CICS Northtown

Posted: January 6, 2023

I was a student, at Northtown, from 2015 to 2019. Overall, my own experience was interesting, exciting, lots of lessons learned, decent classmates, and lots of teachers that has helped me get where I am today. Freshman year and sophomore year was a bit rough, as it always should be, since we transitioned from middle school to a high school. But luckily, teachers and staff were always around to make sure we were alright. Often times, I noticed that select few students wouldn't take their own education seriously, but teachers would be quick to get them back on track and make us all think hardly on our future. Now, as a university student, things I learned from these teachers here genuinely helped me grow as a writer and a student with their proper guidance. I believe that if I had gone to some other high school, I would have turned out as a different student. NTA truly cares about their students, pushes them, offer guidance and help to those with disabilities (like myself), notices if something is off about a student, and so much more. They have helped shaped my life and turned it around. I also have met wonderful classmates that still remain my friends 8 years later, from 2015 to now. Let's go, Pumas!

Posted: January 6, 2023

Posted: January 6, 2023

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Posted: February 14, 2020

I went here from 2015 to 2019 - Northtown is one of the better charter schools in the Chicagoland area I believe. All the staff are respectful, classes ensure that you will learn a concept or idea to the fullest extent, and you will most definitely feel welcome.

I made many friends along the way, and of those friends, many of them were teachers!

Posted: February 14, 2020

Every teacher obviously has their own methodology when it comes to assigning work, but from my 4 years here, the teachers are fair and respectful as long as you give them back that same attitude. Generally, the grading scale is rather fair. 20% of your grade is made up of formative assignments such as homework.

Posted: February 14, 2020

Most of the teachers were extremely effective in teaching their subject material. The technology teachers are passionate about their job, and the writing, english, and social studies teachers are amazing as well.

There were one or two teachers who were a bit more "meh," but overall, you'd be hard pressed to find teachers as amazing as the ones at Northtown.

Posted: February 14, 2020

Definitely. Every teacher here is compassionate and tries to ensure that everyone has values instilled upon them that prepare them for the real world.

Posted: February 14, 2020

Depending on who you ask, the leadership here is a bit of a "hit or miss" situation. I personally never had any issues with the deans and felt they were fair. However, a few of my friends had far worse experiences; I think it's because they were a bit mischievous in class, but as I never experienced such treatment firsthand, I can't say for sure if they were singled out or not.

Posted: February 14, 2020

Many of the students here had disagreements regarding teaching methodology or how the school was ran - generally speaking, the teachers here will listen to any feedback or respectful criticism you have and incorporate that feedback into their lesson plans.

Posted: February 14, 2020

I had quite a few friends who were LGBTQ+ and minorities; the school tried to the best of their extent to make sure they felt comfortable here - bullying was practically a nonissue. Of course, some comments and "jokes" were made at the expense of others, but thats something that is rather difficult to control.

Posted: September 11, 2019

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Posted: September 11, 2019

Posted: September 11, 2019

This school is organized, patents easily have access to their child’s progress. The teachers respond quickly to emails.

Posted: December 11, 2016

I'm currently a student and this school and all i have to say to parents taking this school into consideration is make a smart decision. There are plenty of amazing schools in chicago with teachers and faculty who support their students and their goals in life; however, this isn't one of them. Not to get into detail but my freshman year one if my ADVISORS had told me something that was pretty cruel. Cruel enough for him to lose his job while my other ADVISOR heard it but once i reported it and we had a conference both of them lied to save their jobs and the principle wouldn't believe a word i said. After that day i realized how messed up this school is and they take advantage of the power that they have. The school is no where near as good as advertised and if you dont want to make your child misersble then i reccomend you go elsewhere.

Posted: July 25, 2015

This school doesn't develop honesty, integrity or fairness in its students primarily because every student I know in honors classes and who graduated top of the class cheated on tests and exams to get where they were.

Posted: July 25, 2015

Horrible school.
They're bent on the idea that you absolutely NEED to go to college or else they label you as a loser.
The staff are unfair and favorite small cliques of students that just "coincidentally" happen to receive every award, the highest grades, and the highest honors.
I said I didn't want to go to college one time and found myself the victim of bullying by the staff, constantly bringing up the fact that I didn't want to go to college throughout the lesson plan. Then when I went to the assistant principal to complain about the incident, he personally called me out for my decision.
Their cafeteria is also disgusting. The City of Chicago found rats in the Kitchen and that place had to be shut down for the longest and they had to serve us REAL food for once. I think I wrote a review mentioning that, but I guess the school contacted the site administrators to have it removed. Strange. It wouldn't be the first time they try to cover-up their mistakes. After all, they are perfect in everything they do.
I left that school and could finally breathe.
The only problem now after I graduated is that they won't stop harassing me after I told them I want nothing to do with them in my later life. I keep getting invitations for stupid reunions or alumni events but they won't understand that I have a life and have moved on.

Posted: November 21, 2014

As a student, this is a good school. The teachers are nice as well as the deans. If you are experiencing bullying, just contact the teachers and the issue is resolved. Negative views given by students are wrong since the students who write them slack off, disturb class, and whatnot.

Posted: August 3, 2014

northtown so far is not the best highschool for any student to apply to because of their strict uniform system, overpriced lunch, the staff hardly ever works\and the school is really poor. I've been a student at northtown for 4 years now and I hate it. If you apply at north town always go to the GENERAL class because the teachers there are less strict, they provide you more time to study, learn and the lessons that they teach goes faster because of how these GENERAL teachers help you and learn the lessons better.

Posted: June 18, 2014

I went to Northtown from 2007-2011 & I loved it for the most part. The curriculum was challenging & the teachers always helped me after school & gave me extra practice whenever I asked for it. I didn't like that a lot of students were allowed to break rules & not get punished for it. The deans always picked on certain people & were ALWAYS looking for something wrong with them to punish them for it. I once got a Saturday detention for being late to class when I was not the one that was late. I told my teacher about it & she took so long to email the dean that I ended up having to go to the detention so I wouldn't lose my senior privileges when I didn't deserve it to begin with. This was unfair considering that the mistake got cleared but I was still punished for it. All the rules do not in any way apply to everyone.I dyed my hair half blonde my Junior year & was forced to change it & asked by the principal to not return until I did.There was another girl with her hair just the same way and she never got asked to change it or asked to leave school.Overall, if you want a good education, this is a great school.If you want respect & fair treatment, don't even bother with this school.

Posted: June 15, 2014

I went here and it was horrible. Here's why: 1. The staff were extremely power-hungry and demanding of the students. It wasn't a matter of them caring for their grades, it was just a matter of them hating their lives and making their students suffer for it. There's a difference between caring, and simply enforcing the rules because you want to have control over the students, which they did every second, even if the student were 18 years old. 2. The teachers, not all but a lot, were always slacking-off and barely taught their classes. Pretty much ever class was a time for relaxation and mingling. 3. The teachers favored a small group of inconsiderate students who conveniently were the top of their class, received the most awards, honors and scholarships, and also received the most credit for things they never did. 4. The school took credit for its students accomplishments, meaning that if a student got their life back on track all by themselves, the school would try to take credit by claiming they influenced the change, when really, the school didn't. It happened many times. Don't think of this school as anything special; they lie on their website about it being a fantastic place.

Posted: November 17, 2013

A fair review is a considerate review. Therefore this gets a 3/5 since it's pretty terrible, but most schools in the area aren't great, so it's average at best. Faculty are pretty much in and out every year, you/ your child probably aren't going to know a lot of the teachers by the final year due to them all getting fired. The lunch is disgusting and expensive, every student either buys junk food with their parents money or fills out a form to get free lunches, even if their family isn't financially struggling. More importantly, the education is insufficient. The most common trend of all the classes is the teacher tries to teach the material, the majority of the class is uninvolved or unfocused, the expectations for the criteria is not met, and the teacher ends up trying to negotiate with the class. Every teacher tries to engage the class by having them help work out how the class should go, and it never works. I personally believe that little to no knowledge is retained from most of these classes, and the knowledge taught that is retained could easily be taught much quicker/efficiently. Overall, don't choose this school for anything other than a high school diploma.

Posted: November 13, 2013

I graduated this year and I cannot expand on saying how much I miss this school. Yes, this school might not be the best, but I sure do not regret ever coming to this school. As any other student, I've had my good and bad experiences; but after all, it is the student himself who shapes how he is viewed among his peers. In all honesty, the school has a decent set of staff. The only problem that I ever encountered was the possibility of having a new teacher for a new semester, while all of the good ones left for better schools. Oh yea, I hated the crowded hallways. Despite the teachers being mostly new, they are quite friendly and enjoyable. As I've read throughout the reviews, many often blame the teachers and the school for unfairness, but I all I have to say is that most of it is lines and lines of excuses to justify a person's failure. Yes, many students cheat and are often praised for it, but we all know that people like that will never be able to execute in the real-world. It's nice and simple, what you get from this school is what you strive to achieve. No one will come and praise kids who are stubborn in both their personality and academic performance. GO PUMAS!

Posted: October 30, 2013

This school is horrible. Every day, I am bullied and walked over by the popular students. They treat me like dirt because the staff praise them to make them believe they are better than me. Nonetheless, the students all cheat. Im in honors classes and I see every day students looking up answers on tests and then get rewarded with scholarships for getting As on the test. Its not fair and nothing is done about it. Every day I beg my parents to remove me from this school

Posted: October 19, 2013

I transferred from this school last year and I've had to take night classes at the school I transferred to because CICS Northtown Academy refused to transfer my credits. The administration believes I left the school because I didn't like it there when really my family moved to another state for work-related reasons. I didn't think the school was bad until they refused to transfer my credits and I had to give up half of my life just to make up my classes. I hope whoever sponsors this school reconsiders their investment. That's just absolutely ridiculous.

Posted: September 29, 2013

Absolutely outrageous. I was called into the school because my child supposedly was violating the uniform code, and upon my entry, I saw another student breaking the rules by wearing sneakers rather than the required dress shoes. When I brought this matter to the staff, I was rudely ordered to mind my own business and worry about my child. I filed a complaint with CICS and have yet to heard back from them, and that was 3 weeks ago. I see what this school is doing. They don't fool me: they're favoring certain students. I can tell my child isn't the most popular student in the school, but I bet if he was, the staff would allow him to violate the uniform code like that. My child tells me that the student I saw breaking the rules was indeed popular and is still continuing to violate the rules and not be punished for it, however, my child still is. I don't know how a school as outrageous as Northtown is allowed to even operate. Please reconsider sending your child here.

Posted: August 13, 2013

Northtown is suppose to be a good school but what many parents don't know is that the students a really treated unfairly. It seems that everything has gone down hill for this school and nobody wants to take the time to try and pull the school back up. It's very dirty in this school and as a punishment they make students clean up. Anyone can tell that most of the teachers aren't there to help students they are there to get the days over with and get paid. Many of the students do drugs and drink alcohol but no one knows because they do a very good job at keeping everything low key. This is a horrible school and many students have transferred out.

Posted: August 9, 2013

This school is horrible. The staff are unfair. The honor roll students are conveniently rich and well known. The teachers blame us for our faults. Also, there was a rat in the cafeteria during last year. I transferred to Von Steuben and I can tell that even though it's a public school, the teachers and staff here are so much nicer than they are at northtown. transfering out of that school was arguably the best decision I ever made.

Posted: August 8, 2013

I was a student at CICS Northtown Academy and I have one word to sum up my entire high school career at this school: unacceptable. First of all, the entire system is extremely unfair and unjust. Teachers have favorite students who receive much better grades than others who actually try hard. I actually made tremendous effort in an honors classes by studying, whereas the other students cheat on tests and receive better grades than I do, and the school rewards the cheaters for their "leadership" and "diligence" with special privileges that are exclusive to "honor roll" students. I have told the principal that people are cheating in classes but he has never done anything about it. I feel as if he is too blind by the fact that his students are all "exceeding" the standards (by cheating). Moreover, the teachers are extremely unprofessional. For example, I turned in a homework assignment on time and the teacher marked it in the grade book as missing. I talked to her about it and she said she would fix it. Instead of actually fixing the grade, she marked the assignment as late and it dragged my grade down to an A- to a C. This has happened multiple times with multiple teachers.

Posted: August 1, 2013

This school is terrible. Teachers don't check to see if students are behind and the teachers also have very bad attitudes. The administration doesnt know how to figure out that some teachers are very rascist and favorite students. Northtown isnt a good school and my kids always complain that they want to get out of there.

Posted: July 14, 2013

I am a Freshmen at Northtown Academy. I honestly didn't want to go to this school because it reminded me of my grammar school, CICS Bucktown! After my Freshmen year if I still don't like it I'm going to try to get into Lane or Westinghouse! But form the Transition Program I'm starting to think that I might stay at Northtown! Alot of my friends go there and I I've the diversity and all the different ethnicities here! Well, that's it! (:

Posted: May 13, 2013

CICS Northtown Academy My son is a junior, he came from a small private school that he attended for 9 years. The transition to Northtown was easy and very successful. I was worries about the change from small grammar school to high school but I'm very happy with Northtown. Most of the staff are very good and approachable and my son has made some great friends.

Posted: May 14, 2012

Me like this school a lot. Once I tripped going up the stairs, no one laughed cause no one was around because I was late to class and no one was around. I am challenged... The teachers are very nice to me... And I am a leadership person.

Posted: April 10, 2012

The teachers and administrators work with the parents and students to help them improve their grades and study habits. I have had the opportunities to meet teachers and deans and was impressed with them.