Oak Park School Feedback

Hi E.,

I have a 7 year old that attends Lincoln School. We absolutely love it there! There is strong community and family involvement at Lincoln. I do agree with everyone that you just can't go wrong with any of the Oak Park schools. Good luck!

E.-

When we were considering moving to Oak Park 2 years ago, everyone said "move to the Mann school district". Well the fact remains that not every family can afford a house in the Mann district.

After some research we found out what most of the other mom's told you. Don't be shocked by test scores. It has to do with the background of the kids there, not the teachers or education your child will get out of the school. I am excited for my guy to go to Irving so he can make friends with everyone of different ethnic backgrounds and learn about different people and their experiences. Also, the principals move occassionally, I think the old Mann principal is now at another OP school.

My neighbor and now good friend is a 3rd grade teacher at Beye. She has been there for 9 years and moved her family here from Evanston because she believes in how good the schools are.

We are in the Irving district and will be getting all day kindergarten in the fall along with three others in the district. Something to think about with childcare costs. The schools are updated and have MAC labs, music and arts programs and other special programs that other school districts usually cut out.

Enough about the schools, the parks and pools for kids are amazing. The OP Park District programs, including preschool for your younger one are fun, educational and affordable. OP is a great place to raise a family and meet other families too.

If you have any other questions just ask. MOVE TO OP!!

My kids go to Lincoln in South Oak Park. My oldest is going into 4th grade, and has been there since kindergarten. We love the teachers there, as well as the flexible class options. There are options including looping (keeping the same teacher for 2 years in a small class), multi-age classroom (1 & 2nd graders together with 2 teachers and an aide), as well as Spanish Immersion. My kids have really benefitted from the diversity, the positive reinforcement and the languages available. (They FLES program is impressive for an hour a week, and there are other languages are offered during lunch time.) The differentiation teacher does an incredible job also of giving kids extra work to keep them challenged/catch them up. Parents are very involved, which makes for a great school and opportunity to meet a lot of people.

That said, the kids are involved in a lot of sports/activities, and there are a lot of parents who are happy with their schools in Oak Park.

Oak Park is great and I can't imagine anywhere else. The only thing about living in OP is get prepared to pay a ton in property taxes. Ours just passed the $14,000 mark which isn't out of the ordinary in OP, many lower, but many so much higher!! Because of those high taxes, all of the schools are great here as well as the park district. My children started at Irving and then we moved to the Holmes School area. We are equally happy at Holmes. We have a great principal, an excellent staff, a huge PTO with tons of money in the bank to provide excellent after school programs and field trips and most importantly it is very diverse, which you will find that about OP if you move here. Mann is the least diverse school, but there are affordable homes in that area if that is what you desire. Many of the homes in that area are modest brick homes built in the 50's. The Holmes School which is across the street from the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio is full of Frank Lloyd Wright homes and historical Victorian homes as well as apartments and condos, the Whittier school is also in the middle of the Frank Lloyd Wright Historical District. Holmes School has grown a lot since we started and our population is around 470. The reason is because right now there are a lot of town homes and affordable condos that have been built in the Holmes area in the recent years. I have an 8th grader, 7th grader (both at Brooks Middle School) and a 5th grader who has attended Holmes since kindergarten. Don't focus on the test scores, focus only on your child's because what everyone has posted about test scores and demographics is true. I DO know that Oak Park-River Forest High School's average ACT score is a whopping 24 one of the HIGHEST in the state so District 97 and District 200 (OPRF HS)are doing something right!!

We just moved to Oak Park this year, and our son is only 2 so he doesn't attend any of the elementary schools yet...so take what I say with a grain of salt!! We also heard all of the schools are great, despite what the test scores say. I think I heard something about kids moving within the district affecting some of the numbers...Not entirely sure. We did hear that Mann is the best, but that Whittier is also right up there. I met a teacher for Mann the other day, and she spoke very highly of the school. I also met a Whittier teacher on our block this weekend, and he was very excited about his school too! I walk by several of the schools daily, and they all appear to be in good repair, and have wonderful playgrounds. I'm interested to see what others post here. So far, we have been very happy with our decision to move to OP - there are so many families and young kids, and parks/playgrounds galore! Let me know if you have any other questions - I'd be happy to help!

I have worked in District 97 for 20 years in several capacities, but have lived in Oak Park for 40 years. My children grew up here and attended Lincoln School, and now my grandson is enrolled at Lincoln. The teachers are outstanding (caring and kind, and with high standards); the school climate is friendly, welcoming and open; the academic program is excellent and comprehensive. The Lincoln teachers are creative and provide outstanding opportunities for students to learn the standard academic curriculum as well as all kinds of music (including instrumental), arts, Spanish (FLES and immersion), dance, cultural studies and activities through the Multicultural Department. Special services and gifted services are also excellent. The community that feeds into the Lincoln is wonderful. They give strong and enthusiastic support to the school, and there is a high level of family participation in school events such as the holiday sing (very inclusive and diverse), the fun fair, the Latin American dance program and the Spanish Immersion dance performance at the Ethnic Festival.

Most kids who grow up in Oak Park do well for themselves in life. They are well-rounded and have opportunities in school and the community to excel in academics, in sports, the arts (dance, music, drama, spoken word) and much more. In addition - and I think this is very important - the kids who grow up here learn tolerance for others and are well prepared to work in diverse environments with people of varying ethnicities, religious traditions and belief systems, with people who have disabilities, and those whose families are configured differently from their own. They come back home from college amazed at the intolerance and fear that so many of their classmates express out of ignorance. Our children are better prepared to live, work and thrive in a diverse world.

I student taught at Beye school and thought it was a great school. Good luck!

the test scores don't show everything - all the schools are good in Oak Park however what makes some stand out more than others is the parental involvement. My children go to Holmes - it is a terrific school with a wonderful principal and a very diverse student population - children from over 60 countries. It has a large base of children from affluent families along with children who reside in the rental units along Lake Street. We have been very pleased. Other schools in OP do not have the parental involvement. Basically, in my opinion, there are 3 schools that excel from a parental involvement and academics program - Mann, Holmes & Lincoln. These are the "west side" schools. If you are just moving to OP please know it is a very city-like atmosphere - most residence who own homes there choose to live in this very non-surbanite environment. We treasure diversity and choose to pay our high property taxes to live in an environment that has many walks of life and income levels, pride ourselves schools that serve many different types of students (special ed, gifted and single family homes)and has a great park district and lots of working moms. There is no comparison that can be made to Naperville, Western Springs or Wilmette.

I went to Longfellow school a long time back- I am now 29, but I loved Oak Park not because of the school (I was kid then!) I loved the atmopshere of tolerance about who you are. When I was a freshman in high school my parents moved us out to Indiana and what a contrast. I noticed you have toddlers. I recommend for that age group Piligrim Nursey School. My aunt Ruth Martin runs it and has been in the Chicago Parent Magazine plenty of times as a featured preschool. She could also give you good recommendations on the schools.

My son is a second-grader at Irving. It's probably a good school to use as an example because I imagine the test scores are among the lowest in the district. E. mentioned Mann school which, yes, has excellent test scores but their minority and reduced lunch numbers are so tiny a part of the population that they don't even make a blip on the charts, let alone show up as sub groups for NCLB purposes. Our school's white population is just under 50% and our reduced-lunch number is about 40%, so our school has a very different population. When you look at those test scores, look at trends (ours are very good for subgroups) and look at subgroups to get the story behind the numbers.

I love our school because we have an amazing principal and a great, involved parent population. We have good extracurriculars and a wonderful community for the kids. Our music and art programs are excellent. I love the diversity of the kids and the other parents. It's just a really interesting group of people - lots of creative types, scientists, academics, etc. I'm also happy with the small class-sizes (across the district). Our school is small (about 330, I think) and I love the way every adult in the building knows my son by name. It's a very comfortable place to be. The building seems big and intimidating, but I can't imagine a nicer place to be a kindergartener!

I don't know as much about the other schools, but I know Lincoln has a Spanish-immersion program, Whittier has a combined age groups philosophy, etc. You should take a look at each school's website to get an idea of what its community is like. Good luck!

comparing schools by test scores is hard because to be a fair comparison you have to compare similar demographics. If you look at the scores in an area for instance such as naperville where the population is not diverse and the educational status of parents is high and income is also high, then it is not surprising that the test scores are high. If they were average, then the school would be underperforming. In Oak Park, many of the schools (not Mann) are very diverse and have a much higher number of poorer children. so the scores are very good given the demographics ie the schools are enhancing the potential for the population. There are of course CPS schools that have fab scores but they are schools for the "gifted" so of course they have fab scores. The great thing about the Oak Park schools is that they are all pretty good and so you don't have to worry about whether your child will turn out to be "gifted" to get them into a good school. They can be whoever they are and still get a pretty good education. Also, personally I love the diversity of Oak Park especially where I live which is pretty close to Austin. There are also lots of fabulous resources in Oak Park eg. great public libraries, wonderful park district with lots of children's activities, great Moms' groups, farmer's market and lots lots more.

We are at Hatch. Population 250...the smallest in the district. We won't be getting all day kindergarten this fall because our population has changed and we don't have as many kids "at risk". Next fall (2009), the plan is to add all day kindergarten. The district claims that the kids all catch up by 3rd grade no matter what kind of early experiences they have.
With that said, we have a very active PTO. The kids seem to know each other accross the age span. The many of the teachers know my son by name...including the lunch ladies and he only sees them one day a week. The principle is very caring and goes out of her way to keep the atmosphere positive.
My son has had some challenges this year with learning the basics and the school has been helping us trouble shoot them.
I agree that you should check out the web site for each school. I do know of people that haven't had such a positive experience. My second son is going to kindergarten in the fall. If I had the financial means, I might check out River Forest. The numbers are off the chart there. Good luck.

I'm an Oak Park parent and, although my twins are only 4 months old, am excited about our public school future especially primary school and high school. Our kids will attend Lincoln Elementary which is the second highest rated in Oak Park (first is Mann on the north side). Lincoln has a Spanish immersion program and a diverse student body, which is great since my husband and I both grew up in primarily white, middle class schools and yearn for more diversity for our kids. Most of our neighbors sent/send their kids to Lincoln and sing praises about the teachers, curriculum, positive environment, etc.

The only drawback to Oak Park public schools (from what I've heard from neighbors) are the middle schools. However, I think these are improving.

Lastly, Oak Park has an EXCELLENT park district program with tons of opportunities for kids, teenagers, families, etc. to participate in sports, arts, theater, you name it. Check out www.oakparkparks.com if you're interested in learning more.

Best wishes!