S/O Elmhurst schools (Naperville, Hinsdale: high school, taxes, vs.)

[chisub]

Elmhurst was one area we were considering, but I'm almost ready to write it off due to York H.S. Is anybody familiar with the school (I have looked at various rankings and reports, but don't know the school first hand)? It seems to be declining and even though my kids won't be going to high school for another 12 years, I don't want to move to a town where the schools aren't so stable. Ideally we want to move into the district that our kids will remain in throughout their school years. Any insight on Elmhurst/York? If you'd feel more comfortable PMing me that would be fine too.

[chet everett]

York is mostly improving from what some consiider a post baby boomer low point -- the many families that raised kids in the town from the post WWII era experienced a citywide "empty nester" syndrome ALONG WITH its once vvery well regarded faculty being excessively thinned out by overly aggressive "early retirement buyouts". The families that came after the boomers had a kind of big old empty school to deal with and older folks that were keen on cutting taxes.

That turned around when kids of the boomers starting having families and voted to spend the money to make the facilities of the district again first rate. The performance of most of the feeder schools is exelempary. The trends in performance for York are mostly positive, though at one time the school was in the coveted tier occupied by the likes of Hinsdale Central, New Trier, Naperville North and now Stevenson. The difficuty in climbing back to that kind of acheivement is that NCLB forces those schools too to raise their performance. The other side of the coin is that there are low achieving students from struggling households inside the district that are now more pressured due to economics...

[chisub]

Great points, makes sense! I grew up in a town very similar to that and remember the empty nesters vs. young family battles even as a child.