Big Lake area outside Wasilla

[Metlakatla]

Parts of the Big Lake area are really swampy in the summer....lots of standing water. You might also look at Willow. Willow reminds me a bit of the way Wasilla used to be.

Palmer is my favorite place in the Mat. Valley. A friend was telling me today that they are renovating the downtown area; Marty might know more about that.


I spend a lot of time in Oregon so yeah....your comparisons are pretty fair. If you can handle gorge winds you can handle anything the valley has. You're coming at a good time because you'll see it pretty much at it's worst. It's right before leaf bud so everything is brown and dreary; lots of mud and junk. Even at it's worst, it's still beautiful though.

If you get a chance while you're here, drive up the Parks and visit Talkeetna. It would be too far away for you to actually live, but it's a nice weekend getaway for people living in the areas that you're interested in.

Good luck on the job prospects...I have a friend who works at the hospital there and loves it.

[koopi5]

Is it nice to live in Alaska? I want to go so bad.

[angelface101]

Metlakatla, it's funny, I was reading a post, I can't remember if it was the Oakridge or Cottage Grove post and there you were. I think it was from last year. Small world. Thanks for the info. I am curious now about what TearDrop said about them poss not hiring back their tenured teachers. At first I was hoping this isn't going to be a wasted trip up there this week. And then I thought, how could it be a waste? I am visiting Alaska!!

[theteardrop]

That is just in the valley. What area does your husband teach? There are some areas we have a pretty high demand and they are still hiring. Anchorage (which the district goes to Eagle River) will be hiring also, they always do. You have to keep in mind school districts here are different. The Mat-Su school district is about the same size as West Virginia. That is the district that houses Palmer and Wasilla...as well as Houston, Big Lake, Su Valley...it is smaller in population, but pretty spread out. I am a teacher and teach at Wasilla High. We have indistrict postings tomorrow (all jobs are open to current staff prior to hiring outside). You can even see those by going to the school district site, that gives you an idea of what types of positions are being hired. All tenured teachers are hired back, it is the non-tentured ones that haven't been hired back yet. I imagine they will be, but you never know. Generally there is a high level of hiring in the fall. I don't know why they do it that way, but they do.

[angelface101]

My husband teaches secondary English/ Lang Arts. Last week there had been 3 Eng. positions posted internally and he spoke with a gal from the district office that said the jobs closed on 4/8 and that she'd repost them open to external appl. after that, but they never posted. In Oregon, it seems like a bulk of the hiring takes place in August too, which is irritating, especially if you have to relocate. We have 4 kids and would like to be in a house for a few weeks and find our socks and underwear before heading back to a "new" school already.
Is it snowing again up there already? And what's with the earthquake activity? I had heard that it was nice there last week and now a winter storm alert this week. Crazy. Oh well, we are excited.
My husband was told that he has an interview with Mat-Su this Friday and he has one with ANC as well. We are also driving to Kenai for him to interview there for a couple positions. Who knows! Thanks for your help!

[theteardrop]

New in-district postings went up today, but I haven't seen out of district postings yet. They haven't finished with in-district interviews yet either. Unfortunately with budget, projections, and negotiations coming in, out of district hiring will probably mostly happen later in the summer. It is just the way it is. The pre-interview is needed to even be considered. I assume your husband is going to the job fair.

Yes,it snowed a bunch last night. It is a bit odd for April. We had an earthquake a couple weeks ago, but it wasn't much. It happened during statewide testing and most students didn't even look up.

Good luck! It is beautiful. If you plan on staying up here, I would suggest looking into buying because renting up here costs almost as much as a house payment.