School District U-46? - Hoffman Estates,IL

Depends where you are on Chicago Street, but the parts of it that I know about are not very safe. There is a huge gang presence in parts of Elgin, near Lords Park. It's a beautiful park but I would definitely not go there in the evenings. I had a friend who lived in a beautiful home facing Lord's Park and in her later years she ended up moving because she was tired of hearing gunfire at night. I would not live anywhere near that park or surrounding areas. I do have friends who live on Umbdenstock Road in Elgin off of Randall Road and they have a great neighborhood and good schools. But near the "city" part of Elgin you will have problems. If I had known 20 years ago what I know now about U-46 I would have picked another area to live. My local school is a good one, but it still has many problems, such as overcrowding (my neighbor had 32 kids in her daughter's kindergarten class) program cutting such as art and PE, and horrible mismanagement from the top on down. Try looking at the archives of the Daily Herald for stories about the district's problems. It will be a real eye-opener for you. Like another poster said, U-46 is huge and there is the potential for lots of problems. Definitely check out the schools in the neighborhood where you are looking, and try to talk to some of the neighbors. They'll give you the straight story.

U-46 is struggling. I would check out the school in the area you are looking, but also private schools in the area

Hi A.,
I just moved to South Elgin which is a different town from Elgin. We were considering Elgin at one point also, but the taxes were a bit higher and the school were not as good in the actual town of Elgin. U-46 is a HUGE district, and as a whole the district is good, however you must research the each school that your daughter would potentially go to. Since she would be entering Kindergarten next year I would even go visit the schools that she would attend by any houses you are seriously considering. The first thing you should look at is the school's report card, the demographics, ISAT scores, low income population, student to teacher ratio, ect.....that will tell you a lot about the schools. I don't know a whole lot about Elgin, but I would be very careful what parts of Elgin you are looking in. Good luck in your search! I wish you the best.

A.,

I would not recommend Elgin, but would consider parts of the west side with the Burlington school districts or South Elgin, especially if it were in St. Charles schools. Elgin itself is not known to be a safe place, in regards to gangs and violence. To be very honest, I don't like driving in that area even in the daytime. Keep looking - if you are looking for low rental prices there are other places in good areas. Good luck!

A.,

The far west side of Elgin is really nice and very family friendly. The neighborhoods west of Randall Road are very nice, and they are not part of the U-46 school district but rather the Burlington 301 district which is excellent. We are very happy with far west Elgin, but we would not have considered downtown Elgin or the U-46 district. Hope that helps!

P.