It Takes A Village at River City

The administration team is the coolest I’ve ever seen. They never smile. They seemed tough to their staff. I don’t feel the teachers are empowered to do a good job. I paid deposit to secure the spot and they couldn’t find the record. Then when we finally got in they sent me wrong bills twice during two months. I put my one year old there for two months and pulled him out.

Hi everyone, I have a son that he got 4 incidents in 5 month.
First incident: one kid scratch all his face.
Second incident: one kid bit him in his arm.
Third incident: one kid broke his nose.
Fourth incident: he got another scratch on his face again.
The director of this place said: this is a minor incident and nothing happen; in despite of my son has a lot of blood on his shirt since he got his nose broken.
One teacher takes care 6 children and she cannot take control all of them. Now, the want to increase 8 children only for one teacher.
How the teacher can take care 8 children if she cannot take care 6 children?
I think, this daycare is concern more how much money they can earn instead of quality of their job.
Think about first before you take your child in this daycare.
I do not recommend this daycare at all.

Please for the money you are paying this is a daycare especially for small infants that offers nothing more than an institutional approach to child care that focus on making sure that the diapers are changed and the chart on the walls filled out. I stayed on whole day with my grandchild. The room where my grandchild spent her day was crowded, caregivers had a broken rocker that barely fit in the room and no one looked like they enjoyed their job. The supervisors never entered the room or offered support to those directly caring for the infants. The caregiver interaction with the babies focused on changing and getting them to sleep. No joy, no stimulation just making sure there was not a lot of crying.

We moved to Chicago from NY and we personally visited and evaluated 9 different daycare facilities in the loop and west loop area. ITAV shined on convenience (parking), teacher quality, facilities and curriculum. Both our kids were at ITAV (6 months to Pre-​K) and Leadership Village Academy (KG+) for 3 years and we were most impressed with the level of commitment from teachers and administrators. This is a hidden gem for any parents of young children looking for high quality daycare. These guys also offer date night for parents (unheard of anywhere else) where they will watch over kids until midnight once a month. I am very glad we found ITAV and VLA for our kids.

My daughter attended ITAV from the time she was six months until 4 years old. She would have remained in the daycare, but we moved out of state. I can not say enough good things about ITAV. She was in four classrooms over the years and ALL her teachers were wonderful, attentive, and became like family.
The school took field trips regularly, there were monthly newsletters, and I felt like the teachers actually cared about my daughter and her progress. The school also provides a family fun day once a year, family literacy nights once a month, and parents night out as well.
Overall, I would recommend this school to anyone. At the end of the day, it is nice to be able to drop your child off and know that they will be safe and happy.

We have our daughter in ITAV since she was 3 months and loved our infant class and the teachers. In fact we have her infant teacher as our baby sitter sometimes. Now she is a toddler and has gone to a new classroom. I don’t know if its the teacher to child ratio but I feel like there is less involvement with the parents. I don’t get much updates, or photos or any crafts when I pick her up. I’ve really liked the staff and I don’t think its one teachers fault or anything. but I wish there was a bit more involvement. We pay $ 5 extra every month for an app that updates the food, diaper changes and sleep times. Photos and videos are also added. I would like them to add more photos and videos and add more updates of what they are doing.
As a full time working mom, I’d like to get more updates. I pay for the service, and don’t feel like its good value for me. I’ve also been sent other kids photos by mistake saying it was my child. The teachers need to be a bit more vigilant.
I still would recommend this place since its close to my husbands work and we like it but would like some things to change.

After more than 8 months at ITAV, we’re very pleased with the facility. My son has moved up to a toddler room, and his days are filled with lots of friends and fun activities. Despite the disastrous Christmas pageant (picture 12 toddlers crying while Deck the Halls played… it was hilarious), he’s continuing to learn songs and games that I can play with him at home. When I arrive for pick up during Spanish class or reading time, I’m always amazed that the teachers have corralled all the little ones into a nice straight line and have their full attention. I felt they handled an unexpected staffing change in our classroom with tact and think our new teachers are a great addition.
In summary I highly recommend ITAV and will happily keep this kid and any future kids in attendance.

My daughter has been going to ITAV at River City since she was 20 months (she is now 31 months). She has learnt so much since going there and absolutely loves her teachers and friends!

I have been taking my daughter to It Takes a Village for about 2 months now and we couldn’t be happier. I have no idea what that Chitown E. reviewer is talking about with regards to finding and changing classrooms. My daughter is assigned to the Lady Bug room and that’s where we go every day. There are three teachers assigned to her room and on occassion when one of those three are on a break or out, they would have a different replacement teacher, but that is rare.
The Lady Bug room has the best teachers! Latrice, Haley and Pave are amazing. I am a first time mom who had to go back to work after 8 weeks so I was a) very nervous, and b) really don’t know what I am doing. They are helpful without being pushy and I totally use them as a «expert» resource. For example, my daughter’s nails are impossible to cut. She is such a squirmer. They know I have problems with it so they offered to help me out and do it for me. They also suggested helpful ways I could try to do it on my own.
I do agree with another reviewer who said she had a couple of «kinks» with the center to work out in the sign up process, but overall it was fairly easy and all got worked out. What really matters is that my daughter comes home happy.
I can’t really comment on the food as my daughter is still so young and primarily eats breast milk I provide. We have started her on 1 bottle of formula a day and they use Earth’s Best Organic formula which is the same as we use at home so that works out great.
The first week of daycare I went and visited every day during my lunch hour. It was nice because it gave me a sense of how things worked and what to expect. I could also ask them any questions I had about scedules, feedings, etc. After that first week though I haven’t been back as it didn’t seem necessary. On Wednesday’s I work from home and try to keep her to the same schedule as daycare.

This place just gets WORSE. As most of you know state mandated ratio is 1:4 (teacher:infant). When you walk in the morning if your childs class is full you have to go to another room and hope they have vacancy for your child. Not something I expect when I pay for childcare at a professional center. Why should my child be with a new teacher? Almost everyday kids get shuffled around based on ratio and some teachers are even asked to leave at 10 or 11 am to ensure the ‘maximization’ of staff ratio. Unbelievable.
They have recently enforced a 10 hour maximum on child care. Thats fine but most of us work 8 – 5 and have to factor in 30 minutes travel time each way thats cutting it close.
I wish I had looked closer at some of the reviewers. They have only left 1 review for ITAV — internal reviews???

I had to pull my 12 month old out of this daycare because of an incident that occured & was not properly written up. Because of this I cannot recomend it anymore. I am in a home daycare now and I am still adjusting to the difference. I will say i am happy with my new day care.

My kids love it here. My 18 month old and 3 and a half year old are doing great. They started here in June and are excited to go to school each morning. Most of the teachers are great — I am so glad we found them. The only downsides are costs (which is normal for Chicago) and the menu not being as healthy as I would like. The staff have been great at substituting healthier options per my request and have said healthier menus will be brought in in the new year.

My daughter has been with ITAV for about 8 months (since she was about 3 months old). Although there were some kinks to iron out early on, since the daycare center was so new, I think the place is great. My daughter loves the center, the other kids, and LOVES the teachers.
Some of the things I love about this center versus others that I looked at:
1) 6am-​6pm means there is no stress on me to run out of work every day or to have to wait to go into work (places in my neighborhood were open 8 – 5)
2) So close to work that I pop in to see my daughter
3) The people are great — everyone — teachers, parents, etc.
I would definitely recommend ITAV to anyone!