade now and still hates to talk about the "Norridge School" . Thanks for horrible drop offs and pick ups, thanks for throwing the children outside on freezing days, thanks for the yelling cafeteria teacher, thanks for starving my son on lunches because they had to hold their hands above their heads as a punishment for most of the time, thanks for your bulling problem, thank you for everything. Now we know what we DON'T WANT to school be like.

I love this school it is just as great as when I attended it 60 years ago !

I believe that the school culture is not very welcoming to children and parents of color. Although my son had satisfactory teachers (Ms. Morrone, Ms. Hoban and Ms. Tomasso were very exceptional), the school administration as well as other parents are not very welcoming. They act as if parents of color are inferior. I feel like I have to prove to them (every year) that I am on the same intellectual level as them. I feel that there isn't enough diversity training for staff or the staff isn't very culturally competent to deal with issues that are affecting the children/parents of color at the school. I don't think they even want to address these issues. There is no security for our children of color. Examples of some of the problems, my son encountered at the school. 1. My son has been called anything from the n-word to kids telling him his skin looks like doo doo. 2. A boy told my son he doesn't act Black. 3. Another kid took my son's shoe and tossed it in the urinal and urinated on them. 4. Another child told my son that his mother said "you [my son] can't come to my [her son's] birthday party because you are a bad seed." 5. My son's nose has been broken twice at the school. I also, feel that the school punishes my son for defending himself against the bullies. I believe the school often demonizes my son due to their own preconceptions/stereotypes they may have regarding the African American race. I am not sure if this is intentional or unintentional. I am very dissatisfied with all the handling of issues involving my son and feel as though there was a miscarriage of justice. I am happy this is my son's last year.