Need help , moving to Springfield (Chatham, Riverton: house, neighbourhoods, private schools)

[aspen08]

Hi,
I am moving to Springfield soon. I'm looking for a house in the area around West Edward St., Hawthorn Place, or Wahshington Park and would like to know more about housing in these neighbourhoods. Are these areas safe? How about school system, etc?

[linicx]

A lot of the poster with children on this forum like Chatham. The schools aer supposed to be very good and it is not that farm from the city. Check it out. You can also call the PD and ask if they have a lot calls in the specific area where you are looking.

[Annie3]

Those areas are all lovely to live, nice big old homes and tree lined streets. I grew up in Hawthorn Place. However, most of the Public schools in Springfield are not great, and I can't recommend one over the other. There is a charter school that runs on the lottery system (Ball Charter), as well as a gifted school (Iles). There are several excellent private schools (Catholic, Lutheran, and non-denominational Christian) worth checking out.

[doll lady]

The school systems of the outlying towns are probably better than the city schools. Some nearby towns I know have good school systems are Chatham, Rochester, Riverton and Williamsville...I'm sure there are more but I only listed the very close towns. These towns seems to have all of the sports kids might want to be involved in....football, basketball, soccer, golf, baseball, etc. I think you can do a search for the ratings of any one of these schools and see the financial rating as well as the scholastic ratings. Here's the site:

Illinois Schools - Illinois State School Ratings - Public and Private