Lewis Central High School question

[ISUguy]

If anyone can give me insight into Lewis Central in Council Bluffs, I would appreciate it. I am looking at a job there as a teacher and know nothing more about the school that what their website provides.

I would not want to live in Omaha, but Council Bluffs seems cleaner. Is this true?

Is it in a good area? A place you would want to raise a family?

Is it in a poor area or a wealthy area or somewhere in between?

They seem to have a very good recent basketball tradition. Football? (I also coach)

Anything you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Feel free to send me a private message if you don't want to post.

Thanks!

 

[RyCy04]

Haha... Council Bluffs is cleaner?!?!? Oh so wrong. Council Bluffs is making some improvements but it is known as Council-tucky for a reason.

 

[CyTom]

I grew up in Glenwood about 10 miles from there.

Young and looking for things to do: Live in Omaha

Older and looking to raise a family at home: Live in Council Bluffs

The school is on the south edge of Council Bluffs. The only thing near it is the Iowa school for the deaf. I would say it is not rich or poor, but down the middle. Back in my day football and wrestling is what they were good at.

 

[sunset]

Haha... Council Bluffs is cleaner?!?!? Oh so wrong. Council Bluffs is making some improvements but it is known as Council-tucky for a reason.

Such an ignorant comment. People that use the term Council-tucky surely know something about hillbillies, but typically know nothing about Council Bluffs.

I grew up in C.B. and went to Lewis Central for a year. Council Bluffs is a great place to live. I prefer the West End, but you will find nice neighborhoods in the East as well.

If you are younger and like the night life you can always live in the Old Market area, it's a short commute to C.B. West Omaha is nice as well, but it will be a long commute.

 

[RyCy04]

Such an ignorant comment. People that use the term Council-tucky surely know something about hillbillies, but typically know nothing about Council Bluffs.

I grew up in C.B. and went to Lewis Central for a year. Council Bluffs is a great place to live. I prefer the West End, but you will find nice neighborhoods in the East as well.

If you are younger and like the night life you can always live in the Old Market area, it's a short commute to C.B. West Omaha is nice as well, but it will be a long commute.

I have lived in both Omaha and Council Bluffs. There are nice parts of Council Bluffs, I agree. The improvements near the casinos is making that part of town much cleaner and more appealing. But much of the town needs improvements, especially the downtown area.

 

[ISUboi12]

CB isn't bad the further east you head. LC is on the southeastern edge, so its plausible you didn't see the "trashy" parts of CB. I think most kids that go to LC have a decent amount of money. Of course, not all do.

They have a great wrestling tradition. Council Bluffs schools aren't known for their athletic prowess. St Albert, a private school puts together pretty decent fb and mbb programs.

Further east, about 10 miles is a town called Treynor. If you are looking to raise a family that is a great place. They have pretty decent boys/girls sports tradition. Median household income is 65k. About 14 miles northeast is Underwood and they are pretty similar to Treynor with a slightly lower but still respectable economic status.

 

[garn91]

To further expand, Lewis Central is it's own school district. I'm not sure were the majority of it's students come from. Lewis Central is in the Hawkeye 10 Conference and for football at least, it's in Class 3A, District 8.

 

[Cytaki]

From what I have heard it is definitely the best school in the area. It is not within the CB school district which has always been a pretty big mess (for the most part). The neighborhoods around there are pretty much middle-class. I would definitely not call CB clean but it is definitely a lot better than it used to be! It is one of the only cities in Iowa that I would say is actually growing and improving(even if this did start from the money generated by the three casinos).

I agree with the statements by others that if you have a family CB would be the right choice(that or West Omaha). If you are younger, the scene is definitely in Omaha.

 

[Cytaki]

Lewis Central students come from all around the outskirts of Lewis Central and from within the Council Bluffs School District. I know people who went to LC because it was a better school and definitely offers better athletic opportunities. The school building for high school is only about five or six years old.

 

[Melvin]

Great Wrestling Tradition, some recent names

Brandon Mason - Currently OSU wrestler, ranked #11 at 174

Trent and Travis Paulson - National Champ at ISU and the other was Ranked in the Top 5 his last 2 years of Wrestling for ISU.

I'm sure there are some that I am missing.

 

[becrisgreg]

The Council Bluffs of tomorrow will be greatly different than that of the past.

You can thank Google for that.
http://www.google.com/datacenter/councilbluffs/

I live and work in Omaha, but with the changes coming to CB am considering moving. to the IA side. Also the kids will then get in state tution at Ames, and I wont be forced to write a check to UNL.

 

[Cytaki]

Yea I really think Google is going to change the complexion of CB. Might be what brings in several more bigger companies to create more jobs in the area. What really needs to be done to CB is the cleaning up of Broadway around where the pedestrian bridge from Omaha comes in. Right now it is essentially the "bridge to nowhere". Council Bluffs needs to be able to offer some nice clubs and nice restaurants on their side of the bridge. As of right now their is a nice entrance and about one mile later you run into strip clubs. That pretty much sums up Council Bluffs right now.

 

[khess83]

Having grownup in the area (parents still live there) I would say there have been great changes to CB. It used to be that a person went to Omaha for everything. With the development in the Southeastern part of the city that is not always the case. New stores in the area include, Super Target, Kohls, HobbyLobby, JC Penny and a few others. CB is lacking in quality restaurants though.

The school is a mix of upper, middle and lower economic status. The earlier post is correct in the fact that it is not associated with the CB school district. Rural addresses in the area do have a CB zip code which leads to some confusion.

Wrestling tradition is outstanding and still growing. CB has a great youth wrestling program. Football has had ups and downs, but with Harlan in the district what can you expect.

 

[TitanClone]

I am currently a Jumior at LC. LC is without a dubt the best school in Council Bluffs. Last year are basketball team was 21-3. This year our football team was 8-2. We have a great wrestling and baseball tradition. Council Bluffs is a great place to live. There are some slummy parts of town like everywhere. Are high schoool is fairly new. It was built 7 or 8 years ago. The school isn't to big or to small, just like Council Bluffs. Our enrollment is right around 1000. From what i have heard, the elementary classes have been increasing rapidly in size. We definatly have the highest academic standards in Council Bluffs. As far as the CB area goes, it's a great place to raise a family.
If you have anymore questions feel free to ask.

 

[sunset]

Sports are cyclical in C.B., each of the schools have been decent at various sports over the years. Lewis Central has had the most recent success.

T.J. has the best baseball tradition, but has not been good in a decade. They had a pretty good wrestling program as well, but not much success in quite a while. A.L. has been good at basketball, and football over the years. Both A.L. and T.J. have new football coaches that appear to be very good. Should be interesting in the near future.

When I lived there St Alberts skimmed kids from all the other schools so they tended to do very well in their category (I think they were 1A). Seems like they make state pretty regularly in all sports.

You can get a good education in any of the schools. Each has it's own set of problems, but nothing too bad.

 

[CarolinaCy]

If you're already living in Iowa, I would recommend staying on the Iowa side (CB). Taxes in Nebraska are pretty much higher across the board, as are things like auto registration.

A guy I work with lives in the Lake Manawa area and his kids go to LC. They seem to like that area, and it's easy access to CB, Bellevue, downtown Omaha and west Omaha.

 

[sunset]

If you're already living in Iowa, I would recommend staying on the Iowa side (CB). Taxes in Nebraska are pretty much higher across the board, as are things like auto registration.

A guy I work with lives in the Lake Manawa area and his kids go to LC. They seem to like that area, and it's easy access to CB, Bellevue, downtown Omaha and west Omaha.

Good point, I've heard taxes are a bear if you live in Nebraska and work in Iowa (or the other way around).

 

[Together2813]

If I could convince my wife to move back to Council Bluffs I would be back there in a heart beat compared to Nebraska. She wont move because we are right next to our place of employment. She said if it wasn't for that, she would definitely move to CB.

Omaha has shootings nightly and the crime is really blowing up. Even in West O, where I live. Council Bluffs, there is some crime but not as much as what is stirring in Omaha.

 

[Tank]

If anyone can give me insight into Lewis Central in Council Bluffs, I would appreciate it. I am looking at a job there as a teacher and know nothing more about the school that what their website provides.

I would not want to live in Omaha, but Council Bluffs seems cleaner. Is this true?

Is it in a good area? A place you would want to raise a family?

Is it in a poor area or a wealthy area or somewhere in between?

They seem to have a very good recent basketball tradition. Football? (I also coach)

Anything you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Feel free to send me a private message if you don't want to post.

Thanks!

CB is definately not cleaner than Omaha, but the problem with Omaha is that the taxes are higher and to really live in a "clean" area, you must travel to Papillion, Ralston, Millard, or Dundee and those are 60th street and west. So, it would be a drive to get to LC compared to living in CB.

As for LC being in a good/wealthy area compared to the rest. IMO, it is definately better than the area TJ is in and in all reality, you are on the south side of the city, so it is away from the majority of the industrial sites and the downtown area.

Then, as for tradition, LC used to be very good at football and wrestling but I have lived away from the area for so long now that I do not know this info anymore.

If I were you, I would live south in Glenwood or out in the country, but still in the LC school district. That way, you get away from the "city" problems but still enjoy the cheaper taxes and if you have kids, then they will be going to where you teach and coach.

 

[TitanClone]

Sports are cyclical in C.B., each of the schools have been decent at various sports over the years. Lewis Central has had the most recent success.

T.J. has the best baseball tradition, but has not been good in a decade. They had a pretty good wrestling program as well, but not much success in quite a while. A.L. has been good at basketball, and football over the years. Both A.L. and T.J. have new football coaches that appear to be very good. Should be interesting in the near future.

When I lived there St Alberts skimmed kids from all the other schools so they tended to do very well in their category (I think they were 1A). Seems like they make state pretty regularly in all sports.

You can get a good education in any of the schools. Each has it's own set of problems, but nothing too bad.

I agree with most of what you said. TJ baseball is terrible right now and they were good back when Lee Toole was there coach, he is currently the coach at LC. As far as education goes, LC has been expanding it's programs like crazy. Every trimester their are 4 or 5 new courses to choose from. You can get a good education at St Albert's and AL, but TJ is way behind. LC has classes that get students ready for college, like several different engineering courses and alot of business classes. St Albert's does make state in football because they are 1A. The kids who go there grow up in the same environment as the rest of us in CB. We get to play good competition in every sport because Omaha is so close. When i was younger my teams were always about half LC half St Albert's kids.