It is an exciting time to be in Chicago. Many Chicago public neighborhood schools have seen a recent increase in the quality of education provided to students, and at the same time many Chicago parents are feeling stuck in their homes and unable to move. I think these two events combined could result in a swift and permanent decrease in the trend of young families choosing to move to the suburbs after having children. Perhaps a small sliver of a silver lining in this real estate debacle.
Chicagoans purchased thousands of homes during the real estate boom, and now after the correction many of these Chicagoans have growing families and are evaluating their school options. For some of these families, the original plan to move to the suburbs is not as easy as it used to be. Not only is it hard for people to sell their homes in this environment, but also the tightening of the credit market has made it more difficult to obtain a mortgage for a new home. The result is there are hundreds, maybe thousands of families in Chicago that, but for the current real estate market, would be well on their way to suburbia.
But there is good news for these families: many Chicago public schools have seen dramatic increases in quality over the past 10 years, and some of these schools are real options for Chicago parents. So how did this positive change happen seemingly out of nowhere? The book How to Walk to School is a true story about how a group of involved parents and a strong principal turned around Nettlehorst Elementary in Chicago’s prestigious Lakeview neighborhood. The book sets an example of the formula for success: a strong parent organization paired with strong leadership at the school. This formula has been repeated at many schools in Chicago, and the trend is continuing with new parent groups being organized all over the city. The list of good neighborhood schools in Chicago is long and growing.
It is an exciting time to be a Chicagoan because today we can confidently raise our children in this awesome city, without stretching our budgets to pay for private school. The current state of the real estate market will speed up the rate at which this realization sinks in, and soon we expect Chicago to be considered a shining example of what involved parents and strong leadership can accomplish in a relatively short time period.
SchoolSparrow.com is a good place to start looking for a good school and home in Chicago, and this iPhone and iPad app will help along the way by identifying and providing information about the CPS neighborhood school in whose boundaries you are standing at the moment. These tools have been created by New Urban Property Services, a real estate brokerage company in Chicago that focuses on Transit and Schools.
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