Park Ridge vs. Evanston: fitting in when your family is mixed (middle school, population)

[holliejeanna]

All I know is what the boy told me about the make-up of his class last year. I'm not saying he was bothered, just that he noticed. This year he has noticed that there are more kids from different religious backgrounds.

I would never claim that our public school in PR has been insensitive to cultural/religious differences. Quite the opposite. My daughter's teacher even went so far as to check with us if it was okay to talk about Christmas in class. We have no problems with Christmas in school, but I thought it was polite of her to bring it up.

It is very hard to weight the pluses and minuses in a situation like this when you don't fully understand or haven't experienced one half of the equation. Part of me says-- blossom where planted. Part of me says-- try to find your "tribe!"

[chet everett]

Sounds like a pretty sensitive teacher, that can be a good thing.

Don't get me wrong -- I know there truly are LOTS of folks in Park Ridge named O' soemthingorother and most of 'em are quite pale. Maybe the entire second grade group of children were all "refugees" from the parochial schools or maybe somebody was just feeling a little "left out" and wants the little "First Communion Party" equivlent of their own...

My kids went to public school and really did quite well. That said there were certainly a few heart rending moments, especially for my wife, when the kids would say something that made it seem like they didn't "fit in" and at times like that we did think about maybe moving someplace cheaper and being stay-at-home parents or homeschoolers. We never did either and ultimately have no regrets.

I really would not recommend moving from the community where you already do have roots and evidence of caring, sensitive teachers for some "dream" that very likely has just as much potential for conflict and alienation -- when kids know "mom & dad moved becuase there weren't enough other families like us" that is a big burden to carry.

[reppin_the_847]

I was under the impression that the largest ethnic (ethnic white) group in Park Ridge were Polish folks (last name ending in SKI, etc.), but I could be wrong. I'm sure there's a good amount of Irish as well.

Originally Posted by chet everett

Sounds like a pretty sensitive teacher, that can be a good thing.

Don't get me wrong -- I know there truly are LOTS of folks in Park Ridge named O' soemthingorother and most of 'em are quite pale. Maybe the entire second grade group of children were all "refugees" from the parochial schools or maybe somebody was just feeling a little "left out" and wants the little "First Communion Party" equivlent of their own...

My kids went to public school and really did quite well. That said there were certainly a few heart rending moments, especially for my wife, when the kids would say something that made it seem like they didn't "fit in" and at times like that we did think about maybe moving someplace cheaper and being stay-at-home parents or homeschoolers. We never did either and ultimately have no regrets.

I really would not recommend moving from the community where you already do have roots and evidence of caring, sensitive teachers for some "dream" that very likely has just as much potential for conflict and alienation -- when kids know "mom & dad moved becuase there weren't enough other families like us" that is a big burden to carry.

[C. Maurio]

Evanston would be better but Skokie would be ideal for you in my view because it has a good population of Indians.

[C. Maurio]

Originally Posted by chicagobear

"My son was the only kid in his class last year who didn't make first communion."

So not even Protestants in Park Ridge? That's surprising given that Hillary Clinton is from there and a Methodist.

She might be from there but they never elected her there. They elected that dumb air head Penny Pullen. The anti abortion crusader who made that her one and only issue.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by C. Maurio

Evanston would be better but Skokie would be ideal for you in my view because it has a good population of Indians.

Parts of Skokie are zoned to the Evanston Schools, btw.

[C. Maurio]

Originally Posted by nana053

Parts of Skokie are zoned to the Evanston Schools, btw.

I knew this was the case for the high school but does that extend to the grade schools as well? Or do people in Skokie go to elementary school in Skokie?

[purplesky]

Good God, this sounds like somehting out of the 1800s!! Slightly hard to believe, given the vast Indian population in the CHicago burbs everywhere.

Who the heck uses a term like "darkie"--this whole story smells

[nana053]

Originally Posted by C. Maurio

I knew this was the case for the high school but does that extend to the grade schools as well? Or do people in Skokie go to elementary school in Skokie?

There are two district 65 elementary schools that Skokie-Evanston kids attend (1 elementary, 1 middle). They are magnet schools though. My dil went to Timber Ridge and that is no longer called Timber Ridge. I think it is Bessie Rhodes Magnet School now. At any rate if they live in Skokie, but are zoned to district 65, they can send the kids to any school in district 65. Bessie Rhodes is like MLK Lab - they are k-8 schools.

Here's a pdf map of the Skokie school districts.

http://www.egovlink.com/public_docum...istrictMap.pdf

[holliejeanna]

Originally Posted by purplesky

Good God, this sounds like somehting out of the 1800s!! Slightly hard to believe, given the vast Indian population in the CHicago burbs everywhere.

Who the heck uses a term like "darkie"--this whole story smells

I'm not sure if you are implying that I am making things up.

here are the demographics in PR:

As of the census[6] of 2000, there were 37,775 people, 14,219 households, and 10,465 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,374.6 people per square mile (2,074.7/km²). There were 14,646 housing units at an average density of 2,083.8 per square mile (804.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.4% White, 0.2% African American, 0.06% Native American, 2.66% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.87% from other races, and 0.74% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.90% of the population.