Kenosha, WI questions (Racine, Pleasant Prairie, Salem: real estate, crime, catholic schools)

[TheresaKopp]

Hi everyone. I have a few questions about the Kenosha area.

Could someone tell me about the Catholic schools there?

What are some major employers there(in Kenosha and within a half an hour drive)? My husband is a design engineer and his field is in plastics and tooling.

We have 4 children and are also wondering about good areas to look for a home.

Thank you for all responses, it is very helpful!
Theresa

[keungfamily]

Don't know muchabout the schools in Kenosha proper but in the suburbs (10 miles west of Kenosha), we have St Alphonsus. Everyone I have talked to likes it.

Case Mfg, Jockey, are a couple of the major employers. Try this link: Kenosha Jobs

We like the small school of Wheatland Center. That serves the New Munster, Salem, Wheatland, Lily Lake, Silver Lake areas. It is a K4-8. They are super nice and have accepted my kids easily (they have been going for just 3 days as we just moved 2 weeks ago).

Pleasant Prairie has good schools too, from what I heave heard. Stay away from Racine though. Hubby works there but commutes the 1/2 hour so we have better schools.

[Wellstone]

i've seen a couple of the threads you have posted in the past and i really think you should give the twin cities a look. they seem to describe perfectly what you are looking for and there are more opportunities in the plastic molding / tool design field here than you will find anywhere in wisconsin.

madison is going to be limited in industrial type of job opportunities. there are some molders and tool & die shops in that area but you are talking about a handful vs dozens in the twin cities.

milwaukee has the industry but it's by and large a waste disposal and racially divided like no other city around. definitely not a good fit.

kenosha is stuck in no man's land between milwaukee and chicago, isn't progressively minded, has only lake michigan to offer, and not much else.

in the twin cities not only are there a massive number of lakes right in the metro area, but you are in close proximity to most of the nicer, cleaner lakes of northern wisconsin and northern minnesota. you can't beat the summers up here.

[WIArcher]

The reputable catholic school that I know of are St Mary's offering elementary and middle school and St Joseph's High School. Both are within the city of Kenosha. Some of the major employers in the area were listed in a previous post but addition to that is Pleasant Prairie industrial park WISPARK, a real estate development company operating in Wisconsin and Illinois (which has a large number of companies) and Snap On tools. Living in Kenosha all my life and raising a son myself I like Kenosha. But with any city in the 100,000 population there is some crime. Racine which is the city immediately north of Kenosha however has had problems with crime and is not an area that I would feel comfortable raising my son. Kenosha has some areas that aren't the best but most areas are nice. As a general rule I'd look west of Highway 31. Pleasant Prairie is another nice area to consider. A large percent of Kenosha's population is people that have moved from Illinois being as the cost of living in less expensive here. People are generally friendly but keep to themselves. Winter months are mostly uneventful and summer months offer a decent amount of things to do by the lake(Michigan).

Best of luck to you and feel free to ask more specifics if need be.[SIZE=4][SIZE=4][SIZE=4]
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