Northern Chicago Suburbs closer to Lincoln Park area of the city (Evanston: school districts, to live)

[nmsm98]

I'm looking for good suburb school districts closer to the Lincoln Park area of the city? Any suggestions?

[oakparkdude]

How close?

[Lookout Kid]

You'll actually get closer to Lincoln Park going west because of the shape of the city. But if you want train access to Lincoln Park, the north shore suburbs offer that. And anything along the Edens will be your easiest drive.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

You'll actually get closer to Lincoln Park going west because of the shape of the city. But if you want train access to Lincoln Park, the north shore suburbs offer that. And anything along the Edens will be your easiest drive.

Any suburb with good schools is about 30 minutes drive from Lincoln Park in good traffic -- as much a TRIPLE that with crummy drive in bad weather. The trip into the commuter rail stations can be faster, but then you are still several miles south in the west Loop. You can take buses or El from Loop to Lincoln Park, but this combo commute takes more time.

El directly from Evanston would be possible, though not really faster. And schools are not as well ranked as in the less urban 'burbs. Ditto for Oak Park.

The rail lines were not laid out to get to Lincoln Park, but to the central business district. Frankly there are not many employers in Lincoln Park that have traditional office oriented commuters. DePaul and some hospitals are probably the largest employers in Lincoln Park. Many of their employees are not traditional 9-5 schedule and that has different demands on commuting...

[nmsm98]

I am looking for specific good suburban school districts to work for actually. I haven't decided if I would take the train or not, but have heard from friends that's a good option. So basically what I need is some specific school districts that are good closer to the Lincoln Park area..which is where I want to live. I am willing to commute up to 45 minutes. I'm a first year teacher and need some ideas!

[nmsm98]

And what is the Edens? I'm from St. Louis, MO so I don't know the Chicago area at all.

[chet everett]

OK -- very different situation!

So you'd like to work for a good school district and possible live in Lincoln ParK? The best performing schools can be found in the PDFs on this link: 2008 Report Cards

Most of the suburban districts on that list will have better pay & benefits than CPS, but CPS is decent for pay & benefits as far a ALL schools in the state -- there are many districts that pay far less. Basically the districts to avoid are those on the "finacial watch list". Often this is becuase they are poorly run and have more needy kids and not much property wealth...

Basically there is EXTREME competition to work in a desirable district -- if you don't know some one in the district either becuase you did student teaching there or have relatives with connections it will be VERY difficult to get in.

The Edens is the freeway that forks off of I-94 North and runs into Lake Co -- most towns along it are under an hour from LP except in worst weather.

It can be extremely difficult to routinely commute via train from Chicago to a job in the non-innner ring suburbs. The trains schedules are not really set up to make it easy to get to a highly regimented job like teaching AND allow you to get easily from train to school. You might be able to figure out something that works, especially if you were lucky enough to get hired at a school close enough to a train station to walk / ride bike, but even in good towns / districts this is NOT common. Driving may be had to beat time wise.

[oakparkdude]

I think I recall a prior thread listing suburban high schools that were within walking distance of el/Metra stations.

[Frank the Tank]

For train access to a good suburban school district, Evanston might be the only realistic option from Lincoln Park (taking the Purple Line). I know that there's the Yellow Line to Skokie, but I'm not sure if they are anywhere close to the schools there.

[nmsm98]

Yeah I checked and Evanston is 10 miles from where I want to live...if I could only get a job there! ha. Thank you for the suggestion!