Thanks everyone for all the info, I have been passing it on to Bobby. A lot of great food for thought.

Doug

There are a few things that your neighbor should consider in addition to the suggestions which have already been made. A single mother needs to consider whether her child would do well in a village. If the child is old enough to be in school then will they be accepted? Can depend on the village. If the child is to young for school then child care will be an issue. That being said, a new teacher to AK will probably have the best chance of finding a job in the bush. There are many districts that are well thought of and many others that I wouldn't work in for a lot more money than I am making now. I would reccommend that she contact some individual teachers in the bush districts that she may be interested in and get the truth about the villages that they personally know about. She should also check the websites for some of the districts around the state, many of them show their sites and a salary scale. If she is interested in the rural experience our district seems to need teachers every year and we have one of the better compensation packages in the state. My wife and I have taught in the Lower Yukon School District for 8 years now and don't plan on leaving soon. If she is interested she can contact me directly at kenessex at aol.com.
Ken

Well being out in the bush, is different. When I took my first job in Alaska, it was out in Bethel. It took me a couple of years to get use to it. You will find that the biggest problem you are going to have is not living conditions or pay etc. its going to be getting use to the way things are done, I mean hurry up and get it done yesterday is not what is done. Things get real slowed down, real slow, of course there is the remote ness to it, and the fact that once you are in a Village, unless the river is frozen or the plane is coming to pick you up there is no other way out, you can't drive in to town. On the other hand, there is the peace and quite. Being a Pilot I had it a little better but not much at first.