High School kids/ Moving to Chicago area (Naperville, Evanston: low crime, house)

[npietrek]

We are being relocated from CO to the Chicago area. Our children are currently in a high school of around 3,000 kids. We will be looking for another great school for our last two to finish up high school in. We have a son interested in sports and a daughter interested in art. They do very well academically and we would like to keep them challenged. We would probably be looking at the $450,000 to $550,000 for a home. We are looking for some really nice areas with low crime rates, great walking paths, great places to eat and fun things to do. My husband will be working in Chicago, in an industrial area. I am not sure where his building is located. Any suggestions???

[nanannie]

Are you set on living IN the city?Since High School is a priority,I would venture to a suburb.You have many to choose from with excellent high schools,sports,family activities and easy commute(Elmhurst,Wheaton,Glen Ellyn,Evanston,Naperville,Park Ridge,Lombard are a few).Since I dont know if your husband is N-S-E or West in the city,he can commute by metra from over a dozen nice places for your family.Check the "chicago suburbs" threads.(check out "soccer mom" thread and go back a few pages,,lots of info)

[npietrek]

Thanks for the advice. I am pretty sure we will be in the suburbs and possibly on the West side. Still lots of unknowns right now. Thank you!

[ahava]

I have two suggestions for you: Lyons Township High School if you want to live in the western suburbs, and Stevenson High School if you want to live in the northern suburbs. Both areas fit your price range and are very safe.

I went to Lyons Township and so will my kids. The school is very highly ranked and the variety of classes offered is hard to match. Students can learn how to fly a plane and get a pilot license. Basically, there is a class for almost anything a student is interested in. There are around 3800 students at LT, and the school has two campuses - one for freshmen and sophomores, and one for juniors and seniors. The art program at LT is great. There are 4 art AP classes offered, in addition to computer art, film art, graphic design, jewelry/metalsmithing, photography, sculpture, studio art, and three levels of ceramics and drawing & painting. There is a huge art show in the spring, and student work is displayed at the La Grange village hall. That's one example of the high level of community pride for LT. The school is very well-respected in the community. There's also a big focus on sports. I played two varsity sports at LT and I STILL hate Hinsdale (Hinsdale Central is LT's biggest rival). With the two campuses, teams have plenty of playing fields and gyms to use. A huge new fieldhouse and pool were built last year too.
The main towns that LT serves are Western Springs (where I live), La Grange, and La Grange Park. These are all established, family-oriented communities with mostly older homes (some really gorgeous Victorians), a growing amount of teardowns, and a few newer subdivisions. Western Springs and La Grange each have a cute downtown area, although W-Springs's downtown is more quaint and LG's downtown has more to do. In downtown LG there are lots of locally-owned boutiques and restaurants, and some chains, like Borders, Chipotle, and Starbucks. Both downtowns have a train station, which is another bonus about living here. The Metra will take you to Chicago in under half an hour. Many people commute that way. Both communities (and probably La Grange Park too) are very walkable. I walk from my house to the train station in W-Springs when I want to go to Chicago, and my kids and I love taking a walk and stopping at Oberweis for ice cream in downtown W-Springs. But I walk for fun/exercise/photography fairly often too. (If you're interested, you can see my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/k_vo_921/tags/westernsprings/ (broken link) and http://www.flickr.com/photos/k_vo_921/tags/lagrange/ (broken link).) There's a forest preserve (Bemis Woods) literally across the street from Western Springs if sidewalks aren't your thing, but I like seeing what's going on in W-Springs and LG and chatting with people. The forest preserve has sledding and cross-country skiing in the winter. A popular attraction nearby is the Brookfield Zoo, which is one of the two zoos in the Chicagoland area. The teens like to hang out in downtown LG and the pool in W-Springs, but the library in W-Springs puts on a lot of teen programs as well. They have video game nights and librarians online every night offering homework help.

My other suggestion is Buffalo Grove and Stevenson High School (where I am a teacher). Stevenson is always ranked in the top 5 of Illinois high schools outside of Chicago. High standards are placed on both the students and the teachers. As a result, in the past 25 years the school has gone from being practically a joke to one of the best high schools in the country. Your kids will definitely be challenged here if they want to be. Stevenson's AP program is outstanding, and several AP teachers are on the national committees that grade the exams. One drawback to Stevenson's focus on achievement is that there aren't many different classes offered, because it's all geared toward college prep instead of vocational prep. There are no auto classes or woodworking classes, which I think is weird. Anyway, their art program is good and different in that students have to take two semesters of a general art class before taking anything specialized, which I guess weeds out the kids who aren't serious about art. Two levels of ceramics, drawing, jewelry, painting, sculpture, photography, and studio art are offered. Stevenson has a lot of funding for sports, but the school itself doesn't place a lot of importance on it. Only in the past few years did they start having recognition assemblies and such when teams won championships or went to state (which the boys basketball team did this year). Before, it would maybe be mentioned on the morning announcements once. There's school spirit in that students dress in the school colors, but I've supervised several football games, and students and parents in the bleachers just sit and talk. There's no excitement outside of the small contingent of students in body paint with noisemakers. I think part of this is due to Stevenson having over 4500 students. The school has one campus, which helps to unify the student body, but there's nothing to create a sense of community, especially with the focus on individual achievement.
Buffalo Grove is a very typical residential suburban town. Most homes were built in the past 50 years. The park district offers tons of recreational activities (including a mini-water park for children), and there's an annual carnival, BG Days, that is very popular. There are bike paths throughout the town, and a nice forest preserve in neighboring Lincolnshire. There is a train station in Buffalo Grove, but the trains only run on weekdays, and the trip to Chicago is just under an hour. There's a bowling and laser tag center that is popular with teens, and there are always loud teens in the IHOP, so I think those are the main hangout places. Buffalo Grove has some locally-owned restaurants, and is within 15 minutes of pretty much any major chain you can name.

[nanannie]

Kirstenleigh,I dont disagree with what you have shared,but isnt buffalo grove a little tougher commute to the city? The OP said her husband will work in CHicago.Maybe I have my bearings wrong,but I dont think it has a metra

[ahava]

Originally Posted by nanannie

Kirstenleigh,I dont disagree with what you have shared,but isnt buffalo grove a little tougher commute to the city? The OP said her husband will work in CHicago.Maybe I have my bearings wrong,but I dont think it has a metra

Buffalo Grove has a Metra station, and I have been there so I can verify that it does indeed exist. http://metrarail.com/Sched/ncs/buffalo_grove.shtml But yes, in terms of driving time that's not a great commute, but people do it.

[npietrek]

Perhaps you may know where the Cache hub is for UPS. That is where he may be working out of. I will have more information shortly. I am jumping the gun because I have to get my facts before I relocate. I wish I knew the address but that is where he will need to get to every day.

[nanannie]

Originally Posted by kirstenleigh

Buffalo Grove has a Metra station, and I have been there so I can verify that it does indeed exist. .

Well,I learn something new all the time on this forum

[jluyka]

Npietrek: I think the area of Lincoln Park may be to your liking. The area has everything you mentioned and a great high school, Lincoln Park H.S. It is also one of the top schools in the nation, here is their website: http://www.lincolnparkhs.org/index.jsp. It ranked #30 in 2006: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12532678/site/newsweek/ (broken link) and #31 in 2005, I think. Good Luck!

[tkf60tkf60]

My son attends Lane Tech High School in the City. It has wonderful academic, arts and sports programs. The school is a top ranked high school academically in the state (higher than many suburban high schools). The sports teams (football, baseball, swimming, track) are often city champions and state-ranked. The art department is wonderful. Many of the teachers are working artists. My son's freshman art teacher exhibits her work internationally and many of the teachers graduated from the Art Institute in Chicago.

Lane is a selective enrollment high school, so your children will have to apply and be admitted. It is a very safe and nuturing school. My son loves it.

Another option in the City is Whitney Young. It has many of the same attributes as Lane Tech, but it is ranked even higher academically (2nd in the State). Whitney has an amazing art department and good athletics as well.

The nice thing about Selective Enrollment schools is that you can live in any neighborhood within the city limits and attend (as long as you meet the admission criteria).

The city is a great place to raise kids!