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I commend your efforts to secure the best possible education for your children. Too few parents take any interest at all in the very important decisions of local school boards. It is often a lonely and brutal effort to sit through interminable meetings where elected officials seek to conceal their own ignorance of the state of the schools for which they are legally responsible.
School rankings are a business, just like JD Powers or Consumer Reports or Motor Trend ranks cars. All have competing rankings for vehicles, and most have quite an array of hard to decipher value judgements, thus many cars are "award winning" but not very good. Similarly most school rankings do not disclose enough of how they are arrived at to be of any value. I have found the USNews ranking to be about the most transparent, though even then I have serious disagreements with some of their conclusions. Obviously very few people have the time to invest in truly uncovering the best school for thier kids. A reliance on rankings and awards makes this harder.
I am glad that you're involved in Barrington High School and I hope others recognize that involvement.
The important thing is not the ranking, it is the achievement of the students. I sincerely hope those students from Barrington High that achieved the schools 'all time high" ACT scores quickly contribute to our society.
I fear that their contributions will not be enough to counterbalance the downward pull of nearby non-performing districts.
I sincerely doubt that any efforts to secure State or Federal funding are truly needed in Barrington based on their ability to levy taxes against their considerable property wealth (as you point out they are currently running a modest surplus -- News - Barrington 220 Community Unit School District (http://www.barrington220.org/news/2008-08-21.asp#revenue - broken link)), and given the limited pool of funds of available I rather wish that those funds were directly to areas with great percentages of economically disadvantaged children... I hope Congresswoman Bean is as generous with tax payer funds to the truly needy areas.
I congratulate your family and friends on their decision to choose employment in the recession-proof field of education. I sincerely hope that they do as much as they can to strengthen the global competitiveness of the students for whom they are responsible.
I further congratulate your efforts as a business leader to contribute time and resources to school improvement. I hope that pays off with a higher quality work force that will increase your profitabity.
We are all in this together.
{btw I suspect that you do not watch other units of government, becuase basically ALL OF THEM can/do recieve "state, national and international recognition for its financial management practices" even when those practices are abhorrent. The "judges" for these awards are other panels of governmental accountants / business managers who have a vested interst in allowing "Gold Stars" to be handed out to bamboozle the gullible... If you do get a chance to attend meetings of local government you may wish to call on thier transparent efforts to garner favor for their financial reporting while glossing over thier often irresponsible spending.}
..becuase basically ALL OF THEM can/do recieve "state, national and international recognition for its financial management practices" even when those practices are abhorrent.
Agree.... That's why I've made such an effort to research beyond the rankings and get to know the individual school community (specific curriculum, ratios, teachers, parental involvement/educational level, etc.). But if you must rely on a ranking, at least Barrington's fiscal mgmt. receives a S&P AAA bond rating as well as the IL Board of Ed's highest rating.... Although, I suspect you have an opinion on these specific ranking systems as well?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Global Honor Adds to Financial Accolades (08/22/08)
The Association of School Business Officials International has selected the Barrington 220 School District to receive its 2007-08 Meritorious Budget Award. Only school systems that meet or exceed the organization's rigorous criteria for fiscal management are eligible for the honor. This recognition follows the district's upgrade to an elite 'AAA' bond rating from Standard and Poor's earlier this year as well as the Illinois State Board of Education's Certificate of Financial Recognition for the highest level of financial accountability.
I think S&P gave the CDO's at Bear Stearns & Lehman Bros AAA rating too...
Seriously though, the thing that is commendable it that your district has managed to run things without a deficit. There are quite a few very well regarded school districts in towns that are as least as well off as Barrington that are engaged in deficit spending.
I have lived in Woodstock for eight years. Sure, it has a nice town square. Sure it is a cute town. However, most of the commerce requires you to head to either Crystal Lake or McHenry and that is a real PITA.
If I would do it again, I would have lived in Crystal Lake where there is better housing stock and more life.
I live in lake in the hills and its a bout a 40 min drive to harvard. there are very nice newer houses and good prices. decent schools and close to spring hill mall and crystal lake.
We moved to the village of Barrington 8 months ago. We are very happy with Hough Street Elementary School. From our house I can walk to get groceries w/in 15 minutes. Both the library and the park district are outstanding. While your commute to Harvard may be long, your daily errands in the village of Barrington will be short. Finally, we have found it easy to meet people through school events. This is a wonderful community.
I have lived in the Northwest suburbs as far out as Huntley and as far in a Des Plaines. I am very familiar with the different areas and have friend or family from just most of the areas mentioned.
Elgin - I have friends that grew up in Elgin and some that currently live there. The town has improved greatly in recent years but still needs much improvement from my perspective. It is generally not thought of very well except by those that live in Elgin. The schools do not have a good reputation. My friends that live there do like it but not of them have children and the people that I know that went through the district didn't have anything nice to say about. Again with your budget you could do A LOT better unless you are really looking for a diverse area.
Woodstock - I have family and friends that live in Woodstock and that went through the schools there. This school district isn't that good. It is a decent little town but for the price range you are looking you could do A LOT better. There is a train line.
Crystal Lake - This would be my second choice in your budget. This is a good community with pretty good schools depending on which district you are in, none of them are bad though. I have a lot of friends that live and lived in this city in every district. For your budget I would look on the north side of town off Walkup. I am considering moving there myself. There is a train line.
Cary - This city has seen improvement in recent years. It has a good reputation but for some reason it has never appealed to me. There isn't a lot of shopping in the Cary/Fox River Grove area. The people that I know that went through the district and that currently have children in it all like it. There is a train line.
Fox River Grove - This part is good in some areas and not good in others. There are three districts there as far as I am aware. Some are Barrington (very small part), some are Cary, and some are Dundee (not where I would move). There really isn't anything shopping wise in FRG. There is a train line.
Huntley - This is a nice area but has been slightly over developed. I graduated from Huntley but the town has changed so much since then that I hardly recognize it. From what I hear the schools are in pretty bad shape in part because Dell Webb retirement community is a large part of the city and they vote against all the referendums. I have friends that teach there and they tell me the schools are always short on money. The closest train line is Woodstock or Crystal Lake depending on where in Huntley you are coming from.
Barrington - This is what I would pick in your budget. It is closest to Chicago (with a train line), has a great reputation (except maybe by those that can't afford it), good shopping, and is convenient to many different roadways. Everyone I have known from Barrington didn't have any complaints about the area or the schools. Most the complaints you are going to hear about this town are going to be from people that never lived in it. The schools have an excellent reputation. I have a friend that teaches here and she has nothing but good things to say.
Dundee - The town has a cute little area along the river and has some charms. But the schools have a bad reputation. No train line but it is closer to the express way then some of the other towns. In general, with your budget you could do A LOT better.
I hope that helps. Bottom line if I were going to spend 500k on a home in one of those areas it would be Barrington. If you wanted a little larger home Crystal Lake would be a good choice as well (go to the north side of town).
I would recommend doing some of you own research into the schools, check with the police (this can tell you a lot about an area), check the website for sex offenders, check census bureau (if ethnicity matters), this site city-data can tell you some good information as well. Lastly, if you aren’t familiar with these cities you really need to drive through them. The more you drive through an area the more you will know if you will feel comfortable living there.
I have lived in the Northwest suburbs as far out as Huntley and as far in a Des Plaines. I am very familiar with the different areas and have friend or family from just most of the areas mentioned.
Woodstock - I have family and friends that live in Woodstock and that went through the schools there. This school district isn't that good. It is a decent little town but for the price range you are looking you could do A LOT better. There is a train line.
Crystal Lake - This would be my second choice in your budget. This is a good community with pretty good schools depending on which district you are in, none of them are bad though. I have a lot of friends that live and lived in this city in every district. For your budget I would look on the north side of town off Walkup. I am considering moving there myself. There is a train line.
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Great Post.
I lived in Crystal Lake for 3 years and loved it. Great Schools, Nice Town, Low McHenry County Sales tax vs. Cook.
You will also have the express line to downtown.
If I moved back to Illinois, Crystal Lake would remain tops on my list.
Great Town!
Again we go from "none of them are bad" to "Great Schools".
GRRR!
People would you LOOK AT WHAT YOU ARE SAYING!
How many threads are there where posters are saying stuff like "I never knew you had to pay off the loan when your car gets repossessed". Or " I believed the people who said houses NEVER go down in price."
Don't you get it?
Schools are turning out NUMBSKULLS who can't understand / read a finance agreement!
My husband and I are looking for a house within 45 minutes from Harvard,IL ...the closer to Chicago the better. We know Elgin, Barrington, Crystal Lake, West Dundee....but has no clue their differences. If you know about these towns or nearby neighborhoods, I'd appreciate if you tell us!
We are expecting our first child in August this year. How does school district matter in our situation?
Convinient communiting is important. We don't want to live at a place where grocery is at least 15 mins driving away.
Our budget is around $500K, perhaps minimum 4 bedrooms and 3 baths.
Any advice about the neighborhood is greatly appreciated.
Crystal Lake is about as far east as you can get to be within about 45 minutes from Harvard. I use to make that drive (live in Crystal Lake) and I would fly and get there in about 40 minutes. You can find a very nice home fitting your needs in Crystal Lake.
Elgin, from the short information you've given, is to..... well, to put it bluntly, poor, for what you're looking for. Barrington would be a bit far, and somewhat of a stretch to try to find a nice house that has the 4bed/3 bath look that you want. Perhaps try Fox River Grove or Cary, just east of Crystal Lake, for nice houses, within your price range.
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