Teachers Giving Cold Shoulder to Alaska

A decade ago, people were willing to overlook the cold, the dark and the isolation to work in Alaska’s rural villages and earn some of the highest teacher salaries in the nation.

School administrators had their pick of qualified applicants. No recruiting necessary.

Those days are long gone: A nationwide teacher shortage and rising salaries in the continental United States have made it much tougher for Alaska’s rural schools to attract and keep educators.

“It used to be people would come for monetary reasons, but that’s not the case any more,” said Gary Baldwin, an assistant superintendent for the Lower Kuskokwim School District in southwestern Alaska.

By the end of the decade, nearly a million teachers will retire, the U.S. Education Department predicts. Some 2.2 million teachers will need to be replaced to meet what are expected to be record enrollments.

However, Alaska is 49th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia in teacher salary increases from 1988-89 to 1998-99, with a 15% increase, the National Education Association says. New Hampshire led the nation with a nearly 65% increase.

The average teacher salary in Alaska during the 1998-99 school year was $48,275, sixth-highest in the nation. Factor in Alaska’s high cost of living, however, and the state’s ranking slips to 20th, according to the American Federation of Teachers.

When adjusted for inflation, Alaska teacher salaries actually declined nearly 14%, NEA-Alaska President Rich Kronberg said.

The situation has forced administrators to become more creative in wooing teachers. Some have set up Web sites, including the North Slope Borough district, which includes a top-10 list of reasons to work there. No. 5 says: “If your freezer breaks, no problem!”

Baldwin emphasizes the intangible benefits of life in the wide-open Kuskokwim River delta, the spare beauty of the landscape and the opportunity to learn about the rich culture of the Yupik Eskimos.

It doesn’t always work: Baldwin needed to hire a math teacher, but eventually filled the position with a social studies teacher with a “fairly strong” math background. The only housing available was a two-bedroom home that had to be shared with a single, male teacher.

“There were several math teachers with families and female math teachers, but none took the job,” said Baldwin, who is still looking for a math and science teacher and a special education teacher.

Eric Lowry, 30, has returned to northwest Alaska to teach for a second year in the tiny village of Wales, less than 70 miles from Russia and cut off by road from the rest of Alaska. Nearly all 170 residents are Inupiat Eskimos.

Many of Lowry’s college classmates received signing bonuses and moving expenses when they took teaching jobs in California, Nevada and Arizona. He said he chose Wales--far from the land of shopping malls, restaurants and suburban subdivisions--because he was looking for a challenge.

“I’ve learned a lot about myself and seen things most people never see,” said Lowry, who helped haul a whale out of the sea ice during the spring hunt by Alaska natives.

“It’s breathtaking to watch the ocean freeze. One day the waves are crashing against the shore and the next you can walk a mile out,” he said.

Lowry is one of the lucky ones in town. His house, provided by the Bering Strait School District, has indoor plumbing.

“We do provide subsidized housing for our staff,” said Jim Hickerson, the district’s personnel director. “Some don’t have running water and flush toilets. When I first started in the district, that was the norm.”

Hickerson managed to start the year with all teacher positions filled, but only after an aggressive, year-round recruiting effort. He has hired retired administrators living in the Lower 48 states to interview teacher candidates at job fairs and universities. The district also posts job openings on the Internet and takes applications online.

“I think we’re going to find in Alaska that we can’t wait until April or May to fill our vacancies any more,” Hickerson said.