Campus Faculty Housing Heats Up in Dorms as Teachers Select Homes
By Katie Marber ’10
News Reporter
Every year, the faculty of Choate Rosemary Hall partakes in the rush of its own housing lottery, which can last for several weeks. This year, the faculty lottery is even more hectic and is expected to last longer, as many apartments have opened up due to departing faculty members and the creation of the new fourth form dorms. Faculty housing is determined by the Housing Committee of which Mr. Farrell, Dean of Faculty is the head and is based on size of family, service to the school, and adviser “fit.”
The faculty housing lottery, which started the 1st week of the Spring term will likely go until the 1st week of May, takes place in multiple rounds. As faculty housing shuffles around, those involved in the lottery can re-apply for the vacancies opening up until they are satisfied with their billet. Each week, the faculty members can opt to re-enter the lottery based on housing movement that has occurred. The increased number of vacancies this year means that a lot of shuffling has already happened and changes will continue to be made.
Every member of the faculty who lives in a dormitory has a certain amount of points that accumulate each year, and each member of the faculty exists in a certain category, either B, C, D, E. These categories are based upon the size of the family.
Within each category, seniority points are rewarded to those who have been working in a dormitory for a longer period of time. An adviser living in a dormitory gains three points per year, an adjunct gains two, and a teacher living off campus gains one. Teachers who have taught at other schools gain half the point value they would have earned had they been teaching and advising at Choate.
The way the category a faculty member falls into is simple. The “B” category, which means a one-bedroom apartment, is for a single teacher. A couple with one child falls under the “C” category of two-bedroom apartments. A faculty member in the “B” category who has worked at Choate for ten years moves into the “C” category. The “D” category is for a couple with two children who require a 3-bedroom apartment, and finally the “E” category is for a couple with three or more children; class “E” apartments have four or more bedrooms. A faculty member who has accumulated many points can apply for a class house higher than the one into which they fall as long as nobody from that class applies for the same house.
Although the system is numerical, “the administration reserves the right to assign housing based on the quality of advising for a given dorm,” explained Mr. William Morris, a member of the Science Department. He commented that at most prep-schools, the head of school simply assigns the housing. At Choate, faculty members have a greater say as to where they will be living.
This past Friday, April 10th, the list of housing options was posted. According to Hannah Morris, a language teacher currently residing in West Wing with her husband, dog, and newborn baby, “a lot of apartments opened up this year, which was really exciting.” Mrs. Morris falls in the Lower C Category, and has a total of seventeen and a half points so far. For the five years that Mrs. Morris has worked at Choate, she has lived in the same area of campus: Hall, West Wing, and Library, all mid to large sized female dormitories housing sophomores and juniors. For this upcoming year, she looks forward to moving to a new area – perhaps the new dorms in the lower region of campus.
There is a lot of hype going around about the new dorms, which will be ready to live in by the fall of 2008. In each of the two dorms, there are 2 “C” apartments, one “D,” and one “E” apartment. The new dorms will house sophomores, both male and female, and eight different faculty apartments will be available as well.
Courtney Reipenhoff, who is both a coach and a teacher, will be moving into one of the apartments in the new dorms. She is looking forward to interacting with the students on a different level and to initiate her collection of points.
Many teachers do not even enter into the lottery, for several different reasons. Teachers in the “D” and “E” categories are happily settled into their own apartment that they have had for years; they have no interest in moving. The school does not require faculty members to move, and it only funds a move every ten years. Many large families do not want to move from year to year because they enjoy settling into a home or because the moves become too expensive or difficult. Then there are the types for whom the move is not as time-consuming and difficult, who become “restless,” and like to be moving around all the time.
These are mainly the people who participate in the lottery—for faculty, it is one of the most exciting and dramatic events of the year. This year a lot of teachers are leaving, which also is spicing things up. People in the lower categories who are not coming back next year move everybody a step closer to the more desired apartments.
According to Hannah Morris, the lottery is “mostly based on points, but the senior deans needs to take into consideration advising.” The main reason that a faculty member lives in their house is based upon how many points they have, but in some cases the type of students he or she will be advising is also a factor.
This factor is critical in the freshman dorms, as Choate wants to ensure the new students have quality advising during their first moments at Choate. Two vacancies are opening up in Memorial House as Mr. Scott Kelly (class “C”) and Mr. James Stanley (class “E”) are leaving their apartments. Stanley, after 6 years in Mem, is reading to change and will live in the new girls’ dorm. Mrs. Peters of Nichols is moving to Pratt House; Mrs. Abbate is relocating from her Class “C” Nichols apartment on the 2nd floor to Mrs. Peter’s “D” of the first floor; Emily Ostenhout of the school training office is taking Abbate’s former residency. These positions may shift more if the teachers decide to re-enter the lottery with the hopes for a more desirable home.
