One of the major attractions to living in Salisbury is the high quality of education offered by Salisbury Central School. As principal of the school, Stephanie Magyar, sees firsthand the challenges faced by young families, teachers and other staff who would like to live here. Only 40% of her teaching staff live in Salisbury. The high cost of housing affects her recruitment of staff in general and particularly her ability to attract paraprofessionals, teaching assistants, cafeteria workers, custodians and maintenance staff. For people working part time jobs, travel between home and work is particularly difficult.
Fortunately, the K-8 school population has remained relatively stable during the past 5 years, helped by the large number of private school faculty’s children who have housing provided by their schools.
Stephanie says, “We need rentals and zoning that makes it possible to have housing that people can afford. When they live in less expensive towns, their commute is longer and they don’t always send their children to our schools. We have lost employees due to long commutes and have had people turn down job offers due to the high cost of living in the area.” As she’s seen in her own family, people who grew up here and want to stay end up moving to other towns.
If we want our town to thrive now and for future generations, we need housing that makes it possible for young people to live and work in Salisbury.
This article was published in The Lakeville Journal on 8/29/19.