Moving to Chicago, Need Advice on Des Plaines and Surrounding Chicago Suburbs

[cubssoxfan]

have never seen someone attempt to justify that moving into a less desireable school district with your children in an area innundated with great schools is somehow a wise option but you can decide for yourself. Bottom line is that you can choose to have your children attend a school that is ranked 10th in the state or you can have them attend a school ranked 200th in the state. It is up to you to decide whether that difference has any merit like many others have done before you which is why you will pay more for a house in the better district

And I loathe smug posters who state that schools are undesirable when all they do is look at overall test scores and don't look into class offerings, teacher quality/experience and have no first hand experience with the school. If Stevenson merged with Mundelein and the test scores dropped because of it, would Stevenson become an undesirable school because their ranking dropped to, say 60th? Or would it remain an excellent school whose test scores are brought down by non-college bound students who are required to take the tests but do not do well on it? If Hersey's or Prospect's test scores dropped due to changes in demographics would you automatically say they are suddenly undesirable? Rolling Meadows and Wheeling were named to US News & World Reports Best High Schools in 2010; and now they are undesirable after just 2 years? D214 is NOT undesirable district. Some schools rank better than others, but if you study the course offerings and demographics, the lower performing schools are the schools that have greater diversity. quality teachers are at ALL schools in the district and core AP courses are available at ALL schools in the district.
Is Rolling Meadows Stevenson? No. Is it undesirable? NO, Get real. For many, Rolling Meadows, Wheeling, Buffalo Grove are very good schools and we appreciate and embrace the diversity. For others it is an escape from Chicago or other areas with truly "undesirable" schools to an area with very good schools that is affordable and provides an opportunity for their kids to learn what they need to go on to college.

[sbking]

To your comment about being smug you seem to be the only person entitled to have an opinion about 8 different high schools and can speak about the quality of each of them. Or is it that you have a vested interest because you reside or work in a particular school district and my comments offended you? Your position that all high schools are the same except for demographics is absurd. Whether you like it or not there are differences between the consistently top ranked schools and the others beyond demographics (per student spending, extracurricular activities, teacher salaries, parent involvement, etc. to name a few)and many people with children are willing to pay more for it.School rankings can change quite a bit year over year depending on the criteria used and most people are aware of this but most people are also smart enough to look at the historical trend.Here are some rankings from 2009 – I see some familiar names at the top – http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/3973381-418/story.html and some others not listed.

You have let nothing but emotion and insults spew out since I posted that the OP could get a house cheaper in AH in the Rolling Meadows school district because it wasn’t as desirable as John Hersey which is FACT. Reason being is that the quality of education one receives is perceived to be better at Hersey which is why there is higher demand. You can argue this is not true, that the perception is baseless, that the parents are racist and that all the people that pay extra to be in school districts with better test scores are fools but in the end it is not your opinion but the opinion of person buying your house that matters. If I had children and was moving into the area I am like most parents and would want to send my children to the school where they have the best chances to succeed. If the only measure of difference were average test scores and everything else was equal as you suggest I would still always send my children to the school with the better test scores because if statistics hold true, on average they will get better test scores - simple as that. Although test scores shouldn’t be the sole factor used I am amazed that you can broadly attempt to discredit test scores being a measure of school performance and insinuate that the families that have made additional sacrifices to get their children into these schools didn’t know what they were doing.

Lastly to your racially charged “lily white” comment. I went to high school where white was the minority and got to experience having several classmates murdered and many more incarcerated during my 4 years there. I had to live in fear of going school because of the gangs that ran it and the knowledge that the 3 paid security guards roaming the halls would rarely get to the 3 on 1 fight before the victim had the crap beat out of them. I saw a girl laying a pool of blood coming from her head after she was beaten with a lock from a locker my first month at the school. Don’t talk to me about diversity because I am fairly confident you don’t have the slightest clue what attending a truly diverse school means. I guess this means I will take the test scores over diversity for my children if given the option.

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by sbking

To your comment about being smug you seem to be the only person entitled to have an opinion about 8 different high schools and can speak about the quality of each of them. Or is it that you have a vested interest because you reside or work in a particular school district and my comments offended you? Your position that all high schools are the same except for demographics is absurd. Whether you like it or not there are differences between the consistently top ranked schools and the others beyond demographics (per student spending, extracurricular activities, teacher salaries, parent involvement, etc. to name a few)and many people with children are willing to pay more for it.School rankings can change quite a bit year over year depending on the criteria used and most people are aware of this but most people are also smart enough to look at the historical trend.Here are some rankings from 2009 – I see some familiar names at the top – http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/3973381-418/story.html and some others not listed.

You have let nothing but emotion and insults spew out since I posted that the OP could get a house cheaper in AH in the Rolling Meadows school district because it wasn’t as desirable as John Hersey which is FACT. Reason being is that the quality of education one receives is perceived to be better at Hersey which is why there is higher demand. You can argue this is not true, that the perception is baseless, that the parents are racist and that all the people that pay extra to be in school districts with better test scores are fools but in the end it is not your opinion but the opinion of person buying your house that matters. If I had children and was moving into the area I am like most parents and would want to send my children to the school where they have the best chances to succeed. If the only measure of difference were average test scores and everything else was equal as you suggest I would still always send my children to the school with the better test scores because if statistics hold true, on average they will get better test scores - simple as that. Although test scores shouldn’t be the sole factor used I am amazed that you can broadly attempt to discredit test scores being a measure of school performance and insinuate that the families that have made additional sacrifices to get their children into these schools didn’t know what they were doing.

Lastly to your racially charged “lily white” comment. I went to high school where white was the minority and got to experience having several classmates murdered and many more incarcerated during my 4 years there. I had to live in fear of going school because of the gangs that ran it and the knowledge that the 3 paid security guards roaming the halls would rarely get to the 3 on 1 fight before the victim had the crap beat out of them. I saw a girl laying a pool of blood coming from her head after she was beaten with a lock from a locker my first month at the school. Don’t talk to me about diversity because I am fairly confident you don’t have the slightest clue what attending a truly diverse school means. I guess this means I will take the test scores over diversity for my children if given the option.

Well your last statement explains a lot. The reason my emotions entered into it is because of your statement "if you are not concerned about schools you can get a great value in Arlington Heights in the Rolling Meadows school district" You imply that parents who let their students go to a RM are not concerned with education and your insinuation that it is a bad or vastly inferior school is what frosts me.
So if we don't send our kids to Hersey, Prospect or Stevenson we don't care about education and we are sending our kids to bad schools?
D214 is somehow providing both the best and worst schools even though curriculum and teacher experience is pretty even throughout the district?
Sure whatever you say

[Logic87]

I'm close to buying a condo in Des Plaines. Kinda excited.

[zizu]

You should be! I rent a downtown Des Plaines condo on Pearson St and I love the convenience of being near all the major expressways, a 1 min walk to the metra (I work in Loop on certain days), and having access to the des plaines river path/forest preserves.

It is also great having the shop & save market and a $5 haircut salon within a quick walk as well.

In sum, it is boring (as are all suburbs), but I have friends around Chicagoland and, especially with the easy Downtown access (30-35 min express ride), I feel like downtown Des Plaines is a very smart choice for someone like you to settle in for a few years.