Southern IL School Districts (Marion, Vernon: work, home, suburban)

[New2SouthernIL]

We are moving to the Mt. Vernon area (to include surrounding towns) soon. I have children in both Jr. High and High School. Which schools/school districts would you recommend?

I've looked on GreatSchools.net, Interactive Illinois Report Card, and IL State Board of Education site, but they have such a vast amount of information that I don't even know where to begin!

Thank you for your opinions!

[cml1972]

I don't know what to tell you about where to go, but I can tell you where I wouldn't send mine. I don't know how the grade schools are in Mt. Vernon but the high school is awful. I lived there as a child and went to grade school and it was fine then. I also have family there that went to the Mt. Vernon high school and it is not a good place if you can avoid it. I am moving back and looking for info on good small schools as well between Mt. Vernon and Marion, so I wish you the best of luck. Don't get me wrong, I think there are alot of great things about Mt.Vernon and they have some nice areas. The high school is just so rough!!

[BLS2753]

One thing about most southern IL school districts, is generally they are large geographically, and inclusive of all socioeconomic groups within a given area. Meaning, you can't pick a school district where all the kids are like yours. The population is too small for that. There is more of a selection among grade schools, but high schools are few and far between. Choosing a home, based on school district, rather than workplace location, is really no longer doable here because of gas prices. It can be done, but I don't think there's enough difference in schools here to justify it.

Don't expect much variety in curriculum and extracurricular activities, compared to large urban/suburban schools.

Like anywhere else, there are good teachers, and there are bad teachers. And no district has a monopoly on neither.