Good neighborhoods in Indy for a family with young kids

[Bulldog46208]

Originally Posted by Naptowner

None of the areas you mentioned are in a decent school district. In Indianapolis, charming old house = IPS, which is one of the worst districts in the state. Meridian Kessler and Butler Tarkington are nice areas to live (especially the northern end of each) as well as Broad Ripple, but you will be looking at private schools.

Woodruff Place and Irvington are nice little pockets in an overall bad area.

I am thinking the same thing as Naptowner. It would be tough to find a good public school in the city or a charming older home in the suburb, this is quite a conundrum. One thing that has not been mentioned is the town of Speedway, there are older homes and their test scores are on the high side for central Indiana (source: Indianapolis Business Journal Book of Lists).

[luzclara]

I get so tired of people bashing IPS. We live downtown, have 2 kids in elementary school, and we're thrilled with our educational options. We're not outliers - there are 8 other kids on our block alone.

Some facts most people don't know:

CFI #2 does have a lottery...but if you live within a roughly 1 mile radius around the school, your children have preference (only siblings of current students have higher preference). Some neighborhoods falling completely or partially within that boundary are Chatham Arch, St. Joeseph's, Lockerbie and the Old Northside.

IPS has an entire school (grades 2-8) for gifted & talented students, Merle Sidener Academy. If ISTEP scores are your thing, it has the highest in the state. Any student in IPS can attend if accepted. Admission is based on test scores (last I knew were using Ravens Progressive Matrices) and teacher recommendations.

IPS has excellent Montessori schools, #91 and #56. They fly under the radar because most people only know about CFI.

In addition to public school options, charter school options are plentiful and growing. We'll definitely be looking at Herron High School when the time comes, and we know families with children at the new Project School (k-8) who are very happy with it.

Private schools are not necessarily as expensive as has been implied. Our personal experience is with the Oaks Academy (pk-8), and tuition is currently under $8k/year.

In addition to having a plethora of excellent school options, we have access to high quality enrichment programs as well. There are tennis lessons at the IUPUI Tennis Center, swim lessons, swim team, diving and synchronized swimming at the IUPUI Natatorium, skating lessons, competitive figure skating and hockey at Pan Am Plaza, dance lessons at Indianapolis School of Ballet and Butler's Jordan Academy, and all sorts of music lessons at IUPUI and Butler's Community Arts School.

We've found downtown to be an ideal place to raise our family.

[bilgewater]

Originally Posted by luzclara

I get so tired of people bashing IPS. We live downtown, have 2 kids in elementary school, and we're thrilled with our educational options. We're not outliers - there are 8 other kids on our block alone.

Some facts most people don't know:

CFI #2 does have a lottery...but if you live within a roughly 1 mile radius around the school, your children have preference (only siblings of current students have higher preference). Some neighborhoods falling completely or partially within that boundary are Chatham Arch, St. Joeseph's, Lockerbie and the Old Northside.

IPS has an entire school (grades 2-8) for gifted & talented students, Merle Sidener Academy. If ISTEP scores are your thing, it has the highest in the state. Any student in IPS can attend if accepted. Admission is based on test scores (last I knew were using Ravens Progressive Matrices) and teacher recommendations.

IPS has excellent Montessori schools, #91 and #56. They fly under the radar because most people only know about CFI.

In addition to public school options, charter school options are plentiful and growing. We'll definitely be looking at Herron High School when the time comes, and we know families with children at the new Project School (k-8) who are very happy with it.

Private schools are not necessarily as expensive as has been implied. Our personal experience is with the Oaks Academy (pk-8), and tuition is currently under $8k/year.

In addition to having a plethora of excellent school options, we have access to high quality enrichment programs as well. There are tennis lessons at the IUPUI Tennis Center, swim lessons, swim team, diving and synchronized swimming at the IUPUI Natatorium, skating lessons, competitive figure skating and hockey at Pan Am Plaza, dance lessons at Indianapolis School of Ballet and Butler's Jordan Academy, and all sorts of music lessons at IUPUI and Butler's Community Arts School.

We've found downtown to be an ideal place to raise our family.

Although your post is 4 years old, it lives forever on the internet. Thanks for hopeful thoughts. I hope you still have them, these years later.

My family just moved to Old Northside (renting for now) from plush college town in another state. Our bright little 5 year old daughter will be attending CFI #27 and we're hoping for the best. Our 2 year old is at IUPUI child care center, which is also good.

[luzclara]

What a coincidence....I hadn't visited this site in months and happened upon this resurfaced thread today.

I do still have those hopeful thoughts. While there have been a few losses regarding the options I mentioned four years ago, there have been more gains to outweigh them, at least on the educational front. Note that the information below is not exhaustive - these are just highlights based on personal knowledge.

Gains:
CFI has expanded (as you'll know) to a 3rd location at school #27.
Center for Inquiry

There is now a Reggio based IPS magnet in partnership with Butler.
Reggio Inspired/ Project-Based Learning

Gambold Prep, an IPS magnet high school with an IB program, was opened a couple of years ago (IMO) to meet the demand of students graduating from the CFI, Montessori, and Sidener Academy K-8 schools. (Families graduating from those schools were looking at IPS and saying "well, now what?")
Gambold Preparatory High School

The Oaks Academy has expanded and now includes a second location on the east side
The Oaks Academy :: Indianapolis, Indiana

Losses:
The Project Academy is gone; however, this year a new charter - Indianapolis Academy of Excellence - has opened in that location.
Indianapolis Academy of Excellence: A Challenge Foundation Academy

As for extra-curricular activities, there have been more noticeable losses than gains. The IUPUI Tennis Center is gone, as is the Jordan Academy of Dance at Butler, and there is no more year-round ice in the city with the closer of Pan Am. There is a new rink at the State Fairgrounds, but it's only open part of the year much to my daughter's dismay.

On the upside, aquatics programs are still available at the IUPUI Natatorium, which thankfully is going to receive funds for much needed refurbishment. A new YMCA is currently under construction, and it will have 2 pools and 3 gyms...hopefully along with it expanded program offerings for families with children. The Indianapolis School of Ballet still offers excellent instruction and has added a studio since we were there. While not exclusively kid-related, the completion of the Cultural Trail and the connectivity it provides is huge. Just this morning I biked from my house to my son's school to the IUPUI campus and then back to work completely on dedicated trails.

So yes, I still unequivocally recommend downtown as a place to raise kids. It requires more digging for educational options than living in the suburbs (live here, go to school there), but the thing is....THERE ARE MORE OPTIONS. That's been my biggest take-away. I have friends and family who live in the suburbs, and their educational choices are solidly great but greatly limited. My second biggest take-away is that while downtown we have access to some excellent extra-curricular programs, the suburbs have a more robust youth sports system, especially for team sports. Honestly it's been more difficult to find quality sports programs than quality schools (hello, Little League?)

[bstrahl]

I am a realtor in Indianapolis. If you would like some information on areas or have questions about school districts, rentals etc. I can help you with information.