Evanston Schools: Any experience with them?

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Can you clarify? Are you saying that neighborhood attendance boundaries don't always apply?

In Oak Park if you live within an attendance boundary, you go to that school. They do gerrymander the attendance boundaries a bit to help with racial integration, but I think the idea in Oak Park is that the primary integration efforts occur at the housing level, not the school level.

History has a lot to do with the differences between Oak Park and Evanston. Let's not forget that Evanston's black community, much of it started to serve housekeeping needs of the wealthy North Shore, goes well back into the 19th century while long after WWII, Oak Park was basically all white.

Thus Evanston had a black community but little fear of the city's racial balance changing while Oak Park has few blacks, but proximity to the West Side gave fears of a drastic change in the village's demographics.

Evanston's reality on the ground did not lend itself to a "plan"; Oak Park's made one imperative. And that plan, though based on housing still affected schools greatly and steered black families towards the west part of town and whites to barrier like areas east towards Austin Blvd (certainly healthier than the previous "plan" to turn virtually all residential streets into cul du sacs that used to provide entry on Austin.

Oak Park and Evanston are both diverse, but it would be hard to argue that Evanston is nearly as integrated as Oak Park.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by edsg25

History has a lot to do with the differences between Oak Park and Evanston. Let's not forget that Evanston's black community, much of it started to serve housekeeping needs of the wealthy North Shore, goes well back into the 19th century while long after WWII, Oak Park was basically all white.

Thus Evanston had a black community but little fear of the city's racial balance changing while Oak Park has few blacks, but proximity to the West Side gave fears of a drastic change in the village's demographics.

Evanston's reality on the ground did not lend itself to a "plan"; Oak Park's made one imperative. And that plan, though based on housing still affected schools greatly and steered black families towards the west part of town and whites to barrier like areas east towards Austin Blvd (certainly healthier than the previous "plan" to turn virtually all residential streets into cul du sacs that used to provide entry on Austin.

Oak Park and Evanston are both diverse, but it would be hard to argue that Evanston is nearly as integrated as Oak Park.

I also feel like crime in Oak Park is viewed as something perpetrated by outsiders, since the "threat" that most Oak Parkers fear is the adjacent Austin neighborhood. And in Evanston, it seems that crime is viewed as more of an internal issue. Sure, Rogers Park is nearby, but Rogers Park is child's play compared to Austin--and has only a slight fraction of the criminal activity. Yet strangely, crime levels in Oak Park and Evanston are eerily similar. Oak Park seems to consistenly have more robberies, but Evanston has nearly double the burglaries (see graphic).

[Chickster]

I lived in Evanston for 5.5 years. My son was in grade school then. I sent him to public school only to learn that even in second grade they were "actively recruiting" for gangs. Switched him to two different faith-based private schools. That just turned into a lesson in checkwriting for any and everything that you can imagine and not a bit of homework to be seen. He lost interest, I lost my patience, and we moved to the suburbs. Not saying it's the be all, end all. But, his grades are high and he's not.

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

My wife and I love Evanston, but have concerns about the public elementary and middle schools there. The test scores are slightly low for a suburban school district, even compared to another diverse suburb like Oak Park. Most test in the low 80s for the ISAT and the "all tests" composite. Granted, this would be a great score for a CPS school, but if we move to the suburbs we want EXCELLENT schools, not just decent ones. However, we realize that test scores are only one factor, and would like to hear about people's experience with District 65.

Does anyone have personal experience with the Evanston schools? How did you feel about them? Did your kid get a good education? Was too much time spent helping the underachieving kids catch up? Did you like the culture of the schools and the people your kids were hanging out with? Were teachers and staff responsive to concerns?

[Anthera]

Originally Posted by Chickster

I lived in Evanston for 5.5 years. My son was in grade school then. I sent him to public school only to learn that even in second grade they were "actively recruiting" for gangs. Switched him to two different faith-based private schools. That just turned into a lesson in checkwriting for any and everything that you can imagine and not a bit of homework to be seen. He lost interest, I lost my patience, and we moved to the suburbs. Not saying it's the be all, end all. But, his grades are high and he's not.

Last I looked Evanston was a suburb.

[chiboy7]

Evanston schools in District 65 are good. K-8 are Bessie Rhodes(350 students) and King Lab(520 students). They are great teacher-student schools. Orrington,Willard, Oakton, Kingsley, Dewey, Washington are great elem schools. Nichols, Chute, Haven are middle schools. I suggest KL and Bessie Rhodes

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by chiboy7

Evanston schools in District 65 are good. K-8 are Bessie Rhodes(350 students) and King Lab(520 students). They are great teacher-student schools. Orrington,Willard, Oakton, Kingsley, Dewey, Washington are great elem schools. Nichols, Chute, Haven are middle schools. I suggest KL and Bessie Rhodes

What about Lincoln? Any opinion?

[edsg25]

As I noted before, I'm an ETHS grad and I certainly have kept up with Evanston as a community since I moved away years ago, and still frequent it as a place to go.

But I hardly know that much about the Evanston schools today. So hopefully someone can answer my question:

I realize that this is an apples-and-oranges question, but which has a better relative reputation (in regard to peer districts covering the same grades):

65 or ETHS

(my sense is traditionally ETHS has always had a stronger reputation than 65)