Raising kids "in the city" - is it possible?? (Chicago: transplants, foreclose)

[MannheimMadman]

Good article.

Our friends think we're crazy for wanting our little boy to grow up in the city. Call me crazy, but I had the privilege of learning about diversity first hand- living in Franklin Park for my later grade school years amongst plenty of hispanics and other minorities. My wife is currently nannying as a summer job for some kids in Naperville who fear places like Garfield Ridge and Archer heights. When you never leave your white bread world, how can you gain insight to diversity?

Anyways, I'm looking forward to raising kids on the southside, tuition prices be damned!

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by ManheimMadman

Anyways, I'm looking forward to raising kids on the southside, tuition prices be damned!

Good for you. Are you going Catholic for schools?

It's interesting how the parents in the article were able to "flip" their neighborhood CPS schools by getting involved. That wouldnt work in Uptown where I live, however.

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Good for you. Are you going Catholic for schools?

It's interesting how the parents in the article were able to "flip" their neighborhood CPS schools by getting involved. That wouldnt work in Uptown where I live, however.

I'm interested to see whether the mortgage crisis could potentially be a positive, at least for the underperforming CPS schools in the 'gentrified' neighborhoods. It seems as if a decent number of condo buyers who had bought in the past few years with the plan of reselling it a few years later to move to the burbs now find themselves 'stuck' raising their kids in the city.

If they follow the model outlined in the tribune article, maybe we'll start to see the number of well performing CPS schools begin to increase.

[MannheimMadman]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Good for you. Are you going Catholic for schools?

It's interesting how the parents in the article were able to "flip" their neighborhood CPS schools by getting involved. That wouldnt work in Uptown where I live, however.

We're considering it. My wife is from New Orleans, and she spent k-12 in Catholic schools. She's a little weird, but she turned out OK

Otherwise, we're trying to navigate the maze that is called CPS. My wife is dead-set on moving to Beverly next spring/may, and we've been looking at the report cards on Vanderpoel and Kellogg elementary. Surprisingly, they don't look all that atrocious, but one can never know. We're both finishing up our student teaching this fall, so we know a thing or two about education hopefully.

As far as 'flipping' goes, you'd be surprised what parent interaction and a little hard work does to scores, students and academia in general. One of our schools in the Joliet school district had to privatize into an "academy" in the recent past, and boy- when you make it a prerogative to be at 100% in parent contact and throw the ball into the parents' court; great things happen.

[ajolotl]

Out of curiosity, why not Sutherland in Beverly? It seems to be the preferred school among the people I know who live there.

[MannheimMadman]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

Out of curiosity, why not Sutherland in Beverly? It seems to be the preferred school among the people I know who live there.

Perhaps it is because I hadn't looked into it.

On second look and closer examination, I see that Vanderpoel and Kellogg are not exactly what you'd call "diverse".

Looking at the report card, I see why it Sutherland a preferred school. We've got some time before my son gets to that age, so we'll see. Thanks for the tip!

[mr aztec]

I don't see the current mortgage crisis affecting the cps for the good.

1) First, I see the universe of mothers/fathers who could potentially get involved in the cps and improve the cps as rather small--In general, this segment will have an unconventional mortgage (loan with an ARM and 95/100% financing), have a child, and actually be distressed because of the increase costs w/ childcare, rate increase, or both.

2) Don't forget, they are not truly stuck. If I was faced with the choice of sending my kid to cps or foreclose and rent in the burbs, I'd be inclined to walk away.

3) And lastly, lets say there is a small segment that says, "We're stuck, so we are going to make the best of it and get involved." What about the other 99% of school parents who haven't been able to make a difference (either because they can't or won't)? I would think as many or more of these "non-yuppies" or whatever you want to call them are equally affected by the mortgage crisis. This is just my gut, but that non-yuppie class or segment would seem to be quite susceptible to mortgage brokers preying on thier financial situation. How easy was it to tap their equity/percieved equity with unconventional loans in early to mid 2000? I have concluded that this "non-yuppie" segment is equal or more financially distressed and that cannot possibly be a factor that would help to improve an area's school system.

[mr aztec]

Personally, I think the yuppies (me included) would tap whatever financial resources avaialbe (parents, credit, 2nd job, ... foreclosure) rather than send thier kid to a bad school.

[cdc3217]

Originally Posted by mr aztec

Personally, I think the yuppies (me included) would tap whatever financial resources avaialbe (parents, credit, 2nd job, ... foreclosure) rather than send thier kid to a bad school.

I think you're discounting the activist yupppies out there who are willing to try and change the world until it gets too ugly.

[mr aztec]

My argument is that the activist yuppie population would be too small to really turn things around, and the affects of the mortgage crisis on the existing population with kids in cps would counterweight any progress made by the activist yuppies. IMHO.

Maybe there can be some progress made if there truly is a large influx of families raising young children, especially in areas that seem ripe to change, i.e., lakeview/buena park/ravenswood/lincoln square.

But areas like uptown? maybe next generation.