Schools in the western suburbs (Chicago, Naperville: house, neighborhood, school districts)

[babe588]

Hi. We currently live in Oak Park, and want to explore moving further west. We are considering Elmhurst, Downers Grove, and Hinsdale, and would consider other areas. Can you offer any thoughts on schools - would like to find schools that are not that big and children have had a good experience with!

[packmanbears]

OP is right next to River Forest which has a great school system, how old are your children? Will they be in High school, elementary, middle school?

[chet everett]

In addition to the listed towns add in Oak Brook, Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, Western Springs, LaGrange, Naperville and portion of ClarendonHills that shares school districts with Hinsdale and you a terrific percentage of the most desirable towns in the region.

Of course none of these towns are going to allow your housing dollar to go any further than it does in Oak Park.

You also need to consider what sort of commute to work is important. If you need / want to use Metra to get downtown these are mostly good choices, with the towns along the BNSF OFFERING SUPERIOR TRAVEL OPTIONS. Expresses are plentiful and even non- express trains to the eastern towns are around 30 minutes. Excellent by any measure, faster than driving expect maybe middle of the night...

The individual school districts have some differences, you will need to research which offer foriegn languages or special arts offerings. Most do have a strong focus on neighborhood schools, which research shows offer advantages in fostering parent involvement / student achievement. The organizing priniciples of most also tend to the k-5 and 6-8 models of elementary and middle school. I prefer that as nice way to give teachers, parents and kids a chance to get know one another early on and then have an appropriate transition to high school. Many of the districts have just a few classroom per grade and reasonably small classroom. Figuring about 40-50 kids per level and 6 grade levels means many of these are around three hundred kids. Schools tend to and sections in as long as the facilities are not overcrowded even triple the enrollment is still pretty intimate.

[Anomle]

Great elementary schools in Western Springs, or so I've been told. I'm shopping for a house there now..

[Trodgers]

We are moving to the Western suburbs of Chicago in a few months and I need some help. We have to boys one will be a junior and the other a freshman in the fall. I would like to know what are the best high schools and I am hoping not too large.

[4122]

What's your budget?

[Trodgers]

350,000 will probably be our max.

[holl1ngsworth]

Originally Posted by Trodgers

350,000 will probably be our max.

Need more info. Where is work? SFH or something else? Number of beds and baths? Move-in ready or fixer-upper? Any other considerations beyond schools?

Based only on your budget and school requirement, you may want to start looking at the following towns:

Wheaton, Winfield, Warrenville (sections served by Wheaton North and Wheaton Warrenville South)
Glen Ellyn (sections served by Glenbard West and Glenbard South)
Elmhurst (sections served by York)
Downers Grove, Oak Brook, Woodridge (sections served by Downers North)
Naperville, Woodridge, Lisle (sections served by Naperville Central and Naperville North)
Batavia (sections served by Batavia)
Geneva (sections served by Geneva)
Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Burr Ridge, Willowbrook, Oak Brook (sections served by Hinsdale Central)
Brookfield, Riverside (sections served by Riverside Brookfield)
La Grange, La Grange Park, Countryside, Western Springs, Indian Head Park, Burr Ridge (sections served by Lyons)

[Lookout Kid]

$350k won't get you much in Elmhurst, Downers Grove, or Hinsdale. Though southern Downers Grove may be an option, even though that side of town has a slight drop in school performance.

Wheaton might be an option, and you'll get even more house west of Wheaton and out near the Fox Valley. But of course, the commutes downtown get pretty horrible as you get to the outer reaches of Chicagoland (if commuting downtown is even necessary).

[holl1ngsworth]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

$350k won't get you much in Elmhurst, Downers Grove, or Hinsdale. Though southern Downers Grove may be an option, even though that side of town has a slight drop in school performance.

Wheaton might be an option, and you'll get even more house west of Wheaton and out near the Fox Valley. But of course, the commutes downtown get pretty horrible as you get to the outer reaches of Chicagoland (if commuting downtown is even necessary).

The OP could get a small but nice 3-bed in a non-181 portion of Hinsdale still served by Hinsdale Central. Ditto for Elmhurst and Downers inside of York or Downers North boundaries. They might get a larger, nicer home out in Wheaton, but the commute to the Loop will be longer. All the high schools named above are highly desirable.

Hinsdale:
634 Hillside Drive HINSDALE, IL 60521 | Redfin

Wheaton:
26W103 Jewell Road WHEATON, IL 60187 | Redfin

It's becoming harder and harder to find nice 4-bed homes around the $350k price point in Wheaton -- or anywhere really. This time last year there was a huge inventory of Wheaton homes around that mark, and most were move-in ready. Today, there's just a small handful.

Either way, need more information on this one...