Box Elder Schools attracts teachers with housing

Box Elder Schools is continuing to put in new housing units for its certified staff, an ongoing effort to attract more teachers to an environment that faces a number of unique challenges, a housing shortage among them.

Box Elder Schools Superintendent Jeremy MacDonald said they've lost a number of potential teachers during and before his tenure when they were unable to find suitable housing in the area.

MacDonald said it's a bit easier to find a place to stay in Havre, but that's a substantial commute, and with the area's harsh winters, he's not surprised that many are hesitant to make the move, even if they like the teaching environment.

Early in his tenure he said he would find teachers who were really interested in teaching at Box Elder, but the logistics made it impossible for them to do so. The situation made it clear the school needed to do something, or they were going to be in trouble for lack of staff, which will inevitably affect the quality of education.

"If you can recruit good teachers, then your education system is going to be better," he said.

He said his predecessor, Tom Peck, had gotten the ball rolling on developing some of the school's land and installing some trailer houses, but the school has since installed more, as well as on adjoining land they had bought, which already had some houses they could use.

Now the school is installing two new trailer houses, bringing the number of units available to 13.

MacDonald said Box Elder Schools already face a number of barriers.

He said it's already difficult to recruit teachers in rural environments, but Native American communities face specific difficulties that can make for a challenging environment, including wide-spread generational trauma and centuries of economic marginalization.

Despite these challenges, he said, there have been positive changes in education in the past few decades as the value of a high school diploma has become more and more obvious.

He said there has also been a substantial movement to integrate more cultural learning, including language immersion into schooling, which is having a positive effect on educational outcomes.

MacDonald said he wants to keep this momentum up, and there are clearly plenty of people who want to teach in this environment, but they need to make sure it's logistically and economically feasible.

Unlike last school year, he said, they managed to get fully staffed for this school year and it's obvious the availability of this housing has helped in that endeavor.

This effort has rankled some, including local property owner Ken Wilson, who said if the school has housing concerns they should rent it from those already offering.

Wilson also objected to the suggestion that the area had a shortage of housing, and said those who think otherwise just want it for free.

"They just don't want to pay for it," he said.

He also claimed that the school's development was being given special treatment.

MacDonald said he followed all the necessary procedures for the development and coordinated with the Hill County Commission in doing so.

Hill County Planner Julie Anez said MacDonald followed all the necessary laws and procedures in this development. Hill County commissioners Mark Peterson and Jake Strissel said the same.

As for the suggestion that the school should simply rent from others to house their teachers and other certified staff, MacDonald said it makes more sense from a cost point of view to just install their own.

He said teaching is a terminally underpaid profession for the amount of expertise and skill it takes, and finding a place on an educator's salary can be very difficult, especially in places like Box Elder.

"I think teachers are all underpaid," he said. "For the importance of the job and then some of the challenges that come with it."

The units the school installed are $250 a month, which he thinks is a fair price given how little teachers are paid, and that money goes into a fund that will help build more housing.

He said their goal is to establish 20 units, which would house about half of their certified staff.

MacDonald said the units aren't huge by any stretch, but for a single employee they can work very well, and they've clearly had a positive effect.

Beyond the immediate needs of school staff, he said, it's also given the school the opportunity to acquire adjoining property that was abandoned and had accumulated debris which they have been able to clean up somewhat, which is a good thing in itself.