Generally, we don't write about the home purchase and commuting decisions of individual teachers, but this was published in the Baltimore Sun, so we're just passing on this news.
Area high school teacher buys 5 BD, 3 BA home in Clarksville, MarylandAccording to Google Maps, Ms. Berrabah will have a 22 mile commute that will take at least 37 minutes each way.
On July 12, Russell Scott Hamilton sold his home at 14140 Brighton Dam Road in Clarksville, MD, to Lahouaria Berrabah. Berrabah bought the home for $578,000.
Lahouaria Berrabah is a teacher at Clarksburg High School in Montgomery County.
14140 Brighton Dam Road sits on 3.1 acres and has 1,774 sq ft of living space. The ranch-style home features 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The one-story home was built in 2000 and aso features a two-sided fireplace, wrap-around porch and an attached, 2-car garage.
14140 Brighton Dam Road is located in the Gosman Property subdivision, which is in Howard County.
Why is this news? I'm a MoCo teacher who lives in Howard, as do many of my colleagues. It's cheaper to live there. My husband used to work for an area builder and he used to joke that the price of a house dropped by about $50K just by crossing the county line from MoCo to HoCo.
ReplyDeleteI was teaching in PG County when we bought our home in southeastern Howard County. My husband and I were both born and educated in Montgomery County and we looked there first. We could have gotten a 2 bedroom townhouse in Damascas for what we paid for our 3 bedroom farmhouse on an acre of land in Howard. I now teach in Silver Spring and my 16 mile commute is a lot shorter than those of my up county colleages.
We choose to live in areas for a lot of different reasons. We chose our area because of location (I attended grad school in Towson, taught in Upper Marlboro and my husband worked in Silver Spring), cost and local amenities. There were things about the Howard County schools that I preferred to Montgomery schools. That doesn't lessen my commitment to my students in MCPS.
Funny thing is that many of my HoCo teacher friends live in Carroll County because it is cheaper there.
--Vicki E.
What was the point of the article? Do we know if Ms. Berrabah has a spouse with an income? How about the property she sold to get into this one? Number of years teaching? All of this factors into what she is making and what she can afford. There are other factors as we all know who have purchased real estate.
ReplyDeleteI am married to a teacher, we are on our 3rd house in MoCo, we have 2 incomes, he has been in the system for 20+ yrs and we bought our house 6 yrs ago for nearly 600K. Does that mean he makes too much? To many it may, but you don't know my financial situation nor how much we sold the last house for, savings, etc.
Again, I ask, what is the point of reprinting this? Are teachers paid too much? Should we pay them less because they can afford nice property? Should they never receive raises again? Or is this to show they are living outside MoCo?
Wow, how wonderful that MCPS teachers can now expect to have their housing choices critiqued by the Parent's Coalition!
ReplyDeleteI suppose the purchase is a matter of public record, and it's a free country so you can declaim on this as you wish.
I will take advantage of the same right and make my assessment (in kinder words than are in my head):
This kind of posting reflects very poorly on the Coalition. To infuriate Weast or Starr or the folks on Hungerford is one thing, but this is entirely out of line. It smacks of intimidation. I'm ashamed for you.
1st anon: Why is this news? You'd have to ask the Baltimore Sun that question.
ReplyDeleteYou said "There were things about the Howard County schools that I preferred to Montgomery schools." What were those "things"?
2nd anon: What is the point of reprinting this? To share the news. It's a story that many residents of Montgomery County might have missed. And this story apparently interests lots of blog readers, according to our blog statistics.
Nobody is saying that this teacher is overpaid - unless you are inferring that by your comments.
Things I preferred about HoCo Schools when I bought my home in 1982:
ReplyDelete1. Longer school day (6.5 hours for everyone). At the time the MCPS elementary school day was 6 hours.
2. Middle schools instead of Junior High Schools (Montgomery didn't have middle schools at the time. They had jr. highs and intermediate schools.)
3. More instruction in music, art and p.e. at all levels, particularly elementary school (90 minutes a week each for general music and p.e. and 60 minutes a week for art). Instrumental music begins in 3rd grade for string students. Dedicated string teachers in addition to instrumental music teachers at the secondary levels. I'm a music teacher and that was very important to me.
4. Commitment to keeping high schools fairly small--no larger than 1500 students, if possible.
I'm glad we ended up in Howard as the location where we live allows us to get anywhere we need to go in about 30 minutes--Rockville, Northern Virginia, DC, Towson/north Baltimore etc. It's been extremely convenient and it isn't at all congested where we live in comparison to MoCo. My husband has changed jobs several times and our location has allowed him to work in places that would've been horrible commutes had we lived in MoCo. It has worked out well for us.
In regard to the article--I pulled it up and it appeared to be news in the real estate section. I have read remarks from people who seem to have a problem with teachers living outside the county. I find such sentiments to be short sighted as most families have two earners and those who don't often cannot afford to live where they work, no matter where it is. I would also mention that Montgomery County is huge. I always chuckle when colleagues at my Silver Spring school say "Wow! You live all the way in Howard Count," when they live in Germantown or Damascus which is much farther away than I live!
Vicki E.
Louis Wilen - your comment seems disingenuous. The fact that the Sun posts home sales doesn't explain why you chose to repost it in a very different context. It's YOUR decision and YOUR intention that I want to understand.
ReplyDeleteThe intent of most of postings on the coalition site is very clear. But I do not understand why you chose to repost this piece of information, along with your extra commentary on commuting times.
Where do you intend to draw the line on posting - for the MCPS community, which is the PC audience - basically personal (even if publicly disclosed) information about MCPS employees? If you see them smoking a cigarette in the mall? Having a beer in a restaurant? Renting a movie? Getting their newspaper in their bathrobe? Leaving their blinds open?
If this is some sort of slight against a teacher who chooses to live in another county, then this is a truly ugly act. I live in MontCo, and my wife teaches in Fairfax Va. So what. We chose our home based on what we could afford and the neighborhood we felt comfortable in, and it's no one's GD business one way or another. As someone who has been reading this blog from time to time, I'm starting to think it's a hatchet job site more then anything else...
ReplyDelete@ Gary - Did you read this at all?
ReplyDeleteIt's a Baltimore Sun article. None of this was created or printed by this blog. It's a link to a Baltimore Sun piece.
See, in Baltimore the newspapers actually report on school system issues and community matters. The Sun obviously felt this was news and ran the blurb.
@ Gary on audience. Actually this blog has an international audience. It is not confined to only readers from one local geographic area. It is read by people from around the globe on a regular basis.
ReplyDelete@ Cosmo - Whoa. You need to take this up with the teacher's union. They bring up where MCPS employees live ALL THE TIME. The data on where teachers live is used as a reason to increase the MCPS budget. Aren't you familiar with the PR from the Apple folks?
ReplyDeleteIf taxpayers are told that teachers can't live in Montgomery County - and THEREFORE they need to pay more in taxes, where teachers live is the business of the citizens.
Sorry. If you don't like this PR take it up with the Apple gang. And the Baltimore Sun. And the teacher written up in this Sun piece. Obviously she told the Sun where she worked or they wouldn't have known and the Sun couldn't have printed this information.
@Gary and @Cosmo -- No slight against this teacher intended at all. The Baltimore Sun -- a newspaper with circulation in the hundreds of thousands -- felt that it was relevant to report that a Montgomery County teacher bought a home in Howard County, and we're sharing the news.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the teacher on finding a home that met her needs at a price that she could afford. She is one of many who have chosen, for various reasons, to live in Howard County.
@Vicki E. -- Thank you for your insightful and honest comments.
ReplyDeleteAnd here are the union leaders and MCPS admins, back on the travel circuit. No budget crunch for MCPS!
ReplyDeletehttp://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2011/08/starr-week-2-trip-1.html