Transferring to Deer Park, IL. Where to live/IB schools (Chicago: best town, renting)

[nanska]

Hi ! We are an African-American family returning to the US after living abroad ( Germany and China ) for 7 yrs. Hubby will be working in Deer Park, and HR is getting the relocation package together. Since we are not from the Chicago area I am also looking for info. on my own, and have Q's about safe/family friendly neighborhoods and IB/Middle/High Schools. The children are currently attending an IB school and we would like them to continue in an IB school but the only listings I have found for IB schools are in Chicago itself, or Peoria, and we are NOT interested in the children attending a CPS school. Are there IB schools in the Northern/Western suburbs? and if not, what is the quality of schools in Barrington/Mt. Prospect/Arlington/Deer Park ? Thanks for any and all info !!!

[chitown85]

I have not heard of any IB schools in the NW or West burbs, they are generally geared more toward AP. In the NW burbs especially, there are very few private schools (which includes Parochial) and those are probably geared toward AP. The schools in the NW/North burbs tend to be very good, however there are a few notable exceptions. In Illinois, public school district boundaries do not correspond with municipal boundaries and generally, high school districts are separate from elementary/middle school districts.

For example, Buffalo Grove is carved into three elementary school districts that it shares with other suburbs and is part of two high school districts. In Deer Park, there are two elementary school districts and houses are zoned into two different high school districts (95-Lake Zurich and 125- Stevenson).

In Deer Park, the better areas to be in are District 96 elementary, which covers portions of Deer Park, Kildeer, Hawthorn Woods, Long Grove, and Buffalo Grove. You would probably also want District 125 High School (Stevenson) as opposed to Lake Zurich. Not to say Lake Zurich schools aren't good, but Stevenson High School and its feeder elementary schools are better.

Barrington has a great high school, and I'm sure the same is true for elementary. Arlington Heights is divided into three elementary school districts, the better of which is up for debate (personally I think 21 is better). There is one high school district (214) with zoning to various high schools depending where you live--Buffalo Grove HS which serves northern Arlington Heights is the best high school in 214.

Mount Prospect is located within the 214 High School District, and I think most students go to Prospect HS, but their elementary school districts are questionable.

It is very confusing and I hope it kind of makes sense.

[middle-aged mom]

No IB schools.

Arlington Heights feeds into several differerent high schools, Bufflao Grove, Hersey, Rolling Meadows, Wheeling and Prospect.

Deer Park shares a zip code ( 60010) with Barrington. Dependent on where in Deep Park you live, schools either feed into Lake Zurich or Barrington. There is no part of Deer Park that feeds into Stevenson.

Buffalo Grove feeds into Buffalo Grove High school and Stevenson.

Parts of Long Grove, Kildeer, Hawthorn Woods, a tiny slice of Lake Zurich and other towns further East also feed into Stevenson.

Will you be renting or buying?
If buying, what's your price range.

This will have a huge influence on where you land, too.

[nanska]

Chitown85 and Middle-aged Mom, thanks for the info. It is rather confusing, but both of you have helped a great deal in clearing up some of the confusion.
So, no IB schools in the NW suburbs. That's a shame. We will be renting initially, and ?maybe? buying after we have lived in the area to get a better feel for the different suburbs/communities. We are looking for a stable community, that has a lower than average crime-rate, highly rated schools ( Middle/Sr. High School ), and is not filled w/McMansions. I know, we're not asking for much

[Ophidian14]

Originally Posted by chitown85

There is one high school district (214) with zoning to various high schools depending where you live--Buffalo Grove HS which serves northern Arlington Heights is the best high school in 214.

Prospect is a far better school than BG.

Prospect = 16th
BGHS = 78th

Illinois State High Schools - IL School Rankings

(BG class of '99, myself...)

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by nanska

Chitown85 and Middle-aged Mom, thanks for the info. It is rather confusing, but both of you have helped a great deal in clearing up some of the confusion.
So, no IB schools in the NW suburbs. That's a shame. We will be renting initially, and ?maybe? buying after we have lived in the area to get a better feel for the different suburbs/communities. We are looking for a stable community, that has a lower than average crime-rate, highly rated schools ( Middle/Sr. High School ), and is not filled w/McMansions. I know, we're not asking for much

The NW 'burbs, like the majority of the whole Chicago region, saw MUCH development / redevelopment of housing in the more desirable towns. If you have an aversion to newer larger homes on suburban lots you really will have a very difficult time feeding good schools.

If your desire for an IB program is very strong your best bet is probably CPS, but there are numerous hoops to jump through and housing costs are not the only one.

From a racial perspective the NW 'burbs are fairly thin for those that identify as AA, though given a work location in Deer Park the options are not too broad...

My advice would be scout out the best town you can afford and give less weight to ruling towns that may have a large percentage of newer larger homes.

Good Luck!

[cubssoxfan]

My subjective "ranking" of high schools: Based on opinions on forum, US News Rankings and a smidge of personal experience or first person experiences
1) Stevenson
2) Fremd, Prospect, Hersey
3) Barrington, Lake Zurich
4) Buffalo Grove, Palatine, Wheeling, Rolling Meadows
5) Elk Grove
6) Schaumburg, Conant, Hoffman Estates
Now what is interesting is Buffalo Grove, Wheeling & Rolling Meadows were on US News Best list for 2009 but not 2010. I feel what hurts the schools I rank #4 & lower is more diversity. For example, Wheeling HS has over 20% Hispanic student population. Many are good students, but there is a significant number from that group that are not college bound and therefore weigh down overall teat scores that go into school rankings. Last time I looked the schools from #'s 4-5 offered same honors and AP classes in the main subject categories (math, english, science, history) as Hersey and Prospect. The schools are all in the same district. Where the course offering s were different was in electives. So Wheeling is not rated lower because it offers fewer honors and AP classes as Prospect. Prospect has a higher % of college bound students so their scores are higher and ranking is higher.

Stevenson is an excellent school. But is is large with class sizes over 1,000 per GRADE and the competition that comes with it. But if a Stevenson student doesn't go on to college, it's shocking.

[chet everett]

Distance wise I think the OP might be better off looking to the Glenbrook High Schools before I would look to the south. Glenview and Northbrook are a bit pricer for housing than some of the towns south of Deer Park, but that generally equates with higher performing schools and better retention of housing value...

[chitown85]

Only problem with Glenview and Northbrook is the drive to Deer Park and back on Lake Cook everyday. It is atrocious, even though you are technically going against the grain, the traffic is still miserable.

[cubssoxfan]

So what makes Glenbrook better than Stevenson, or Prospect or Hersey? Or Barrington or Fremd?