Chicago · Licensed center
Smart Love Preschool
A play-based center in Chicago, licensed for 55 children. Kelly Perez (Vice President Education Programs, & Preschool/Playschool Director) has been there since 2010. The state cited something at 7 of 10 routine visits (Chicago-area centers: about 5 in 6).
Medium center. Medium means the middle half of Chicago-area’s 1,949 licensed centers by state-licensed capacity: 49 to 118 children. Small is 8 to 48; large is 119 to 487.
How they teach
Play-based
“Children ages 2 to 6 experience our play-based curriculum both indoors and outside.”In their words. smartlovefamily.org, August 2026
One of 70 Chicago-area providers that describe a play-based approach, out of 129 that describe any approach at all.
Who cares for your child
One adult for every five toddlers
Shortlist has not yet sourced this state’s legal ratio limit, so there is nothing to set this beside yet.
One adult for every seven preschoolers. Shortlist has not yet sourced this state’s legal ratio limit, so there is nothing to set this beside yet.
Kelly Perez (Vice President Education Programs, & Preschool/Playschool Director) since 2010. Four other staff are named on their site, with no start years given.
Of 5,346 Chicago-area providers, 27 publish how long a named staff member has been there; the longest tenure at each of those has a median of sixteen years.
Shortlist doesn’t have these yet: cost, sick and biting policies.
What the state has found
Routine visits: 7 of 10 cited something
Across Chicago-area centers, the state cites something at about 5 in 6 routine visits (19,088 visits).
From Illinois DCFS’s published reports, last checked September 25, 2026.
Read every record and the state’s reports
State record — Illinois DCFS
- Last visit
- February 10, 2025
- On file
- 10 visits since February 2011 — 3 cited nothing
- Fixed?
- The latest correction deadline was December 31, 2015. Illinois DCFS does not publish whether it was made.
- Most serious
- Illinois DCFS does not publish a severity level for a citation, so there is no most-serious to name.
Illinois DCFS cites each subsection of a rule separately, so one audit of a filing cabinet can produce ten citations. It publishes the rule’s title and a correction deadline, but no description of what was observed.
Dec 2015 Monitoring visit 2 findings
Monitoring visit · December 10, 2015
General Requirements for Personnel
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.100(c)(5) · Violation corrected
Personnel Records
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(2) · Violation corrected
DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 502567 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.
Dec 2014 Monitoring visit 2 findings
Monitoring visit · December 17, 2014
General Requirements for Personnel
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.100(c)(5) · Violation corrected
Personnel Records
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(2) · Violation corrected
DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 502567 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.
Jan 2013 Monitoring visit 3 findings
Monitoring visit · January 16, 2013
Health Requirements for Children
2 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.310(a)(5) through (6) · Violation corrected
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.310(a)(5) · 407.310(a)(6)
Personnel Records
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(2) · Violation corrected
DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 502567 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.
May 2011 Monitoring visit 5 findings
Monitoring visit · May 18, 2011
Personnel Records
3 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(1) through (3) · Violation corrected · Violation corrected on site
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(1) · 407.120(a)(2) · 407.120(a)(3)
Organization and Administration
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.70(e) · Violation corrected
Background Checks for Personnel
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.110 · Violation corrected
DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 502567 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.
Apr 2011 Monitoring visit 3 findings
Monitoring visit · April 14, 2011
Personnel Records
3 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(2) through (4) · Violation corrected
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.120(a)(2) · 407.120(a)(3) · 407.120(a)(4)
DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 502567 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.
Mar 2011 Monitoring visit 5 findings
Monitoring visit · March 16, 2011
Enrollment and Discharge Procedures
2 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.250(i)(2)(e) through (4)(a) · Violation corrected
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.250(i)(2)(e) · 407.250(i)(4)(a)
Health Requirements for Children
2 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.310(a)(5) through (6) · Violation corrected
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.310(a)(5) · 407.310(a)(6)
Background Checks for Personnel
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.110 · Violation corrected
DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 502567 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.
Feb 2011 Monitoring visit 6 findings
Monitoring visit · February 18, 2011
Enrollment and Discharge Procedures
2 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.250(i)(2) through (4) · Violation corrected
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.250(i)(2) · 407.250(i)(4)
Health Requirements for Children
2 citations · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.310(a)(5) through (6) · Violation corrected
89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.310(a)(5) · 407.310(a)(6)
Organization and Administration
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.70(e) · Violation corrected
Physical Plant/Indoor Space
1 citation · 89 Ill. Adm. Code 407.370(o)(2) · Violation corrected
DCFS compliance lookup On that page, enter provider number 502567 in the Provider box and choose Search; the compliance report downloads from the button on the result row.
A day here
- Outdoors
- Organic gardens and greenhouse serve as living classrooms integrated into the curriculum
- Calendar
- School year
- Schedule
- half-day
Details
- Phone
- 7736658052
- Website
- smartlovefamily.org
- Address
- 2222 N Kedzie Blvd
- License
- license issued (il)
- Ages
- ages 2-6 years (Playschool 2-3 years; Preschool and Kindergarten 3-6 years)
- Established
- 2010
Do you run Smart Love Preschool? Shortlist has no policies for it, because the state does not publish that. Add what is missing. It is free and takes about ten minutes.
Sources and dates
Where every fact on this page came from, and when Shortlist last checked it against that source. Anything Shortlist could not source is named here rather than left blank.
How they teach
- Approach — Checked August 2026 · smartlovefamily.org
Who cares for your child
- Children per adult — Checked August 2026 · smartlovefamily.org
Who cares for your child
- Staff — smartlovefamily.org
Who cares for your child
- Staff — smartlovefamily.org
Who cares for your child
- Staff — smartlovefamily.org
Who cares for your child
- Staff — smartlovefamily.org
Who cares for your child
- Staff — smartlovefamily.org
State record
Every state visit and complaint on file, shown in full and never edited. Open a date to read what the state wrote.
A day here
- Outdoors — Checked August 2026 · smartlovefamily.org
- Calendar, Schedule — Checked August 2026 · smartlovefamily.org
Details
- Phone, Address, License — Checked July 2026 · sunshine.dcfs.illinois.gov. To check it, open sunshine.dcfs.illinois.gov's Licensed Provider Lookup, enter "SMART LOVE PRESCHOOL" under Provider Name and 60647 under Zip, and press Search (DCFS provider 502567).
- Website — Checked August 2026 · smartlovefamily.org
- Ages — Checked August 2026 · smartlovefamily.org
- Established — Checked August 2026 · smartlovefamily.org