teach1st
08-07-2005, 06:20 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/05/AR2005080502037.html
When Alison LaGarry graduated from Ithaca College in December, she investigated teaching positions in Fairfax and Loudon counties. But after crunching the numbers -- starting salary, minus rent -- the 23-year-old determined that the going rate for apartments was beyond her reach.
Instead, the soon-to-be chorus instructor moved into a two-bedroom last week in what has become a teachers village in La Plata, part of an arrangement between Charles County public schools and a local developer to provide more affordable housing for teachers.
"It was very daunting," LaGarry said of her initial housing search. "A big factor in my decision was that I could find somewhere less expensive but still high quality."
With the price of housing on the rise throughout the region, teachers and other middle-income workers are struggling to find affordable places to live. The challenge is magnified in Charles County, developers and education officials say, because apartments are scarce.
"Housing is one of the reasons we lose a lot of teachers," said Meg MacDonald, chief negotiator for the Education Association of Charles County, which represents 1,500 school employees. "It's too expensive to live here, and it's hardest for young people."
To help recruit new teachers, the school system increased starting salaries last year from $35,451 to $38,695. Keith Hettel, the school system's assistant superintendent for human resources, also began working with a local firm to reserve apartments at below-market rates.
Read more (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/05/AR2005080502037.html)
When Alison LaGarry graduated from Ithaca College in December, she investigated teaching positions in Fairfax and Loudon counties. But after crunching the numbers -- starting salary, minus rent -- the 23-year-old determined that the going rate for apartments was beyond her reach.
Instead, the soon-to-be chorus instructor moved into a two-bedroom last week in what has become a teachers village in La Plata, part of an arrangement between Charles County public schools and a local developer to provide more affordable housing for teachers.
"It was very daunting," LaGarry said of her initial housing search. "A big factor in my decision was that I could find somewhere less expensive but still high quality."
With the price of housing on the rise throughout the region, teachers and other middle-income workers are struggling to find affordable places to live. The challenge is magnified in Charles County, developers and education officials say, because apartments are scarce.
"Housing is one of the reasons we lose a lot of teachers," said Meg MacDonald, chief negotiator for the Education Association of Charles County, which represents 1,500 school employees. "It's too expensive to live here, and it's hardest for young people."
To help recruit new teachers, the school system increased starting salaries last year from $35,451 to $38,695. Keith Hettel, the school system's assistant superintendent for human resources, also began working with a local firm to reserve apartments at below-market rates.
Read more (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/05/AR2005080502037.html)