Travel arrangements to your school site should be made as soon as possible. Travel itineraries will be routed through Anchorage (Alaska’s largest city). Anchorage can be reached from "Outside" or "the Lower 48" by air and car. From Anchorage, you can reach Dillingham only by air. The school site in Aleknagik is located 25 miles from Dillingham and is accessed by road and either boat or snowmobile for the short distance to the other side of the lake. The remaining school sites are accessed only by air from Dillingham.

Teachers located in Aleknagik and Dillingham shall receive a $700 travel stipend.  Teachers located in Koliganek, New Stuyahok, and Ekwok shall receive a $950 travel stipend.  Teachers located in Togiak, Twin Hills, Manokotak, and Clark's Point shall receive a $1050 travel stipend.  Taxes, if required, shall be withheld for this benefit at the time the stipend is issued.  The second working day of each school year will be set as the accrual date.  However, if a teacher fails to return to duty during his/her contract, the travel stipend will be forfeited by the teacher.  In the case of such forfeiture, the District will withhold the amount previously paid, from monies owed the teacher.  If no monies are owed the teacher at the time of forfeiture, the teacher will be responsible to make payment to the District within thirty (30) calendar days.

Travel from Dillingham to the villages is by local air taxi. Arrangements for travel to sites can be made from Dillingham. Be sure to tell them you are a new teacher arriving for the first time, and let them know how much baggage you will be transporting.

While the airports in each community are relatively close to housing, make sure that someone knows your itinerary and is waiting for you to arrive. 

Local Airline Taxi’s
Alaska Island Air        (907) 842-5120

Bristol Bay Air            (907) 842-2227

Bush Hopper              (907) 843-1924

Coupchiak Air             (907) 843-1990

Dena'ina Air Taxi         (907) 575-6225

Grant Aviation             (907) 842-2955

Tucker Air                   (907) 842-1023

True North                  (907) 843-9696

Van Air                        (907) 842-4985

Southwest Region Schools leases housing to its staff at school sites. The cost of this housing is regulated by negotiated agreement and specific costs can be found in the Teacher’s and Administrator’s Negotiated Agreements.

District housing has basic furnishings, which typically includes couch, chairs, end tables, beds, dressers, and night-stands. Furnishings may vary from unit to unit. You will need to provide bedding, linens, dishes, utensils, and desired small appliances including television sets. Please contact your principal for specific needs. District-owned housing units have plumbing and conventional electric service. Limited freezer space and washer and dryers are available.

The local telephone service for Aleknagik, Clark’s Point and Manokotak, is Nushagak Cooperatives and can be reached at (907) 842-5251.
The local telephone service provider for Ekwok, Koliganek and New Stuyahok is Bristol Bay Telephone and can be reached at (907) 246-3403.
The local telephone service provider for Togiak and Twin Hills is United Utilities and can be reached at (907) 543-7575 and fax (907) 543-5322.

Long distance telephone service is provided by GCI.  Cell phone service is readily available throughout the district, primarily through GCI (https://www.gci.com).

Be prepared to spend twice as much for food as you would in Seattle. A few items are obtainable in stores in Koliganek, Manokotak, New Stuyahok and Togiak.

All the villages are “damp” or “dry” with no alcoholic beverages sold, and the importation of alcohol is prohibited for some of the sites; this includes the importation for personal use. The extent of “dry” varies from village to village and year to year. Please visit the “Local Option Restrictions” page of the Alaska Public Safety Alcoholic Beverage Control Board at http://www.dps.state.ak.us/abc/restrictions.aspx for more information.

In Dillingham, the major sources of groceries are Bigfoot and Alaska Commercial Company (A.C.). They will box and ship groceries to your site.

Costco, a membership grocer in Anchorage, has good prices, and you may shop in person or through mail order. Span Alaska out of Washington State ships case quantity items. Mr. Prime Beef will ship beef, pork and poultry meats to any site. Wal-Mart and Fred Meyer in Anchorage also provide “bush” mail services. Postage from Anchorage is affordable. If you have frozen items shipped, it will need to be sent airfreight, and it is best to be at your site when the boxes arrive.

Many people pack coolers with frozen food and ship them as luggage. Remember that the airlines only allow baggage weighing up to 50 lbs. Anything in excess of 50lbs. will constitute extra charges.

If you are planning to mail things from Anchorage, the airport post office is open longer hours (8:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.) Monday through Friday, (9:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.) Saturday and Sunday.

We recommend you plan to spend a couple days in Anchorage to shop for food items and mail or freight them to the village. Hotel rates are extremely expensive during the summer months so it is also recommended that you stay at a Bed & Breakfast. 

You can begin mailing your personal items to the school you are assigned. There is a person at each school assigned to pick up boxes and deliver them to the school.  You will want to address your boxes as follows:

"Your Name"
C/O "School Name"
General Delivery
Village Name, AK ZIP

Example:

Barbara Andrew
C/O Aleknagik School
General Delivery
Aleknagik, AK 99555

You may want to send them insured in case of damage or loss. The U.S. Postal service accepts packages weighing up to 70 lbs. As a general rule, the heavier the box, the cheaper the postage. For example, two boxes weighing 5 lbs will cost as much or more than a single box weighing 10 lbs. It’s important to tape and label your boxes clearly.

Dress tends to be more casual than in school districts “Outside” of Alaska, but it also varies from village to village. Temperatures are not as extreme as in other parts of the state or nation. You should expect rain and mud in the Fall and Spring. Most find knee high rubber boots to be indispensable.

You will want a warm jacket, but may wish to wait and peruse through mail order catalogs or via the Internet, ordering when you can determine the type that will best suit your needs. Look for things that can be laundered, as your closest dry cleaner is Anchorage.

Because of our remoteness, there are no shopping malls, movie theaters or any other major entertainment centers. You may consider bringing some things such as:
               Art supplies                                                     books
               camera and film                                              collections
               fishing gear (ice fishing too)                           records, tapes, and cd’s
               cross country skis                                           ice skates
               rifles and/or shotguns                                     games
               sleeping bag & day pack (handy for district travel)
 
A favorite activity in many villages is snowmobiling and four wheeling. They are also useful as a means of transportation.

If you like to fish and/or hunt you will need a license. The State of Alaska requires twelve months of continuous residency to obtain a resident license. There are additional fees for nonresidents who wish to hunt large game. Check with the Alaska Department of Fish and Gamein Dillingham at (907) 842-5925 for more information.

Check your State regulations for leaving and entering Alaska with firearms. Also, check the TSA for regulations on the planes. If you are traveling through Canada, make sure you know the requirements before you travel.

If you bring a pet, you will be responsible for the pet entirely. There is a pet deposit required with each animal. Owners are responsible for all damage the animal creates.

To ship a dog or cat you will need an airline approved carrier – available from the airlines or a pet store. Also, you will need valid rabies and parvo certificates for them. Don’t overlook distemper shots. There is no veterinarian in the Bristol Bay area, so injured or sick animals must be sent airfreight to Anchorage for medical attention. A vet does visit Dillingham and a few villages periodically.

Pet supplies and boarding may be obtained at Happy Tails in Dillingham. They may be contacted at (907) 842-3647. They are located on the “Lake Road” and are approximately 9 miles from the District Office in Dillingham.

There is a small, fifteen-bed hospital (Kanakanak Hospital) located in Dillingham. Inpatient, Outpatient, Optometric, and Dental care are available. In addition, one private dentist practice in Dillingham and an orthodontist makes periodic visits to Dillingham.

In addition to the hospital in Dillingham, there are small local clinic facilities staffed by health paraprofessionals (equivalent to a licensed practical nurse) in all villages. Togiak has a larger clinic with a practitioner on staff.

Each employee is required to have a current physical signed by a certified physician before the first contracted work day. We encourage you to have all of your routine medical work done before you come. It is always wise to have back-up glasses and/or adequate amounts of solution or other contacts supplies on hand.

The small stores have a limited supply of over the counter drugs. If you need special medications or prescription drugs that you cannot keep an extended supply of, have your physician communicate with the pharmacists at the Kanakanak Hospital, P.O. Box 130, Dillingham, AK 99576. The hospital does have a pharmacy.

Kanakanak Hospital         (907) 842-5201
Dillingham Dental Clinic   (907) 842-5214