Lake Central vs School Town of Munster - which is really better? (Hammond: real estate)

[tvmartin42]

Hey folks,

So my husband and I are having a REALLY tough time making a decision. We need to move, 'cause we just had another baby and our tiny Munster cape cod is just not big enough for a daughter and a son (not enough bedrooms when they can't share anymore). We moved to Munster for the schools, and I hate to leave. But I don't think we can afford to buy the kind of house we want here. we're limited to about $275, and that doesn't get you a lot in Munster. We'd like something built after 1990.

But I feel terrible thinking that I'm trading excellent schools for a big bathroom. I know Lake Central schools are considered good. Are Munster schools really so much better that her educational experience will be that much different? Or are Munster schools so much greater that we should buy a lesser home and stick it out here.

Thoughts? and THANKS!!!

[svillechris]

My wife and I debated this for a while too before buying a home in NWI. If you look at the raw numbers such as ISTEP or ECA scores, they're extremely close. Overall the School Town of Munster may historically have shown slightly higher scores. But the gap, if any, is very small in my opinion. In fact, many of the LC schools had higher ISTEP scores than Munster elementary schools this past year. Frank Hammond, a wonderful school, scored so highly this past year that it really brought Munster's overall district's average up significantly. Also, Munster and LC partner up when it comes to special Ed, both using Westlake Coop. The testing of these children is done, primarily if not entirely, at LC schools and therefore the expected lower scores of those students may negatively skew LC's overall numbers.

Now, that being said, I'm by no means criticizing Munster or even calling it overrated. I think it's an excellent district. However, I feel that the slight premium in real estate prices coupled with the significantly higher taxes in Munster compared to LC towns, I do not feel it is far superior to justify those additional costs. I believe that if you have a student who wants to learn, tries hard, and parents who care and help their kid achieve, I think the student can and will be very successful in either district.

[Northwest Indiana]

svillechris made very good points.

At the end of the day, both school systems are great. Munster is more well-known in general for being a good school, but LC is getting known for the same as well and it is situated in a great area. It is not uncommon for individuals to prefer a larger and newer home in the LC district over an older smaller home in Munster because there is minimal educational trade-offs. If we were talking about Munster vs. Merrillville, you would have a much bigger issue as you could get a much bigger newer home in Merrillville for much less than in the LC district and even more home than in Munster...however you would also be dealing with a not-so-great school district that is getting only more troubled each year.

Good luck!

[tvmartin42]

Thanks folks! Your thoughts corroborate the same conclusion I drew. You just can't be too careful when it comes to schools, though.

here's another Q for you...how much difference is there between elementary schools in the Lake Central district? I know that there is some test score variance, but in Munster that's often attributable to pockets of special needs students (or so they say). Are there any schools in Lake Central that you've learned to watch out for, anecdotally?

[Northwest Indiana]

Originally Posted by tvmartin42

Thanks folks! Your thoughts corroborate the same conclusion I drew. You just can't be too careful when it comes to schools, though.

here's another Q for you...how much difference is there between elementary schools in the Lake Central district? I know that there is some test score variance, but in Munster that's often attributable to pockets of special needs students (or so they say). Are there any schools in Lake Central that you've learned to watch out for, anecdotally?

I think there is less of a difference between the elementary schools in LC district vs in Munster.

MUNSTER

In Munster, Frank Hammond is elementary school with the wealthiest families and has probably the least transient population which offers stability for students to grow academically and socially and makes it easier for the administration to run the school and teachers to teach.

Elliot elementary school has always been pretty good (home of the EPAT program - if still running). This school is zoned to an area of town that has many older families but with not too many younger families moving in. There are not many new homes in this zone (except for very expensive teardowns), and the older homes are really nice, but often more than a typical family would be able to afford (and probably wouldnt want because renovated an outdated 3,000-4,000 sq foot home would be costly!). This school is not as diverse as Frank Hammond and does not really have as many Special Ed students or ESL students as FHH or Eads. At least the last time I checked this was the case.

Eads is considered the "least desired" of elementary schools in Munster. Much of the reason is because there are more rentals in the area and the school population is much more transient than in the past. There is also signficicantly more ESL students at this school which does drag down scores. Your child will still get a good education here however.

LC

In the LC district, it appears that Protsman Elementary school is the least desired and Kolling the most desired. The scores between all of the schools do not seem to be much different from each other and it seems to be much less of a worry about which elementary school to send your child too. This district is pretty homogenous throughout with the exception that overall, real estate will be most expensive in Saint John, followed by Dyer, followed by Schererville.

Svillechris may be able to offer more on LC schools

[svillechris]

Originally Posted by tvmartin42

Thanks folks! Your thoughts corroborate the same conclusion I drew. You just can't be too careful when it comes to schools, though.

here's another Q for you...how much difference is there between elementary schools in the Lake Central district? I know that there is some test score variance, but in Munster that's often attributable to pockets of special needs students (or so they say). Are there any schools in Lake Central that you've learned to watch out for, anecdotally?

To answer your question, no not really. There's no significant difference between the LC elementary schools. If I were to rank, I'd actually put Watson at the top and Protsman at the bottom. I canvassed for the LC referendum in late 2011 and talked to a lot of people about it. Some people in the north section of Dyer told me if the referendum didn't pass (part of referendum was to completely rebuild Protsman, along with the high school), they would consider paying the fee to send their kids to a Munster elementary. They thought the school was too crowded. Not coincidentally, so did the administration and that's why Protsman was part of the proposal. I never heard anything negative about the academics though. I'd probably put Protsman in the same category as Eads. Probably a few more lower income students or ESL students attend that school as that's the part of Dyer with older and smaller homes. Still though, it's an above average school.