D65 is going broke and is trying to stave off the State intervening and taking over. Makes no sense because Evanston is well off. It appears they have overspent though. After building new school, they are now looking at closing some. I don’t know what impact this will have on the quality of D65, but they clearly are not going to expand academic staff. For all of their money, black student proficiency stands at 11 percent in reading as opposed to 7 percent in Chicago. Query what is going on.

Evanston has great schools and dedicated teachers.

Grew up in Wilmette right on the Wilmette/Evanston border and I went to New Trier, but I have lots of friends who went to ETHS. My mom is still heavily involved in a lot of community organizations in Evanston and has plenty of friends who have had kids go through the schools in Evanston more recently.

Literally every one of my friends who went to ETHS had a virtually identical trajectory in terms of what kind of education they received and what kinds of colleges and careers they entered to New Trier kids, and same goes for my parents' friends' kids who are younger. The benefit to Evanston is it is more diverse and they were exposed to more different kids of people than Wilmette (although Evanston is still extremely affluent) and a lot of parents involvement in Northwestern creates a bit of a college town vibe among the parent community if that is your cup of tea. The disadvantage is that the property taxes are higher partially due to Northwestern's non-profit status. The average test scores are lower, but this is entirely explainable by the increased socioeconomic diversity.

My parents almost bought a house in Evanston, but decided they liked the house better in Wilmette and the schools were a tie breaker. She says in retrospect it really wouldn't have mattered much. We were in DCPS in the '90s prior to moving to the Chicago suburbs (although one of the best DCPS elementary schools west of the park) and she says in some ways the greater diversity was good for us although she also appreciates the pros that such a well resourced school district could provide for our education as well.

All this is to say, I wouldn't worry much about the quality of the schools. If you prefer the vibe of Evanston to Wilmette or Winnekta and like your housing options better, then go for it.

Look at Baker.

No one who can afford it sends their kids to D65. It was definitely unpleasant to know after paying so much in property taxes, we couldn't put our older child in D65 nor let the young one attends. So much for not moving to Winnetka, smh.

Does anyone here currently have kids in the Evanston public schools and would consider talking to me about your impressions of d65? We live within the district and have a 1 and 3 year old and I am just not sure what to think currently. Thanks.