Cannot get ahold of anyone at MS. No call backs! Worst response from faculty (councilor) EVER! My kid was failing a class.. . I've called 5/6 times NOTHING! Maybe because I don't give enough as a booster! read more

I currently attend Maine South and what I can say is that the administration does not care about the student body. They only show affection for other staff members. The students are very inclusive and welcoming here, but the teachers and staff treat them like animals. Security is not existent here, drugs abuse among good, well respected students is out of control, and all the school does is continues changing course materials and curriculums to become more progressive. The number of threatening emails, phone calls, and letters sent by 'Assistant Principals' is outrageous. There is definitely many class-action lawsuits in the making here... read more

I'll say it outright. I don't believe that picking the right preschool is the first rung on the Harvard ladder. If anything, I feel sorry for the kids of parents who spend $5000 to get their "specially gifted child" into a pretentious preschool. Preschool should be a time of fun and play, with stimulating activities that enhance the social skills of children and instill a lifetime love of learning and discovering new things. It should not be the equivalent of an academic hamster wheel. For us, picking a fancy preschool was never an issue. Really, we really didn't have much of a choice. Since my son is diabetic, it eliminated most of them upfront. Catholic/Lutheran or other private preschools - no nurse on staff, resistance from administration on liability issues Park district - staff were too unskilled and panic-stricken on the thought of taking a diabetic kid. Since there is no mandatory preschool law in Illinois requiring programs to accept all kids, we were resigned to the possibility of just keeping him at home and just teaching him basic skills to get ready for K. Being diabetic, he was all too familiar with reading numbers and could count nearly to 100 unassisted before age 4. I knew he would catch on. So then one day another mom told us out about a lab preschool offered at the Maine Township high schools. For an unbelievably affordable cost, we could enroll him and the school even has a nurse! We took him to review the program and participate as a "guest student" for one day and he loved it. We saw he was receptive and eager to be in such a program. Since the preschool has a lottery system that accepts only 8 boys and 8 girls per year, we applied at Maine South (our first choice) and at Maine East just in case we didn't get into the first. Then we crossed our fingers and waited. Lucky for us, Maine South accepted him. Now, this "lab" preschool is not your ordinary preschool. The preschool runs four days a week, two hours daily. While Ms Joyce oversees the program, her high school students do the teaching as part of an elective course. They are graded on how they run the class, decorate the bulletin boards, and create activities for the weekly class themes. Some of the notable themes during the year included "Things that grow," "Christmas in America," "Community helpers," "Winter" and "Math in everyday life." What impressed me immediately was their willingness to accept my son and his medical condition. My son was the first diabetic student ever to enroll in the program, so everything we did set the precedent. Before school began, Ms Joyce and 4 of her students took time after school to meet with me and learn about diabetes and using an insulin pump. After training them, I felt confident they would be able to handle my son in class. And they did a superb job of managing it through the entire school year, allowing him to participate fully in class. Every day my son brought home something he made in school. Over the school year, our back door became fully adorned with his hand-crafted items from class. He learned to write his name, sing new songs and play together. Preschool taught him to participate in groups with all of his classmates, plus be responsible for picking up toys when he's done. My son made a bunch of new friends too. And yes, he learned some things along the way, though he won't admit it openly. Often we would ask him what he did in school that day. "I can't say it," he would reply, smiling and refusing to mention which book they read for story time or even what songs they sang. Sometimes when we least expected it, he would sneak a fact about something we know we never talked about at home, like how a butterfly emerges from a chrysalis. I would ask him where he learned it. My son would just smile and say, "From myself." I am grateful to Ms Joyce and her high school student-teachers for their wonderful year of hard work and dedication to the kids. I can almost sense their sadness at the end of the school year, as the finality of preschool affects parents too. On that last day when the last child says goodbye and runs to the parents, off into the world, it is almost like experiencing an emotional loss after working with these kids, getting to know them and sharing fun times together. The next day, there will be no more line leaders, no more weekly themes, no more "group time" or story time. The cubbies holding their little backpacks and coats will reside empty and nameless, awaiting a new crop of preschoolers and mentors for the coming year. Their teachers will graduate and go on to college. Likewise, the kids will go on to kindergarten, and the two sides will probably never meet again. Yet all were touched in a most indelible way. Be assured, the flame of learning has been lit in the impressionable minds of the little ones by their older mentors and no doubt the little ones left a lasting impression in the hearts and minds of their teachers too. read more

I reviewed both of my universities -- it's time to review the place that shaped my youth. Maine South believes that it stacks higher against everyone else in the suburbs, and this cocky attitude filters down to the students and parents. Unfortunately, for the most part it is undeserved. Maine South failed me in one area -- it refused to accommodate me to graduate 1 year early. I did not want to take AP credits, I wanted OUT. I hated nothing more than to wake up early every day to attend a school that was so disgustingly homogeneous and intolerant. This place is run like a max security prison. No ID? You will get reprimanded, written up, and sent to the Dean's office. EVEN IF THEY KNEW YOU BY NAME. Absolutely ridiculous. There was no freedom to grow, to explore, to have ANY sort of personal responsibility. I hated it more than anything -- walking into school and being treated like I was a criminal. The one and ONLY thing Maine South has above all other public schools in the area is the quality of the science department. I smoked my first year courses in college thanks in large part to the science department. The conservatives need to back off, stop hating science and reproductive health -- and support this fabulous department. Stop donating money so the football team can pay Coach Inserra -- donate money so your kids can have a world class science education! And now, time for some juicy confessions. - Thanks in large part to my sister, I had a counterfeit parking pass during my junior year of high school (big no no at South, only seniors at this time were allowed to park) -- and I was never caught. And it was a pretty bad counterfeit (I guess good enough!). - TR left his hall passes out, and I used them -- often -- to be late to my dreadful junior year English class with some blowout ditz that made me hate English courses for the rest of my life. - I called myself out of class as often as I could with my mother knowing because I hated going to this hell hole that much. - My mother LAUGHED at the gym teacher who called her up at work to tell her I skipped last period gym class. I wasn't a bad kid. I just wasn't challenged and I felt caged/limited by the system. There were very few options for smart kids. It seemed like all of the attention and money went to the average or mentally challenged kids. Hell, I had to pay for my books starting in high school because the school didn't have money for smart people books. Just like in prison -- give people who earn it more freedoms! All I can say is THANK GOD FOR COLLEGE! read more

My daughter is a freshman and I find it to be too laid back and have experienced a few things in which I find disappointing. As an example, I don't understand the reason why students are allowed to retake tests only to receive a better grade- prepare and study the first time. I understand there are exceptions, but to make this a rule isn't something I agree will help to prepare for the future and hope it's not allowed sophomore through senior years. Also, I don't see the benefit of having so many study periods and regret following the suggestion. I agreed to it, but kids will be kids and they learn how to work around the system to skip what was design to be study hall. High school should be the foundation to college, and being too laid back isn't beneficial. read more

Maine South, my alma mater...where to start... Overall, I had a good time. I made my friends, and we hung out the four years. Drama with BOYZ and GIRLZ of course, but that is standard. I really liked the art department, and my hours there are some of the most pleasant from my teenage years. I agree with Dea A. that they could do more to accommodate the students who have plans that deviate even ever so slightly from the norm. My gripe is with the accelerated vs. regular track science classes. I hope this has changed since. In order to take an AP bio, chem or physics class, you must have 1 full year of bio, chem and physics. The accelerated science track conveniently offers accelerated classes in each of these subjects for a full year each. In the regular track, you take one full year of bio, then in your sophomore year, you take one half year of physics and one half year of physics. Then in your junior year, you take one full year of physics or chem. As you can see, if you're in the regular track, you end up with one year of bio, and then 1.5 years of chem (in my case) and .5 years of physics. Having consistently maintained a kick ass grade in chemistry in both my classes, I wanted to take AP chem, and all my chem teachers gave their approval. I was refused. Why? Because I didn't have that extra half year of physics. I was told that I could take a year of physics at a local community college (at my expense of course) to be allowed to take AP chem. Or you know, I could take geology with all the other regular track seniors. Thanks, but no thanks. They were just too lazy to actually help a bright student pursue their chemistry dreams...So that pissed me off, as you can see from this long review. Screw it all, I'm in law school now bitches! The dances were alright. read more

From my vantage, this school churns out some of the smartest, sweetest, and funniest people who you'll ever meet. In fact, 100% of the people I know who went to this school are amazing. Pretty good, if you ask me. read more

Now I may be bias on my vote, but I gotta say Maine South was overall some of the best years of my life. My teachers for the most part were awesome, the sports and coaches were great, and the kids were fun! I am still super close with many kids from high school and even if I run into a few I barely knew or havent seen in years, everyone always says hi and catches up. Academically it prepared me for college and grad school as I have my masters in psychological counseling. It was a breeze to get through college and grad school even with my love of social life. I mean hey...If I can graduate from Colorado in 4 years with all the distractions I gotta say my high school prepared me for everything I could have asked it to. The teachers still keep in contact with us students and remember us. Dea A. I have no idea what high school you attended as to being treated as if in a prison....I left for smoke breaks whenever I wanted to, walked the halls as I pleased, and never got screamed at for no ID. Just because some kids choose not to be social or make friends or know how to interact and enjoy people does not mean that the school let you down...you let yourself down. Join clubs, sports, anything...and guess what, you probably would have had a hell of a time in high school. Also, if you did choose to make friends and be a nice outgoing person, you would realize how much Maine South helped...just knowing kids and their parents are the perfect connection to amazing jobs and companies and for that we are spoiled. We have some of the best lawyers, engineers, doctors, etc at our fingertips to use as references and guides to get great jobs for when we are out of college and grad school. Most every single one of my friends is currently extremely highly educated and is working in the profession that they dreamed to be in. So all in all, the school forced me to be social, smart, athletic and overall a well rounded person. read more