Teacher looking for rural/small town school district (Bethel, Wasilla: rent, lease)

[WriterofWords]

Hello! I'm a teacher, looking for a smalltown/rural school district with smaller classes and more interaction between instructor and student. I'm looking at Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, Dakotas, similar areas, but I must admit Alaska is where I would prefer. I would appreciate any suggestions or info on smaller areas and schools. I have a 14 yr. old son who, like me, enjoys the outdoors and camping, fishing, hiking, etc. We have dogs and cats that would be moving with us so suggestions there would be greatly appreciated also.
Thanks so much!
Kat

[Alaska-Florida]

Hi Kat! If you are looking for small town, the MatSu area is good. There are also many smaller towns around it. Wasilla, the main town in that area, is growing pretty rapidly. However, it's still small and there is much land around that entire area.

[AlleninAlaska]

Try the Lower Kuskokwim School District in Bethel. They have 26 small village schools. Or you might try the Lower Yukon School District in Mountain Village, they have about a dozen schools. Lot of teachers leaving the LKSD this year.

[WriterofWords]

Thank you both! I'll be checking on those, it sure helps to have the correct names for the districts.

[laflood]

If you are interested in LKSD, be prepared to go to a village school. I lived there for 16 years and teachers do not go directly into the Bethel schools. Bethel is about 5000 people and is the "hub" for the YK Delta. It is the "big city" to village folk. Most villages are under 500 people and I personally think it takes a certain type of person to teach in the villages. One must be very patient, understanding, tough skinned and willing to think and teach in a whole new way. It was my experience that there was not very high expectations for kids in the villages and truancy was a very big issue. I would say that the majority of parents are not highly involved in their kids' academics. It's a very complicated forum in which to teach. I came from a juvenile probation background for 13 years up there and school was always a big issue. Good luck but please do your research.

[WriterofWords]

Thanks for the warning, I do understand and empathize with what you are saying. The rural area I teach in has the same problems, just different faces. I am doing a lot of research that is one reason I'm on here trying to connect with those such as yourself that have been to these areas and have differing views and opinions. It's very hard to get parents to be pro active, they want to leave everything up to the schools and then complain when it doesn't work and they are expected to participate with their children. Then on the flip side you have parents that you would do back flips for just to let them know how much you appreciate them.

[Aly]

My husband and I have been teaching in Alaska for 10 years. Teaching and living in Alaska is very different from teaching or living in any other place in the U.S. Do you want to live in a rural area with accessibility to the road system, towns and/or a city or two? Or do you want to live in a rural area that requires that you either fly or take a ferry to the closest town or city? You can have either one in Alaska. Regular education jobs are hard to come by but Special Education jobs are everywhere. Feel free to send a private message with more specific questions. I'll be happy to help in any way I can. Alaska is awesome and needs good teachers.