Talk to me about Kingsley Elementary in Evanston (Lincoln, Lincolnwood: for sale, real estate)

[londwesterner]

Hi,
My family and I have just relocated to Evanston and really like it. We unfortunately seem to have missed the 'spring crop' of houses on the market as everything we like is under contract. What remains that we like seems to be either overpriced, or falls in the Kingsley school district.

As we're not from here and don't know anyone, we don't really know if this is a good school or not. However, the building is *really ugly* and on a main road, and it has put us off a bit. Also the fact that nice houses are affordable to us makes us suspect that the district is less desirable than its counterparts which have almost nothing for sale in our range (Willard, Lincolnwood, Orrington, which all feed the same middle school).

My son is due to start Kindergarten in the fall so we don't have much time to sort something out. We have pretty high standards for what we want out of a school, but also don't want to be so far from the city center as Willard.

Opinions? Suggestions?

Thanks!!

[nana053]

Kingsley is not a separate district, it is part of Evanston. All of the schools including Kingsley are in District 65. District 65 does have permissive transfers between any school in the district, btw, so you could send your child to any school in Evanston that has room provided he would not put the school out of balance racially.

From the district 65 website, Haven Middle School is where students from the Kingsley, Lincolnwood, Orrington and Willard attendance area go for sixth through eighth grade. So Kingsley feeds into Haven as well as the other schools you mention.

I would not judge a school by its physical plant. You need to judge by its teachers and programs. It looks like there are 3 kindergarten classes at Kingsley.

Schooldigger.com rates Kingsley and Lincolnwood three stars and Willard and Orrington 4 stars. I am not sure if this is based only on test scores or what criteria they use. Both Orrington and Willard have fewer students in poverty as measured by the numbers on free and reduced lunch. Greatschools.org rates Willard a 10 and the other three schools an 8.

Great schools has 15 reviews of Kingsley. There are only 2 negative reviews and those are from 2006 and 2007. All of the 2010 reviews are very positive.

You could also, of course, apply to one of the magnet schools.

Note: My kids attended Orrington, but that was a long time ago. Orrington was ok and at the time it had mixed grade classes that worked for both my kids as this allowed for them to work at their own pace depending upon the subject. I don't know if that is still true. (My kids were in a 1st-2nd combo, then a 3rd alone and then a 4th-5th combo. My son insists that his 3rd grade was a wasted year academically) When they went to Haven, I was not pleased. I ended up transferring my dd across town to Chute due to bullying issues with the same girls she had been friends with at Orrington. Hopefully, those issues have since been addressed. I did not see any significant differences academically between Chute and Haven, despite the hype about Haven at that time.

[chet everett]

The data from Illinois Interactive Reports is what I would rely on if schools are important to you:
Illinois Interactive Report Card I put ZERO faith in anything that I read on sites like "greatschool" where no matter if someone has an axe to grind or wants to blow smoke to put up their crummy area they hold equal weight.

Nana is correct about D65 having fairly generous policies regarding attendance areas / transfers but I would caution that living in one attendance area and either trying to get your kids into another attendance are or regretting where you are at is NOT the best way to deal with this. You start out at HUGE disadvantage by going against the grain. Except for when there are obvious conflicts (and "mean girls" would definately fall into the category where the transfer can help...) the best chance of success is among neighbors that share your priorities.

Evanston is kind of unique in that there are wide range of attractive features spread around that tends to pull-in certain groups -- the area near NU has its appeal, the northern lakefront area holds appeal, the area closer to the CTA and Metra stops have their appeal, the western portions have their appeal... Depending on your budget I would certainly try to find the home that best fits ALL your needs, if that means RENTING in a more costly area / one with less inventory that will HANDS DOWN make more sense than being STUCK with a purchase you regret ESPECIALLY with the high degree of uncertainty that STILL exists for shorter term real estate decisions.

The big advantage to RENTING in an area where you eventually want to BUY is that you can get an "inside edge" from other school families / neighbors that MAY be moving out of the area / have relatives ready to sell. If you put your effort toward that you will be much better off than trying to rush a decision to snatch up any house you can afford...

[themag62]

To address your concerns about Kingsley-Dear friends of mine live blocks from Kingsley, N of Central Ave and E of Broadway. The homes in this area are sigh inducing, the area could have been the set for Pleasantville, and the zoned elementary is Kingsley. Kingsley's zone includes socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhoods to the S and W and the kids from this priveleged area of Evanston, so it is a diverse school. My friend sent their daughter to Kingsley. She tests at the top of MAP scores (not ISAT). Her parents both have PhDs and she was read to as a toddler, exposed to every cultural enrichment, homework was watched closely, etc... So much of that family background/parental income/education/involvement is the key to academic achievement. Above a certain basic threshold, the achievement of their classmates(test scores) is not the crucial factor for your child. This obssession over a few percentage point pass rates etc. is just pointless for kids from advantaged families. So I'd say there is no reason not to buy a house if it is in the Kingsley zone. It is a perfectly good, even if not "perfect" school.

[nana053]

You might want to check out the Kingsley PTA facebook page

Kingsley Elementary School PTA - School - Evanston, IL | Facebook

[terramama]

Just a quick word about permissive transfers. Dewey and Willard seem to be the "hot" schools now and you need to live in their zones to get in either of these schools. Also, some of the remaining schools are are at capacity now so getting a transfer to the school of your choice is not a done deal any longer.

Friends of school age kids tell me that you will likely be granted a permissive transfer from most attendance zones disrict-wide if you request Orrington, Walker, Oakton, or Washington. It is much more difficult to get a permissive transfer anywhere, however, if you live in the Oakton attendance area as enrollments at that school are lower compared to other elementary schools in the district.

[Larry Siegel]

>the area could have been the set for Pleasantville

Unless you're a McMansion guy, it really is about the best looking area in the whole North Shore. The mix of old American house styles in the area that feeds into Kingsley School is an architectural marvel.

Still, you have to do what you think is best for your kids. The Willard district is only a few blocks away, if you want your kids to socialize only with the educated and accomplished.

[chet everett]

Even I know that there are whole lot of people that are neither educated nor accomplished living inside the attendance are for Willard. Some folks get lucky. Maybe they got a house that was bombed out / totally neglected by previous owners.

I sorta like the fact that different parts of Evanston have different pluses and minuses, the downside is that it does not have uniformly high performing schools. The thing too is Evanston probably has fewer "aspirational buyers" than other North Shore towns. In real estate office speak this means there are fewer people in highly lucrative highly competitive jobs. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of professors, physicians and attorneys but fewer of the men and women that really do what they do to "win" in sales or finance. And it is a bit older than some towns. While other North Shore towns may have 30% of home owners under 40 years old and about 35% between 40 and 60 and the other 35% over 60 the profile of home owners of all races is thinner on the young end with maybe only 25% under 40 and maybe almost 40% over 60. That is somewhat offset by the larger number of younger renter but it has impact in how things are run and the overall feel of the town as well as the look and cost of the various neighborhoods / sections. It is silly to feel that you "have to settle" when you are spending as much as any home in any desirable town in the region costs but I think that maybe the OP just needs to get comfortable with the trade-offs and not feel that there is some magic "perfect" home / neighborhood just out of reach. While I'll be the first to say that too many buyers still have unrealistic asking prices the fact is that when homes that are more fairly priced do come on the market in the desirable parts of nicer towns they tend to get snatched up quickly. I really think the best way to be able "pounce" on those more rare deals is to rent nearby and make every effort to let everyone know of you situation...

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

>the area could have been the set for Pleasantville

Unless you're a McMansion guy, it really is about the best looking area in the whole North Shore. The mix of old American house styles in the area that feeds into Kingsley School is an architectural marvel.

Still, you have to do what you think is best for your kids. The Willard district is only a few blocks away, if you want your kids to socialize only with the educated and accomplished.