This article is about six Highland Park elementary schools, however, the children pictured attend Red Oak school, the only Highland Park elementary school not named to state academic honor roll. Interesting?

Stock photo.

Highland Park High School report card is a failing school for the last six years. You will find the report card link on the home page of the district 113 web site. Look at the last page of the report card for this information.
If you have questions contact Carl Lambrecht at 847 432 8255, lambrecht@laurelindustries.com

Does this give you an idea why young people don't want to move into the Red Oak district. Below, its time to act, stop the bussing, let neighborhood kids go to school together. Homes cannot be sold in this district because of Red Oak. First good move would be to elect Samantha Stolberg to the School Board.
Southwest siders take back the district, don't let the Northeast side continue to control our district anymore

Do Something

While I am appreciative of your support, Larry Jones, I'd like to add that I am not running for the School Board to fix Red Oak. Every school in this District has its very own unique set of challenges further burdened by our current financial crisis. I want to help equalize this District by raising the bar, not lowering it, through alignment of curriculum, a facilities plan that is transparent and fair, and opportunities for shared resources to reduce spending.

There are going to be a lot of changes that NSSD112 will face in the coming months. I'd like to help.

Samantha Stolberg
Forward Thinking for the Future of NSSD112

Patch readers: Please visit my Facebook page. Ask me anything about my run for School Board either on the wall or via private message.
www.facebook.com/StolbergforNSSD112

Why are red oak and oak terrace not on the list ?
It's not funding
It's not poor facilities ( OT is new)
It's not teachers
It is the parental focus on education
If the majority of parents aren't focused on their kids education the school will under perform
And likewise for Hphs........ Carl
Demographics have changed since my youth
And not enough of the new kids on the block get the home support that focuses on education
However 112 & 113 are both giving this first generation the foundation to build on for the next.
Education is not only a test score
In this case it's a generational effort

There was a time years ago when people would avoid purchasing homes in the Wayne Thomas/Northwood school area. We were often perceived as a distant cousin of the other Highland Park schools. Realtors would often steer their buyers away....I witnessed this personally. When one of the other Highland Park middle schools basketball teams played Northwood, my son who was on the team stated how the visiting boys were afraid to come into our neighborhood! Graffiti was left on the wall in the boys locker room....I believe it said GHETTO. Thankfully we have all moved past this and knowledgeable people have moved into the neighborhood despite the prejudices of many. Could this be what is happening at Red Oak? Could outside opinions be tarnishing your school's reputation? Perhaps what would make Red Oak stellar would be parental motivation and devotion.

We need to work together (ALL of Highland Park) so that everyone of our schools shine equally. Problem solving as to why Red Oak is not on this list (and Oak Terrace either) is essential; what do these schools have in common with the other schools in the district and where are they lacking? How does bussing kids into other areas of HP affect the neighborhood school and is this something that is done for ALL HP schools? These are issues that need to be addressed so that ALL of Highland Park benefits from the resources available in this area.

Years ago when property values in the Northwood school boundries were not keeping pace with other neighborhoods, my real estate office asked the district superintendent to speak to us about the district's future plans so that we would know how to tackle the public's tough questions. At this time there was a quite militant group at Oak Terrace asking for the redistribution of their students into all Highland Park Schools. Their demands often made the press so the questions were out there.I will NEVER forget her answer to us about this plan's possibility...she said AND I QUOTE: If you don't like it...MOVE! Would you receive the same answer today?

Fact is 111 was poorly run
And reflected the attitudes of enough of its residents that it wasn't up to 107 and 108 standards.
112 new dist has minimized the poorly run ( and I am NOT talking about the teachers) 111
We are skating around the issue but fact is for the students whose parents care about education no matter which school in 112 they attend will experience a quality education. They will make sure.
AND the students who come from homes where parents are not involved with the process have a greater chance of not meeting standards NO MATTER WHAT 112 School they attend.
Community support of all kids is important.
And no matter what Carl says
HP / HW is still one of the best places in the USA to raise kids. I hope all will rally round continued improvement for all students.

Keep your kids in school. Don't sell your homes. Your children are in perfectly fine schools. Everyone is so quick to blame schools and districts and teachers, yet never have time to help their own children. Do you really think because you buy a nice home, in a nice area, with nice schools, your children are going to be success stories. I was a troubled child with a single mother growing up in a community of wealth. I was told by my 3rd grade teacher I was going to be a comedian, or end up in jail. I was pushed through the system along with a handful of other problem students so we wouldn't tarnish our schools "perfect" record. In highschool, I was made to believe that if I wasn't going to be a doctor, lawyer, or an accountant, that I would be nothing. Maybe I am nothing to most, but at least Im here to help my kid get by in her mediocre, non award winning school. BTW, the Ghetto of HP is and always will be the lower East side, Sunset Woods region.

Erica
Howard Metz should not even be a District 112 School Board member. He is an attorney whose job is working with school boards all over. This is definitely a conflict of interest and Im hoping he does not get elected. I have family at Red Oak and the problem is the neighborhood kids do not go to Red Oak so the neighborhood Red Oak kids do not get a chance to make life long friends in their neighborhood because because most of her classmates are not from the area. Why should Red Oak be the bussing school. Get rid of howard and we move on

Perhaps my history predates Walter and Susan's
I said NOTHING of the Reagan Monetary Abandonment of its obligation to our Military Families
My reference was to its School Board and their views on preparing their students to compete
As The 4th of 5 generations I speak over a longer period than you.

Mr. Jones are you saying that because its hard to make friends with classmates who live outside the neighborhood (how big in area do you think HP is? are people being bussed 20 miles to school?) that testing scores are lower? What does bussing have to do with learning. They probably spend the same amount of time in the bus as they do mom's suv on the way to ballet, soccer, baseball, religous schools and music lessons. HP neighborhoods are not inner Chicago neighborhoods by a long shot. They will meet up with neighbors in middle school and high school. That gives them many opportunities to make life long friends from their little neighborhood, if those kids' parents don't move,or they don't go to the same college or trade school or military service. Let the parents focus on the education of their children and not on who they sit next to on the bus. D111 was well run and had a lot of innovative programs and involved parents, but there were only 3 schools with a significant amount of Fort kids getting great opportunities for an upper/middle class education without having to foot the bill. The Feds paid 'average' subsidies while D111 spent more than average on the education of all the students. It was the slow fall over the fiscal cliff from subsidizing that forced the consolidation of D111 with 107 and 108. (The blame was always placed on the Federal government, the students from the Fort brought diversity and different life experiences to the cloistered suburban kids.)

Stuart: You are entitled to your opinion My kids went to elementry and then HS with kids in the neighborhood and they are to this day best friends. A child living in the Red Oak district and in thos childs classroom is one child from the nieghborhood and the rest bussed. Those bussed kids will not go thru grades with the Red Oak kids they will move around. thats my point., Without a doubt somebody reading this will say i am a racist because I dont want the kids bussed, I am not. You and the others if you think that young families moving to HP are not staying away from the Red Oak area then you are the ones that need an education and it also works in the reverse where families who live in the RO district are trying to sell and they cant because of RO.

I always thought that RO was a " bussed to' school because it had low enrollment in it's own right? Surely there must be a good proportion of students who go to RO who actually live in it's catchment area? This whole issue of kids in your school coming from a different neighborhood is very confusing. How relevant is it?
If the busing stopped could RO have enough students to justify staying open? It is outrageous that these poor kids are getting so much bad press.

You talk about parental support, but Red Oak is a school where the staff, programs and curriculum change. There has not been one ounce of stability at that school and until somebody decides to fix that problem, you can have the most involved parents, and Red Oak certainly does, but they are battling new teachers, lack of consistency, student mobility and student learning issues on all levels of the spectrum and no one seems to understand how to differentiate in order to teach and manage all the students. Red Oak is a classic microcosm of all the issues rampant to some degree at all the 112 school but has everything in concentration combined with staff in flux, students in flux and programs in flux,. You try to raise scores in that environment. And no one wants to openly discuss it, the PTA won't talk about it and no one is screaming STOP, so everything remains status quo while parents who care about their children's education quietly go about their business of hiring tutors so their kids can compete. Have a nice day. As to the money trail: We have not received millions by now of impact aid from the government for the children we school from the Fort. We are in a hole both financially where that money is concerned and academically where our children are concerned. Wake up.

Tripp, would it not make good sense to close either Red Oak or Sherwood and combine seeing they are a few blocks from each other

Sunset woods is the ghetto? Who knew.?? I live there and am from Detroit and boy our idea of ghetto sure is different.

Shannon, it was only a joke my friends and I would laugh about when we were growing up. That area was a melting pot. We loved it there. Sorry if I drove down your property value. Now, are you from Detroit, or a suburb of Detroit? Because most people say their from Chicago, when really they live in a suburb of Chicago. Big difference. Anyway, Sunset Woods/Walter's field area is the greatest place in HP to grow up. It's not the Ghetto of HP.

I find it very sad to hear people talk badly about military families when I know for a fact that a majority of the military members are active volunteers within our community. Remember that when you are pointing a finger, there are three pointed right back at you. Don't speculate about "subgroups" unless you can prove your claims.

so basically the military kids are the "problem" here??? nice.

So who said anything bad about the Military Kids. Military Mom has a problem maybe she should ask to be transferd to a base where kids like those that live in HP, my kids and grandkids, don't live

Military Mom, will you please tell us what a true Ghetto is? Also, from my experience, Militairy kids were treated different in most cases. People definitely labeled them. However, everyone had a label. The jock, the cheerleader, the nerd, computer geek, the fat kid, the class clown, the artist, the fort kid, the skids, the class clown. I always made the friends with the fort kids cause the were down to earth. I'm sorry to hear your kids are being treated that way. Not everyone's like that.

We are a proud military family of 19 yrs and I was warned about snooty HP people. I can honestly say that I LOVE Highland Park. We live on poverty level pay. Yes. According to what the government labels us, it is poverty level. Yet, we make it work. We don't try to keep up with any "Jones" family. We support our communities and give back where we can. I am a sahm of 12 yrs. I can't volunteer like I have in the past because I have a little one at home. However not one time have any of the HP residents whether adults nor children treated us rudely. The only kids who are rude are the few military ones. Why? Because parents don't supervise their kids. I am tired of kids being bullies, but clearly they learn it from their parents because I have read far too many comments. How about you show some appreciation for what our military does. We sacrifice a lot, but I love our life. We have a beautiful home a block from the Lake. I drive our kids to and from school every day. Yes! 3 hours out of my day. Why? Because I am a sahm and I don't need to spend school resource money that can be used elsewhere. I love the schools here!! The teachers are amazing!! I thank HP and Highwood for allowing us in your community. We fell in love the first few days and have not had a single bad experience.

I've served in the military for over twenty years willing to give life and limb for our country, I have traveled many places throughout my Army career, a few I would rather not see again, and I feel I am truly blessed to be an American. I could have easily chosen a different career path yielding me grater financial gain for myself and my family but instead I've chosen the path of selfless service and I have no regrets. My wife and I have been blessed to see our oldest son graduate from HP, who is now a honor student in his sophomore year at college. We also have a senior attending HP and yet another in grade school. All of our children are bright, well rounded, open minded and disciplined who have many friends from not only the Fort but the outer HP area as well. For those that feel that our service members children have negatively affected the school districts or housing markets I apologize. But please keep in mind that being a Soldier we seldom have a choice where we are stationed! I thank God every day for giving my family the opportunity to be here in HP long enough to see two children graduate and the other attend such a great school district. I might not be as lucky in my next assignment and I never know when duty will call me away from my family... But I'm a Soldier and upholding our nations freedoms and values is what I swore to do, in life or death.

What bothers me here is I have not seen one negative comment about Military Kids. My kids went thru HPHS with them and they were great, played along side them in all sports. Eventually if we are down to 7 schools in Dist 112 everyone will be bussed

There is only one s in busing.