Skokie (Chicago, Evanston, Wilmette: apartment, renters, movers)

[chicagonewbies]

Can anyone tell me their thoughts on Skokie? Also, which areas should one avoid and which are the nicer better areas in Skokie?

I've read on here to avoid school district 69 and the area near Church and McCormick. Do you know why district 69 ranks so poorly compared to the other Skokie school districts?

Are some areas more diverse than others?

Thanks in advance.

[reppin_the_847]

I'm not sure about the schools, but certainly Skokie is one of the most diverse suburbs out there.

Originally Posted by chicagonewbies

Can anyone tell me their thoughts on Skokie? Also, which areas should one avoid and which are the nicer better areas in Skokie?

I've read on here to avoid school district 69 and the area near Church and McCormick. Do you know why district 69 ranks so poorly compared to the other Skokie school districts?

Are some areas more diverse than others?

Thanks in advance.

[linicx]

Skokie has a roughly 65% Jewish and White population with smaller enclaves of Black and Asian. It has an interesting history mixed with several films, two very volatile court cases, a gorgeous center for Performing Arts, and a holocaust museum. Here is a list of schools, district, and other information here. As to why a district doesn't do well I do not know; I always suspect poverty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skokie%2C_Illinois.

[nana053]

I loved living in Skokie. Our neighborhood was quite diverse. We moved before the grandkids went to school though so I can't tell you much about them except that the playgrounds were nice. Some areas of Skokie feed into the Evanston schools as well. I have no idea why Skokie is split into so many districts.

The Skokie Library is fantastic.
Skokie Public Library Home Page

We loved the exploratorium. It's inexpensive especially for residents.
Skokie Exploratorium - Skokie, IL - Kid friendly activity reviews - Trekaroo
Exploritorium | Skokie Park District

The Skokie park district pool is very nice as well and I believe you get resident rates for Evanston beaches in exchange for Evanston residents getting resident rates for the pool.


Devonshire Aquatic Center | Skokie Park District

Every summer they have a wonderful festival of cultures which has become one of the biggest and best ethnic fests around
Festival of Cultures
There is also the Backlot Bash Skokie's Backlot Bash

They have a great Farmer's Market on Oakton Street

They have a wonderful art fair
SKOKIE ART GUILD'S 51st ANNUAL ART FAIR - July 14-15, 2012 | Chicago Artists Resource

They have Old Orchard which hosts the World's Largest Used Book Fair. It now benefits Little City.

Skokie has Oakton College (which is an excellent junior college). It also has National Louis University which used to be in Wilmette.

I don't see anything unsafe about the area around Church and McCormick, btw. We lived close to Dempster and McCormick and it was fine.

[ToriaT]

I agree I loved living in Skokie. It is a diverse town. It has great access to the city, and has good shopping and restaurants and is close to things on the N. shore and Evanston. It has diverse housing stock. I have nothing really bad to say about it. I lived there for ten years back in the eighties.

[cubssoxfan]

If purchasing a home, I would avoid areas with a high concentration of apartment buildings, especially the larger ones. Stick to neighborhoods that are primarily single family homes.

[chet everett]

I tend to agree with cubsoxfan, and the reasons can be found on the Illinois Interactive Report Cards site. Take a look at what happens to student performance when the "mobility rate" gets up above 10% or so. What that means is that even a nice small classroom of 20 kids there is a good chance that two of 'em were added after classes started or left before school finished. That means that the teacher is either going to need to spend a whole lot of extra time getting those kids up to speed or trying to figure out what they have not learned and that takes valuable time away from the rest of the kids.

It ain't that renters are "bad people" or anything else sinister, it just makes for a whole lot more challenges. There are some towns with a fair number of rentals that have lower mobility rates and you can see that those towns can have acceptable performance numbers if the mobility rate is low...

[themag62]

It would seem that the mobility rate would disavantage the mobile kids, not the kids who stay put. How many teachers really tailor the level of classroom curriculum to bring up to speed 2 kids who start late????? Now if 10 kids out of 20 started school late, the teacher would have no choice.

The Skokie Park District is fabulous. The range of programming/classes/camps for young kids and teens is 1st rate, as is the quality. My tween aged daughter just finished a summer theatre camp in Skokie and the counselors and camp directors were not just teen slacker warm body types, but had experience studying and teaching musical theatre. I've found the camp quality better than Evanston.

[chet everett]

Honestly the kids that are the active "movers" are far and away more disadvantaged than the kids that "stay put" but the disruption ABSOLUTELY does negatively impact the teacher(s) and the whole school, even the kids that never move. In addition to the shear time that it the kids that come late swallow up there impact on the relationships that are broken puts the whole school community at a disadvantage. Think about those folks that have been actively involved in helping a whole cohert of kids from an inner city that they once attended make it to college with active help and guaranteed scholarships -- a big part of the successs is that the kids "are in it together". The opposite happens when schools have high mobility rates, kids don't have the strong bonds to one other. It is the difference between a well train crew of rowers all pulling together vs a bunch of people all paddling seperately. One boat can just about fly through the water while a few dozen unsyncronized paddlers just churn up the water and don't make much progress...

[linicx]

I was a mover in three states and 5 schools. K-4. None of the IL teachers cut me any slack and gave me any more attention than any other kid in the room. It is a little bit different when a kid comes in very late the first semester or starts a new school the second semester. The first 3 o4 weeks in a new school year really doesn't make that much different to the teacher or the students. As far as the rest, kids are cruel to each other. Kids that have been friends since they were toddlers and go to school together are tighter than twins. Their relationship is entirely different than it is between kids who don't meet until high school. Some kids never bond because they don't have the opportunity.

Check out the school, talk to the principal and teachers. If you like the school, enroll your kid and don't worry too much. The kids will work it out; they always did.