Suburban schools in majority white towns (Chicago, Oak Park: live, prices, transportation)

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by BRU67

To flee proper, I recommend the north shore!

Well, I don't live there so I'm not fleeing the region. I am fleeing Uptown, which is a horrible place to raise two daughters for multiple reasons--the schools being just one.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Well, I don't live there so I'm not fleeing the region. I am fleeing Uptown, which is a horrible place to raise two daughters for multiple reasons--the schools being just one.

Come to Oak Park. Your older daughter and my daughter are about the same age. We'll have a play date. They can play together and we'll talk about architecture and transit.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by scotty40

I've got to wonder where you are getting your stats from... In 2002- the School was 59.8% white and scored a 67% PSAE Meets or exceeds standards. In 2008- the school was 35.1% white and scored a 66% Meets or exceeds standards. 2007 was even better at 68% meets or exceeds standards. Doesn't sound like the "dominant culture" is bringing in the lousy test scores you are referring to. I'd like to mention that 66% Meets or exceeds puts HF in the top 25% of school districts in Chicago.
You've got a wide variety of kids coming into HF- its boundaries include a large area in the Heights and Glenwood. I challenge someone to find a majority-minority non-magnet high school that scores as high as HF.
Look- I realize that both Homewood and Flossmoor have issues that need to be dealt with to attract young, white families back. But, as a young white family who moved here not too long ago (and believe it or not-despite this message board- white people do move to both towns) I take issue with the general characterization of HF on this message board. If you are going to rip the high school- have some facts to back it up.

Scotty, you may be entirely correct about this. Maybe the writing isn't on the wall yet for Flossmoor, and perhaps it will become another Oak Park or Shaker Heights. But the changing racial balance of the school seems like a bad sign to many. And I have many options right now, and I will not place my bets on any south suburb at this point in time. There's just nothing to entice me down there outside of affordability.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

Come to Oak Park. Your older daughter and my daughter are about the same age. We'll have a play date. They can play together and we'll talk about architecture and transit.

It may happen in a year or two... I was out at Field Park with my daughter just last week, and had a great time (my other daughter is still in the womb). The playgrounds are so much nicer in Oak Park than around here.

But while the home prices in Oak Park continue to decline, so does the value of my condo... It KILLS me to see what we can afford there now, since we're sort of stuck with little equity.

[cdc3217]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

Come to Oak Park. Your older daughter and my daughter are about the same age. We'll have a play date. They can play together and we'll talk about architecture and transit.

I can just imagine the dueling block towers at that playdate! They'll knock them down and instead of starting fresh in a clean space on the rug you'll make the kids using their existing infrastructure and build a nicer tower in the same spot.

[Chicagoland60426]

Originally Posted by scotty40

I've got to wonder where you are getting your stats from... In 2002- the School was 59.8% white and scored a 67% PSAE Meets or exceeds standards. In 2008- the school was 35.1% white and scored a 66% Meets or exceeds standards. 2007 was even better at 68% meets or exceeds standards. Doesn't sound like the "dominant culture" is bringing in the lousy test scores you are referring to. I'd like to mention that 66% Meets or exceeds puts HF in the top 25% of school districts in Chicago.
You've got a wide variety of kids coming into HF- its boundaries include a large area in the Heights and Glenwood. I challenge someone to find a majority-minority non-magnet high school that scores as high as HF.
Look- I realize that both Homewood and Flossmoor have issues that need to be dealt with to attract young, white families back. But, as a young white family who moved here not too long ago (and believe it or not-despite this message board- white people do move to both towns) I take issue with the general characterization of HF on this message board. If you are going to rip the high school- have some facts to back it up.

I just hope H-F can maintain its good reputation in the south suburbs. Since Olympia Fields & Flossmoor have a high ratio of college educated families with both a median income pass $100,000, it can maintain its status. The only way that can pull H-F down is the Heights. But most Chicago Heights students go to Bloom Trail and Bloom High School.

You are right though. H-F is like the model majority-minority(non magnet) high school.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

It may happen in a year or two... I was out at Field Park with my daughter just last week, and had a great time (my other daughter is still in the womb). The playgrounds are so much nicer in Oak Park than around here.

But while the home prices in Oak Park continue to decline, so does the value of my condo... It KILLS me to see what we can afford there now, since we're sort of stuck with little equity.

No kidding. I go to some amazing open houses now that are asking about what we paid for our house several years ago. D'oh!!!

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by cdc3217

I can just imagine the dueling block towers at that playdate! They'll knock them down and instead of starting fresh in a clean space on the rug you'll make the kids using their existing infrastructure and build a nicer tower in the same spot.

Well my daughter is really into her Thomas the train set right now, so any tower she builds will be part of a TOD.

[cdc3217]

Originally Posted by sukwoo

Well my daughter is really into her Thomas the train set right now, so any tower she builds will be part of a TOD.

LOL - Of course. Does Hearthsong have an urban renewal playset yet?

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

ajolotl and BRU67, it doesn't take much for a person like me to rule out the southern suburbs since there is really no reason for me to move from the North Side all the way down there. I do have family ties to the region (Hammond, Gary, Calumet City), but they all left decades ago or died. So there would really have to be some major draw to get me to move to that part of the metro area. Affordability may be the ONLY draw at this point, since the western and northern suburbs just have more to offer in terms of schools and ammenities. And this is another issue facing Flossmoor... It's not just white flight, but the inability to attract new white families.

Oak Park is a front runner for me right now, so living and sharing a school system with blacks is not the primary issue for me. But if the Oak Park schools seemed like there were going to decline further or become 90% black in the future due to white flight, I'd have to reconsider that option. As it is now, many elementary schools in Oak Park are 30-40% black, and I'm alright with that because they seem to be stable. You don't hear about a lot of people fleeing the Oak Park schools.

If the south Chicagoland area isn't attracting new white families, a primary reason might be transportation. The "hot" parts of the region are getting further and further out (reportedly, Tinley is even starting to lose some of its shine). To get to the Loop (main regional job base) from Tinley/Orland is, what, an hour? And it goes up from there as you get into the new "hip" areas such as New Lenox, Frankfort, and Lockport. The good 'ol government tried to help the exburbians out with the I-355 extension but it's still quite a haul for one who works downtown Chicago or in the western and northern suburbs.

By contrast, it's 15 minutes to the Loop from Oak Park, and its region is nearly equally accessible to the other job corridors along I-294 and I-88. That's the primary reason I chose to stay in this area. I think the near west inner ring has more upside than south Chicagoland, if for that reason alone. That will be huge when gas prices rise above $4/gallon, and they likely will with given China and India's growing thirst for fuel.