Fairfield County begins construction for teacher village

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, S.C. (WIS) - Earlier this month the Fairfield County School District began construction for what they’re calling a teacher village.

The district-only employee teacher village will have at least 75 three-bedroom-two-bathroom homes built directly behind the district office in the Town of Winnsboro.

Superintendent Dr. Jr Green said educators travel from the Upstate and the Low Country to teach in Fairfield County which results in challenges with retention.

“People are always traveling from other places to come here. It makes it more difficult to retain them for the long haul. In addition, we want to provide a low-cost nice option for our teachers to have at their disposal and we think that this project does that,” said Dr. Green.

The cost of the village is funded through private funding, grant funding, and two million dollars from Dominion Energy related to the lawsuit over the failed VC Summer reactor.

Dr. Green said the teacher village is the first in the state and he is hoping other rural districts implement this same idea.

“I hope that this project becomes a model for rural communities across this country. What we’re experiencing in Fairfield County, rural communities, and quite honestly even urban communities are experiencing all across the nation, and when we think about how you attract...How you retain quality educational professionals in rural communities, I think this could be something that communities all across this country can begin to implement,” said Green.

Dr. Green emphasized phase one of the project will have 30 homes and is expected to be completed by next spring.

The homes are available to all Fairfield County District employees with priority going to teachers first.

The application process for the teacher village will open next spring.

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