Your Neighborhood Public School (Chicago, Naperville: real estate, foreclose, condo)

[LittleMartha]

Would you send your kids to your neighborhood public school? Why or why not?

[Lookout Kid]

I'd do anything to avoid sending my daughter to our neighborhood public school. I'm in the Brenneman attendance boundary, and Brenneman is a TERRIBLE school with very low test scores and an almost entirely poor black student body. I would foreclose on my condo and move in with my inlaws before sending her to that failed school.

To our south in Lake View there are some pretty good neighborhood public schools I would consider. We should have researched this better before we bought our place, but we didn't have kids at that time and weren't sure we could ever have kids.

[chet everett]

I think LK represents a very honest and not uncommon admission on the part of TOO MANY owners of Chicago real estate: "We should have researched this better before we bought our place..."

There are far too many awful schools in Chicago. As any one that reads my posts ought to know, I am not one to gloss over the reality of how screwed-up parts of Chicago and the region are! Sure there are selective admissions schools, created way back in the day that academic types thought they'd help with desegregation. Those schools DO turn out some very good test numbers and students that can be well prepared. Unfortunately there are still too many schools that have not gotten it. Despite DECADES of attempts to spur reform of ALL schools there are neighborhood schools that just suck. Sadly I think that there is just too much wrong with some of these schools, and you would have to be nuts to send any kid to them...

For parents that do their research and pick a place to live with good neighborhood schools things are VERY different. They can feel good about the neighborhood school AND if their kid does well they can ALSO compete for a slot at the selective admissions elementary schools -- that is the best route to the selective admissions high schools. The "proper choice" of a place to live can thus SAVE the costs of private school for 12 years! That is HUGE.

[ajolotl]

No, I would not send my kids to the local public high school (Morgan Park). I would flee to Orland Park or Naperville long before it came to that, or even send to a private parochial school in the city. While Morgan Park is supposedly one of the better non-magnet city schools, it still sucks by the standards of anything I grew up with or envisioned my kids being involved in.

First, there are very few white kids (about 2.5%). That alone is uncomfortable and socially isolating. Secondly, there are far too many thuggish students with no respect for anything or anyone (a friend of mine subbed there for a little while -- amazing stories). I grew up in central and south america and as a semi-outsider find the level of discipline and motivation of these kids absolutely beyond belief. For the record I do realize that many of them do not fit this mold and there are quite a few high achievers and hard workers. But there are so many exceptions that it's far beyond unacceptable. I do recognize that when I moved to the US permanently learning to navigate my junior high (which had a rough element) was an important part of growing up, but it also sucked and I would have been better off not in other ways not to have experienced it. All that is theory anyhow when it comes to one's own kids. You send them the best place you can. Almost everyone does. Luckily I can pay for Lab and am extremely happy with it.

[Manigault]

I did send my three kids to the local magnet school. They all had good experiences on the grammar school level. From there, many children transfer to private school or the magnet high schools.

A good education can be had in the Chicago magnet schools. Research and parent involvement is very important.

Strangely enough, I can remember talking to some Morgan Park HS students to get directions to Morgan Park Academy. The students were very polite and respectful and I came away impressed with them.

[ajolotl]

Originally Posted by Manigault

Strangely enough, I can remember talking to some Morgan Park HS students to get directions to Morgan Park Academy. The students were very polite and respectful and I came away impressed with them.

Why is that strange?

[Manigault]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

Why is that strange?

I didn't find the kids thuggish at all. A bit on the nerdy side, if you ask me. I know about eight kids who have graduated from Morgan Park (and several who attended CHAS) and there is a different atmosphere at those schools, IMHO.

Folks who do not get their kids admitted to the magnet schools should consider applying to the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund. Annual income elegibility probably tops out at 50 or 60k. However, the funds pay the tuition for a lot of kids at parochial and private schools in Chicago.

Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation (http://www.dmsf.org/home.html - broken link)

[ajolotl]

It's not strange at all to me that you spoke with six non-thuggish students at Morgan Park.

Originally Posted by Manigault

I didn't find the kids thuggish at all. A bit on the nerdy side, if you ask me. I know about eight kids who have graduated from Morgan Park (and several who attended CHAS) and there is a different atmosphere at those schools, IMHO.

Folks who do not get their kids admitted to the magnet schools should consider applying to the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund. Annual income elegibility probably tops out at 50 or 60k. However, the funds pay the tuition for a lot of kids at parochial and private schools in Chicago.

Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation (http://www.dmsf.org/home.html - broken link)

[Manigault]

Originally Posted by ajolotl

It's not strange at all to me that you spoke with six non-thuggish students at Morgan Park.

Well, you just said that Morgan Park sucks and has too many thuggish kids. I was relating my experience. YRMV.

[ajolotl]

Originally Posted by Manigault

Well, you just said that Morgan Park sucks and has too many thuggish kids. I was relating my experience. YRMV.

My sample size is much larger -- I live right down the street.
Would you send your kids to Kenwood Academy? I think it's similar -- not awful but not acceptable either.