School and neighborhood opinions-Arlington Heights

[twodoor2]

Originally Posted by wjj

The only HS district that touches Arlington Heights that I would avoid is Wheeling HS. Prospect, Hersey and Buffalo Grove are all highly rated (4, 8, and 11 respectively of all Illinois high schools (excluding selective enrollment magnet and charters) according to US News - whose rankings do need to be taken with a grain of salt). If you can move just over the border to the next suburb to the north - Lake County side of Buffalo Grove - you are in the Stevenson district which is rated first among all public high schools in the state (excluding selective enrollment magnet and charter). I would just steer clear of Wheeling since it is a step down from the other schools. Otherwise, it is a toss up. Your kids will get an excellent education at any of the others.

If your kids are smart, WHS is a great school. Wheeling is a good value, as well as its proximity to the city and North Shore areas. There's just a lot of low income portions.

[Canadian-girl]

I think we will probably avoid the Wheeling high school zone from everything we have been hearing. Overall they are rated very low. John Hersey and Prospect are some of the best high schools in the state. Buffalo Grove seems not quite as high, but still very good, more in line with York in Elmhurst, without the large class sizes. Anybody have kids at these schools? What has your experience been?

[wjj]

Originally Posted by Canadian-girl

I think we will probably avoid the Wheeling high school zone from everything we have been hearing. Overall they are rated very low. John Hersey and Prospect are some of the best high schools in the state. Buffalo Grove seems not quite as high, but still very good, more in line with York in Elmhurst, without the large class sizes. Anybody have kids at these schools? What has your experience been?

I think BGHS is quite a bit better than York. But agree it is slightly below Prospect and Hersey.

Answering an earlier question. There were actually two more high schools that served AH until they were closed in the 1980s. Arlington HS and Forest View HS. So there are fewer now than there were 30 years ago. There will never be just one HS serving AH. Too many students and too big geographically. Though all four HS there now are all in the same HS district - 214.

Assuming the job is at NCH, the commute from northern AH (say from Terramerre) and the Lake County side of BG is about the same ( a few minutes longer from BG). That would also deal with schools since Stevenson is ranked number one and District 96 K-8 is right at the top as well. BG is very walkable if by walkable you mean sidewalks and a ton of open space and parks. It is not walkable if you mean being able to walk to a downtown area (it has none) or day to day shopping. Everyone drives everywhere in BG.

You might want to also look at the areas in southern Palatine and inverness that feed into Fremd HS. Excellent schools and the commute to the NCH campus (assuming that is where the job is) would be faster from Palatine and Inverness than from many parts of Arlington Heights. Maybe 10 minutes from the corner of Quentin and Euclid to the NCH campus.

[holl1ngsworth]

Originally Posted by wjj

I think BGHS is quite a bit better than York. But agree it is slightly below Prospect and Hersey.

Answering an earlier question. There were actually two more high schools that served AH until they were closed in the 1980s. Arlington HS and Forest View HS. So there are fewer now than there were 30 years ago. There will never be just one HS serving AH. Too many students and too big geographically. Though all four HS there now are all in the same HS district - 214.

Assuming the job is at NCH, the commute from northern AH (say from Terramerre) and the Lake County side of BG is about the same ( a few minutes longer from BG). That would also deal with schools since Stevenson is ranked number one and District 96 K-8 is right at the top as well. BG is very walkable if by walkable you mean sidewalks and a ton of open space and parks. It is not walkable if you mean being able to walk to a downtown area (it has none) or day to day shopping. Everyone drives everywhere in BG.

You might want to also look at the areas in southern Palatine and inverness that feed into Fremd HS. Excellent schools and the commute to the NCH campus (assuming that is where the job is) would be faster from Palatine and Inverness than from many parts of Arlington Heights. Maybe 10 minutes from the corner of Quentin and Euclid to the NCH campus.

Buffalo Grove is not "quite a bit better" than York by any objective measure. York earned a higher average score than Buffalo Grove for at least the last five years the PSAE was administered, and non-low income students performed significantly better. York has also had a higher percentage of AP test takers passing at least one exam and a higher percentage of AP exams taken that were actually passed.

US News ratings are garbage.

Buffalo Grove, Hersey, Prospect and York are all outstanding high schools and their student bodies are all drawn from the same demographic pool.

[middle-aged mom]

Originally Posted by Canadian-girl

yes I do have an appreciation for high property taxes...almost a fear of them. Here in NJ it is not uncommon to have an average house carry a $15 000-$25000 property tax bill. Thats why I was happy at first to live in Dupage county and avoid the high property taxes of Cook County. Does the fact that Arlington Heights send their kids to so many neighboring high schools affect the property tax bill? Has there ever been talk of just having one high school for the town? I have a question as far as the whole tear down phenomenon...On the east coast thats relatively uncommon, but very common there,especially in Elmhurst. In Arlington Heights there doesn't seem to be as many tear downs as Elmhurst and the ones that do occur seem very expensive. Do people tend to renovate their homes instead or is there still a push toward buying a house to live in for a while with the intent of tearing it down to build the dream house. Nothing wrong with it, we have a couple relatives that have done that and are quite happy to have gotten a 'deal' in a good area. I have heard the 'S' neighborhoods were good, but didn't know all the names, thank you. We have very young kids 4, 2 and one on the way, so hoping to find an area that also has young families.

Generally speaking Cook Cty taxes are less than Dupage, comparing apples to apples. All depends on your assessed valuation.

Back when, Arlington Hts had only one highschool. As the town grew, so did the need for more schools. The former high school still stands and is a private Christian Academy.

Most of the tear downs in AH are on lots once occupied by modest homes, acquired by builders. Most people however, stay in their older homes for years and fix them up as their budgets permit.

There are young families in all area, just not necessarily concentrated as they might be in a big sub division.

There's an active Newcomers Club which creates opportunities to meet parents of young children. The park district has an abundance of activities for young kids and moms. Arranging play dates is common because the town is so spread out.

There are so many family friendly neighborhoods in AH. I would not automatically write off those that fall into the Wheeling District especially given the ages of your children. The area around Lake Arlington is like Leave it to Beaver Land.

You may also want to consider renting for a year and getting the feel for the area before committing to a neighborhood. This might also give your husband the opportunity to negotiate pushing the envelope and living beyond the confines of AH. Palatine or Inverness ( FREMD ) comes to mind. And then there's my current hometown, the Village of Barrington, about 15 minutes NW of downtown AH.

So much depends on your budget, the type of home you want/ where you want it and the inventory at any given time.

[BurbBound]

My wife and I just bought a house in the Greenbrier neighborhood of AH. We close in May. Every time we've gone to look at our house there have been children playing in the streets and younger families out and about.

Elementary school is a 10/10, junior high is a 10/10 and Buffalo Grove High School is a 9/10.

We can't wait.