Follower Questions

 - When Josh took the job, did he have to commit to teaching a minimum number of years or is it a yearly contract that he signs?

Josh signs a yearly contract and is tenured after three years with the district.  He received his contract for next year in February and had thirty days to sign it, which he did.

- Is your housing included as part of Josh's pay? You refer to it as teacher housing, so I was just wondering what that exactly means.  If there was not teacher housing available, would you be able to find housing on your own? Are there places for rent/sale in a town that small?

The housing is provided by the school district as there is no housing to rent in the village.  When Josh lived with a roommate in the old housing, he paid $400 a month.  Now that we have our own house, we pay $800 a month.  This covers the house, the heat, water & garbage.  It comes directly out of Josh's paycheck.  The old housing was donated back to the village and is then given to families using a lottery system.

- You mentioned that Josh is applying to start a Master's program in Anchorage, would you move or would he be able to do it online?

Josh applied for his Masters of Education in Counseling at the University of Alaska Fairbanks-- and we just found out he's been accepted!!! 

The majority of classes will be online.  We will have to spend one summer in Fairbanks while he takes the two required classes on campus.  He hopes to complete the program in two years.

- If you stay until the boys start Kindergarten, how many students would be in their class or would it be a mixed ages class?

The kindergarten class this year has ten students in it.  And next year it will have fifteen students.  It is not a split class like Josh's.  It is only kindergartners.  Our boys, however, will not attend school here.  I will homeschool them if we are still in the village at that time.

- Looking at your boy's at this very moment, with all their current quirks, likes, dislikes, etc., what would you say their future careers will be?

I think Jack will be a professional baseball player, and I think Logan will be a doctor.  Logan loves to know about our bodies, how they work, and what they are capable of.  Jack loves to do anything physical, is very able bodied and great with a ball.

Josh thinks they will both be teachers.

- Do you think you will miss experiencing a "summer" in Alaska?

I'm not too worried about missing summer here.  When we leave in May there will likely still be snow on the ground, and when we get back the first week in August, summer will be in full swing, so we will get to experience some of it.  It stayed nice last year until the end of September.  Josh has promised to take me to see the gold mine (around which Marshall was settled) when we come back this summer, and I am so excited for that!

- Before moving, how many years did you and Josh plan/think you would stay in Alaska? And, now that you have moved, has that number changed?

When we first found out he had been offered a position in Marshall, I had to take it one school year at a time mentally.  I couldn't imagine being here any longer than nine months.  As time went on, and particularly once we were living without Josh, I knew that I would go anywhere (the ends of the earth even) to be reunited and living together as a family.  Now we are committed to the 2012-2013 school year, and with him starting the masters program, we plan to stay for the 2013-2014 school year, too. (As long as Josh is offered a contract.)

Five years would be amazing because then his student loans could be paid off by the government since this is a low income school.  But the reality is, we have to take it one contract at a time. So for now, I know we will be back in August, and that's all I can count on.

 - You were hoping to be able to pay down your debt with your move to Alaska, how is that going? Have you been able to pay down at the rate you thought you would? Faster? Slower? (I hope faster, that would be awesome!!)

We are paying down our debt at an amazing rate.  Our tax return helped get two of them down to about $1000.  And this month we got another one down to $1500.  Slowly but surely the big one is getting lower as well.  The best part to me is that we are paying down the debt, and living completely on cash, which we haven't been able to do since we had children. 

- How many teachers at the school are native to Alaska (and, more specifically, to Marshall) and how many are from outside Alaska (and where are they from)?

There are ten teachers here.  Five elementary, one special ed and four high school teachers.  All of the teachers are from places other than Alaska except for Flora, who is a native from Marshall.  Three of the ten teachers have taught/lived in Alaska for an extended period of time (five years or more), and five of them are first year teachers.  We have people from Arkansas, Montana, Oregon, Washington and the midwest.

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I so enjoyed answering your questions. 

Thank you for taking the time to ask!!!