WINNSBORO – In early June, TruVista and the Fairfield County School District announced their partnership in constructing the first of its kind education initiative in the state of South Carolina at the Village in Winnsboro, the new housing for Fairfield County teachers. That initiative is a technology center.
The residential development opened this fall, and a ribbon cutting will be held Monday, Sept. 23, 2024 for the Technology Center.
Seventeen residences are now completed and teachers have already begun to move in. The Fairfield County School District Education Foundation’s board of directors selected the educators from a list of teacher applicants. Using a blind process based on a set of requirements, the Foundation hired a property management company and rental management company to work together to make the selections.
Teachers across the district and beyond were invited to apply, but according to Veronica Thomas, a Fairfield Central High School math teacher, former district Teacher of the Year, and instructor at the Fairfield County Adult Education Center, longevity is one of the main requirements.
“Because the Village in Winnsboro is primarily a teacher recruitment and retention tool, the longer you have been teaching in the district, the better the teacher’s chances were at being selected,” Thomas said.
The district, which serves about 2,500 students, has faced ongoing challenges in attracting and retaining qualified teachers. According to the district, the average teacher longevity is three years, and 75% of its teachers reside outside of the county.
Thomas, who has been with the district for nine years, was one of the teachers selected for the first residential houses.
“Their recruitment and retention theory works because prior to this year, I was looking around and had an opportunity to move on. A reasonably priced brand-new home in the Village in Winnsboro gives me a reason to stay at least three or four more years,” she admits.
The initial residential community features a mixture of 17 three-bedroom, two bath, one story; or three- bedroom, two-and-a-half bath, two-story standalone houses. The community will also be equipped with TruVista high speed internet and optional automation and security services.
Owned by the Foundation, houses are available for rent for teachers in the district for $700 to $900 a month. A subsidy is also available to keep the rent low. Leases are for one year but are renewable annually.
“I rented a two-bedroom townhouse and the rent was nearly three times that,” Thomas said. “To have a brand new three-bedroom home complete with appliances including washers and dryers, no yardwork, and only minimal annual rent increases for under $1,000 a month is for me, and I am sure for a lot of other teachers, a great opportunity.”
Nine more lots will be available for future expansion and the FCSD Education Foundation continues to seek donations and support to realize the full potential of The Village in Winnsboro, and to serve the waiting list of teachers for the housing.
TruVista will provide all the high-speed broadband service for the residential section as well as the technology center.
The Technology Center is intended to appeal to teachers across the district as a place where they can come to find cutting-edge resources and tools that will enhance their teaching capabilities. It will also serve as a hub for innovation, professional development, and collaboration for teachers in a district where retention has been a major problem.
TruVista’s Director of Market Development for South Carolina Brian Winland said the Technology Center will be equipped with community Wi-Fi and multi-gigabite internet speeds provided by TruVista. It will also feature a WebEx board the teachers can use for screen shares and online meetings, a digital whiteboard, and a large shared meeting space with smaller collaborative rooms.
