Relocating to Chicago.. need info on school districts

[paying3tuitions]

We lived for a few years in NW Indiana, around Munster. So that's just west of Gary and Hammond, IN.

I didn't like it very much, however. There were miles of core poverty in South Chicago that separated NW Indiana from "the Loop" downtown. But lots of people from Indiana took that train in, raising the family out in suburban NW Indiana, where housing costs were more affordable than in the North and West suburbs of Illinois.

I bet the commute times to the Loop were similar, too.

I LOVED Chicago whenever we could get in, which wasn't often enough for me. Personally, I didn't enjoy NW Indiana at all, but H's job was bad there, so that colored it a lot.

D was born at Michael Reese Hospital in downtown Chicago, so that was really the best thing about those 3 years for me!

It's 20 years later now, and you may have different impressions of NW Indiana so I'm just putting it out there for you. I was told that the h.s. in that area are competitive, but our family was too young then for me to really know or care.

[DCforMe]

I just took the data from Chicago Magazine that Marilyn provided and put it into Excel in a more user friendly way, so your able to sort by column, etc. If anyone wants a copy, PM me. Here are the top 10 public schools in terms of avg. ACT score, not counting magnet schools:

New Trier: 26.8
Hinsdale Central: 25.8
Stevenson: 25.6
Deerfield: 25.5
Glenbrook North: 25.4
Lake Forest: 25.4
Highland Park: 25.2
Libertyville: 24.7
Naperville North: 24.6
Maine South: 24.2

[teriwtt]

OK, take this for what it's worth. Most of the schools people have listed (New Trier, Stevenson, Lake Forest, Naperville) are in suburbs that have very high housing costs. This question can't really be addressed without knowing what your housing allowance will be.

And most importantly, it ALL depends on the priorities you have for your child's educational experience. You will find at most of those schools, the competitiveness of the students is implicitly indicative of the competitiveness of the parents. So you have to decide how much stress you want your child to be under to succeed, and be around people whose parents are spending every penny possible to assure their child's success (by the way, I know teachers/administrators in all four districts I mentioned, so I hear this from them).

Also, what are your child's interests? That, too, makes a huge difference; some schools obviously boast about specific programs. However, last fall Stevenson High School put on the musical The Pajama Game; I didn't attend, but everyone who I knew did thought it was one of the worst high school productions they'd ever seen. I was truly shocked, because with Stevenson's size, I assumed their talent would run much deeper than schools smaller than them (which is just about every other high school around). But talk about athletics, and it's always a winning game at Stevenson. However, if your child is only average to above average in a particular sport (or activity), you have to realize the chances of making something (sports team, etc.) are greatly reduced by the amount of kids who have D1 college potential.

About a year ago, when I was getting my nails done in a neighboring suburb to mine, I joined in on a conversation with two other women (who didn't know each other, either) whose children had attended Stevenson. They spoke of how they specifically chose to move into that school district because of the school's reputation. Now that their kids have graduated, they have regrets, and advise people not to put their kids through the stress that is Stevenson. It's a great place if you're in the top 5% of whatever you do, but for the other 95%, it's a different story... you're just an average Joe Schmo.

Another consideration, there's one co-ed Catholic high school in our county, and many parents wouldn't even think of sending their kids to a public school. However, our high school, which is just down the road, offers more AP and honors classes than the parochial high school, and our school also offers many more extracurricular activities. It's kind of the joke of the community that parents who send their kids there think they're protecting them from the temptations of public high schools, but what the kids say after they graduate is that there are probably more drugs at their school, because the kids have access to more resources (money) to buy them than some of the poorer kids at the local public schools.

Sorry this is long, but if you give us some kind of idea as far as a housing standard, that would help.

[astrophysicsmom]

It really comes down to the issue that you pretty much "get what you pay for".....a very direct connection between quality of schools and cost of housing. Years ago we were looking at new housing, considering building one of the tract houses. From the same builder, a house in the Stevenson school district was $30K higher than one in a middle-of-the-pack western suburb...and this was a house that was around $300K at the time.

You won't lose home value if you go to any of the lists that made the "top" of the list...

I don't know where you are coming from, but another note is that there are far fewer private schools in the Chicago area than in other parts of the country where I've lived. And most of the ones that are private are parochial.

[Marilyn]

I wish I could say more about our school district but just read the anonymity thread so if you're interested please PM me!

[DadOfMAR]

thanks all of you for your input.. I know CC will come through. I checked out some places already. Right now we live in the Northern NYC burbs and I work in Manhattan. As the crows flies it is 39.3 miles to my job. I get employee employee parking at work pay 200.00/ month forthe privlige, getting to work crossing the George Washington bridge now is 8 dollars (inbound, free outbound) or 285.00 month for metro north train into Grand Central Station and 2.00 each way for the train to workplace. right near the former WTC. it takes me 90 minutes or so avg. either type of commute each way. I am asking how far and in time is the commute onto Chicago from these towns? The glitz and glamor of being near the Big Apple has long ago worn off and the idea of going into the city for a ball game, theater, once in awhile sounds like a nice change.
My wife may be looking to move to the what we call the exburbs... 50 -75 miles away from what we New Yorkers call Manhattan "the city" The reason why we may move is because my 18 yo son (who is quadiplegic) is going to attend the U of I @ Urbana/Champaign because of their renowed disability suport program. and we like to be closer to him. We have a 8th grader who is also bright but has ADHD and not exactly a high aspiring student.. YET ..we are hoping someday.. but by putting him into what I can see from these replies are high pressured schools, may be not in his best interst.

anyway thanks again...

[cnp55]

it's been many years since I lived in the Chicago area -- although not so many since I've looked at potential transfers to the area and thought through where we'd live.

UofI is not really near Chicago ... so with that in mind, I would look at the interstates that head down that direction and pick some communities with easy access to them.

So ... I'd rule out the north shore and look instead at the western and south western suburbs. And I would definitely look at the train situation for commuting. As I understand it, the traffic congestion at rush hour is horrendous.

[Marilyn]

I live in the western suburbs and drove down for the UIUC tour a couple of years ago via a "back route" using I55 (Stevenson) and Il Hwy 47. That second road is just two lanes at times but not busy and makes a nice alternative to 294 (Tristate) and I57 (the "recommended" route). We got that alternate route from a friend whose son went to UIUC and drove it all the time. It can be done in well under 3 hours. The northern suburbs could add up to an hour or more depending on the time of day. There's a bus every weekend from UIUC to a local shopping center but I don't know if your son would be able to use it.

Our town is on the commuter train route and the express trains take 22 minutes to the Loop; locals more like 40 minutes. If you work right in the loop you can generally walk to any office from the train station. Driving? Varies considerably. It can take as little as 25 minutes or as long as 1 1/2 hours. I would definitely take the train on weekdays but we drive into the city on weekends frequently for dinner etc. DH still gets his hair cut in the city!

FYI the northern suburbs are closer to the Cubs and the western suburbs are closer to the Sox, so that might affect your choice!

If you're looking to live further out in the boonies (I learned them as burbs, superburbs, boonies, superboonies), I've read that Plainfield is becoming a very popular area but I don't know the commute times.

Between our highly rated schools and the commuter location, prices are certainly inflated but coming from the NY suburbs you probably wouldn't get sticker shock. Our high school is possibly high pressured due to the ambitious parents but our son was in the top 5% and I never got that feeling. The teacher and counselors were great. I don't know about how they work with ADHD students but do know there's a very active group of parents at the elementary school level in that area so presume it carries forth to higher grades. If you PM me I can send you more details.

In the meantime here's the link to our commuter trains: Metra - Metra System Map ; clicking on any station will take you to the schedule.

[danas]

I've lived in the New York suburbs and live in Chicago now.
Commutes here tend to be shorter and cheaper, and there are commuter rail lines fanning out in every direction. They are your best choice.
Chicago is a major city, but I am always taken aback when I return to New York just how huge (and sometimes seemingly unmanageable) it is.
I had a killer commute to NYC and have yet to meet anyone in Chicago who wasn't shocked at what it took me to get to work in New York.

[OleConejo]

Were shocked when moved here at how huge the high schools are. AT first, we KNEW we wanted to be in the Naperville school district because of test scores, write-ups, friends of friends, etc. My husband got his relo apt. there and he got familiar with the area. The traffic ANYWHERE in Naperville is horrific, but he decided it was worth it for our children's education. We contacted the Naperville districts' high schools and middle schools to arrange a visit and they told us it was against their policy unless we owned property in the district first -- even tho he had an apartment. Unbelievable! We came up with some creative ideas to get inside anyway through friends, finding out when open houses were, etc. Our children were overwhelmed by the huge schools and the attitute of the students. We then went a bit further west to Geneva, IL. The schools are much smaller, closer to what the kids were used to. The counselor at the high school totally embraced our daughter. The kids were friendly. The scores and course selections were not as great as we were used to in one of Ohio's top-rated districts; but the scores were very solid. (Geneva does not teach to the test as we have been told our past school and "others" do is what we have noticed as being the biggest factor in test scores here. Our kids actually have gotten a better education here, though.) Our daughter was able to play her sport even though she arrived 2nd semester and was new there. Our 6th grader was able to ride his bike downtown to the candy store, Graham's for ice cream, fish along the dam on the Fox River (lovely), and felt a freedom he never had before. There was a lot to be involved in. It's a very nurturing community and school district, a solid education for all students: gifted, "normal", those needing a bit of extra help. Not only this, but it is a GREAT place to raise kids. Small town feel with out the small town mentality. Only a little over an hour from downtown Chicago by train. Special town celebrations. Safe. Only thing our kids missed was ethnic diversity. Pretty homogoneous here. Ellen DeGeneres's show featured Geneva as one of the top two "Picture Perfect" communities on a show in December '08. I think you can still find clips on YouTube. I would recommend buying as close to downtown as possible as opposed to Mill Creek. It enables you to walk with your children, use the great community swimming/exercise facility more easily, etc. Our oldest is now in college and was accepted into each of her selective choices. However, our second child has decided he will most likely go to Waubonsee Community College for his first two years. This is a county school with a great reputation. You can get many of your classes out of way and then smoothly transition into a solid 4-year school -- for much, much less money. I hope this helps, and wish you the best with your move.

[wjb]

Chicago is a major city, but I am always taken aback when I return to New York just how huge (and sometimes seemingly unmanageable) it is.

So true. Don't get me wrong, I love Manhattan, but we fondly refer to Chicago as "like New York, but with people who make eye contact."

Excellent, reliable commuter train service from the suburbs into the Loop.

As you can see from these posts, OP, the public schools are good across the board, but the communities themselves vary, sometimes a great deal. Compare Geneva to Naperville to Wheaton to Winnetka to Northbrook to Evanston. Whoa. Big differences in culture. It's pretty much like looking at college campuses: you have to find your "fit."

[Pete0six]

I have lived in Chicago my whole life and concur that most of the suggestions you are receiving are strong schools, but echo the comment that most are located in very high cost areas. You can find good schools in the North, West, and South suburbs. If you want to get out in the sticks a bit, check out Saint Charles and Batavia. Less congested than Naperville.

If you like more established western burbs with easy access to the loop by train, check out Hinsdale, Oakbrook, or Elmhurst. On the Metra route in the NW are Park Ridge, Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, Palatine, and Barrington. In the south, they are building like crazy in Plainfield, but this is a relatively new community and well off the beaten path.

The North Shore has strong public schools, but costs a fortune to live in most towns. Winnetka, Wilmette, Lake Forest, and Highland Park come to mind.

Private school may not be the best option for your son, but Chicago has some excellent parochial schools. I've had children in both public and private and can tell you there is partying in both. I can't agree with Teriwtt comment that drug use or partying in general are more common in privates. You will hear this comment, but everyone that every said this to me never had a student in the private school they were talking about. I found the exact opposite as privates have less patience with repeat offenders and have the ability to easily remove problems.

At any rate, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by all of your options.

[drusba]

You have a lot of suburban areas to consider. Some things to think about:

1. Where are are going to work? If downtown Chicago, then you must give serious consideration to being near a commuter train, our Metra system, which is a very good system. Driving in rush hour to and from the city can be horendous and rush hour in Chicago seems to last from 5 a.m. to midnight and if you get some bad weather (it is called most of winter here) or one somewhat minor accident, the drive can be hours.

From Chicago which faces East to Lake Michigan, the Metra system runs out to the north all the way around to south suburbs like spider legs. You can go to metrarail.com and get maps and other info on the system.

Typical train during rush hours can take anywhere from 25 minutes to an hour or longer depending on how far out you are. During non-rush hours, when they do all stops, it takes longer often adding 30 minutes depending on how far out. Also, some lines, like the one to Orland Park (SW suburb) are limited schedule, nothing after evening rush hours, while most go to late night. Some suburbs bordering the city limits, such as parts of Evanston (north) and Hyde Park (west) can access the el trains of the city to get downtown.

2. Schools. There really are a lot of good public school systems regardless of which direction your suburb is from the city. Unlike many areas in the east of the country, private schools do not rule the roost in the Chicago area. Even in the city, "magnet" public schools are considered among the best. Don't get me wrong, there a number of good private schools but they are not generally considered to be above a lot of the publics.

3. Housing cost and land. The further out you go in any direction, the more house and lot size you can get for the dollar. But then there are large directional differences. North to NW suburbs for the most part have the highest prices. West comes next, and southwest to south is the lowest of the areas and you can usually get bigger lots in many of the SW suburbs. The difference can be significant. A home in the north suburbs that is priced $900,000 will often be the equivalent of a $500,000 home in the SW suburbs.

4. Going to UIUC, something you may be doing often. One thing to understand is that the drive from a southwest suburb such as Frankfort to a north suburb such as Deerfield can be 1 1/2 hours or more without real traffic, and without traffic seldom occurs. The main line to UIUC is Hwy 57 which comes into the city from the south suburbs. Definitely take a look at a Chicago/Illinois map. From some of our best SW suburbs such as the group of Frankfort, Mokena, New Lenox, and Manhattan (the Lincolnway school district), Hwy 57 south is easy to get to and you can actually drive to UIUC in 1 1/2 hours (once you are outside the city area heading south on 57, there is essentially no traffic all the way to Champaign/Urbana). From a north suburb, with any traffic it can be 3 1/2 hours or more. Simple truth: someone living in Frankfort can get to UIUC faster than he can get to Northwestern University in Evanston even though the actual miles to Northwestern are half the total.

5. Tornados. We don't get hit often but every once in a while someplace gets hit. We have some very nice suburds west of Joliet (which is far SW of the city)-- Plainfield, Minooka, Channahon, Shorewood, others -- but that area is also known as Tornado alley because it just seems to experience more touchdowns than other areas, although any place could experience one.

6. Airports. The two airports are O'Hare (NW of the city) and Midway (west to SW and actually part of the city). If you know you have to fly a lot, another consideration is being not an impossible distance from an airport because it can take a long time to get to them as a result of traffic. We, of course, have experienced for about twenty years now the "plan" to put in an airport south of the city, and no one is holding their breath for it to show up.

7. Houses near rivers. We have some rivers and other low waterplain areas where people sometimes think how nice it would be to be close to one or on the river. Don't even consider buying in or close to a floodplain area. They can flood (seems to happen every several years) wiping out a lot.

[norcalguy]

I have lived in Chicago my whole life and concur that most of the suggestions you are receiving are strong schools, but echo the comment that most are located in very high cost areas.

But, aren't those areas high cost because of the good schools? High cost is also somewhat relative. My parents were able to sell our 1200 sq ft. shack in the Bay Area to buy a huge 4 BR house in Deerfield entirely w/ cash (no mortgage). The house in Deerfield cost roughly 1/2 of what we sold the 1200 sq ft. shack for.

[DCforMe]

Oh, I can't believe I forgot, and no one's mentioned: CoD! The College of DuPage is the community college in DuPage county. It's ranked the third best in the nation (I'm not sure by whom, but our counselors keep repeating it over and over). If you're thinking of going to community college to get some credits out of the way, living in DuPage is definitely a plus.

As others have said, keep in mind that Chicago Burbs are nowhere near UIUC.

Someone mentioned Plainfield. It is indeed a rapidly expanding community. I actually know someone who works at Plainfield North. He says the school district draws both both the hyperaffluent areas and the less than affluent areas, although apparently the former are less common. He doesn't think very highly of the student quality compared to my more middle of the road, or maybe a little above, high school. He's noted that the bureaucracy in the school district is a mess, since they have to standardize curriculum across 4 high schools, half a dozen middle schools, and a dozen and a half elementary schools. Obviously though, everyone's most attuned to problems at their own location, and bureaucracy is a problem in every school, so take this with a grain of salt. location-wise though, Plainfield might be worth looking into, since it's towards the southern end of the suburbs, but Google Earth still says its 2.5 miles by car, not to mention rest stops, etc.