Barrington or Long Grove? (Buffalo Grove, Mundelein: house, movies, elementary schools)

[twopuppies]

We've narrowed it down to Barrington or Long Grove. We are a family with a young child, hopefully will add one more. We are family oriented and friendly people who like to take care of our home and property. We would like to live in an area where there are children at least nearby and neighbors are friendly and pleasant, this is what we strive to be.

Are district 96 (Long Grove) and Barrington 220 both considered top tier schools? In general, anyone have any opinions they would like to share regarding living in and growing up in these cities? Our son is only 4 and I know Barrington is generally family oriented, at least I've read, but how do these two cities rate with the little ones? All I ever hear about in Long Grove is high school and teenagers, where are the little ones?

How friendly are people in Long Grove? Will I feel isolated in Long Grove or in Barrington? We are looking near town in Barrington but not really walking distance because there are no sidewalks to town. Has anyone gone through these school systems? What was your experience like?

Thank you for reading this and any help, we truly appreciate it. It's hard to tell until you are there and we are a little hesitant because we are just not sure what we are getting into.

[mjd07]

I have friends in Barrington. They just added baby #3 and are very happy there. I can contact them to see if they would be willing to share their experience with you, if you'd like.

I don't know much about Long Grove, but I'm sure somebody will come along with more information for you.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

[pvande55]

Barrington has more amenities like city water, sidewalks, in-town Metra station. Don't know about schools.

[nanannie]

Very good schools in Barrington. Easy to check that out.teachers, school events,parental participation and wonderful programs,very nice families..Our experience with all three kids was excellent. Nice, involved families and have had some great kids coming thru our doors for a long time.They have since added a new separate pre school.
I don't know where on earth you got the idea that there were no sidewalks in town. Not only can you walk to town, but schools, library, shopping, movies,park and swimming pool. all with sidewalks i assure you. The pool is quite the social gathering place in summer. My kids went all the time and we have a pool! I think the entire town shows up for 4th of July parade and festival. This year alone we went to Tree lighting ceremony, Santa breakfast with grand kids,St Paddys day tent party at our local Irish pub, and looking to take them to Easter egg hunt. I sound like the mayor don't I ?
Lived here almost 30 years and it was a wonderful place to raise the kids. Our youngest graduates this May.
Enjoyed the parks and their kids programs ( summer camps etc were terrific)and family events. My kids were in ski club and were bussed to different areas, they loved it.
Long grove has pretty areas, but no "downtown"other then the increasingly ghost town of long grove village, lots of empty stores now.
i would miss the community atmosphere.i really know nothing of the schools.
Happy to answer any questions and good luck on your search.

[cubssoxfan]

Long Grove elementary schools are excellent! Most of LG feeds into Stevenson HS which is outstanding.

[MPowering1]

Most of the district 96 schools are in Buffalo Grove, where I live. They are very good schools, although I didn't use them because I sent my kids to Catholic grade school. If you live in Long Grove, the high school will either be Adlai E. Stevenson in Lincolnshire or Mundelein High School in Mundelein. My kids went to Stevenson then on to Big 10 schools. They were surprised by the number of students they encountered in college who didn't know how to study and seemed ill-prepared for classes and tests. Stevenson did a great job preparing them. It is one of the top 10 high schools in Illinois and one of the top 200 in the country. Over 4,000 students. According to U.S. News, Stevenson's students have a college readiness index of 61.8 versus Barringtons's 43.3 and Mundelein's 32.8.

The biggest complaint I heard from Long Grove moms when my kids were younger was that they had to drive their kids around so they would have someone to play with. In Long Grove a house may be on a 1/2 acre or more of land, so it's not as densely populated. No sidewalks in many of those subdivisions. Long Grove has no police department, a volunteer fire department, a very sparse park district, and residents are on well water. Other than historic downtown, which is expensive and always crowded, I don't know what the draw is other than being on 1/2 an acre of land providing you with privacy.

Barrington has a more family-oriented feel to it - almost like an old time town. Libertyville is the same way, although I'm assuming you checked it out already. Libertyville's H.S. is comparable to Barrington's.

All towns mentioned in this post are in Lake County, which has the highest property taxes in the midwest and one of the highest property taxes in the country. You'll want to know this going in and see what you're getting for your dollar. I'm actually leaving Lake County because paying more than $11K in property taxes on a 2,000 square foot home is insane when you're not using the schools that get the lions share of the tax money.

[nanannie]

I live in Cook County.
Barrington has Lake and McHenry as well.
You can live right in Town and be in Lake or Cook County depending which side of Lake Cook road your on.

[MPowering1]

nanannie, thanks for the correction and apologies for my error. So it's like Buffalo Grove, only worse because Barrington is in three different counties....lol.