Gas prices prompt some teachers to stay close to home

Then, she bought her first house, a condominium in Takoma Park, last summer, commuting about an hour to school. But soaring gas prices took their toll, and Tallapragada made the difficult decision to transfer to Takoma Park Middle School this year.

"With the cost of gas, it really wasn't cost effective anymore," said Tallapragada, 35, who will teach sixth grade English and social studies at the Silver Spring school.

Tallapragada, who left a career in marketing several years ago to become a teacher, said her monthly gas expenses rocketed from around $100 to $250.

"It was a big chunk of my budget," she said. "It just made me so angry, spending so much money on gas. Also, being a teacher, you take a lot of work home, and I spent two hours a day commuting."

The decision to transfer to Takoma Park Middle, a 10-minute walk from home, was purely financial, Tallapragada said, and leaving Matsunaga was difficult.

"I really loved the school, I loved the community. It was a tough decision," she said. "I kind of lucked out — I'm happy about Takoma Park, and I'm looking forward to it."

Tallapragada isn't the only teacher to switch schools to cut back on commutes. Principal Linda Goldberg at Potomac Elementary told The Gazette that a teacher there transferred out of the school to save on gas.

"It seems like common sense that that would be going on," said Tom Israel, executive director of the Montgomery County Education Association, a teachers' union. However, Israel said he has not heard any anecdotal evidence so far this year to indicate that teachers may be requesting more transfers.

According to Kate Harrison, a spokeswoman for Montgomery County Public Schools, the school's human resources department does not keep data about teachers who request voluntary transfers, so it's difficult to tell whether transfers are up this year because of gas prices. However, MCPS human resources staff has heard a desire from some teachers to stay closer to home, according to Harrison.

Some teachers may have refused a job offer that was too far away in order to save on gas, Harrison wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette.

Israel said that cost of living also plays a major factor when it comes to where teachers decide to live in relation to their schools. "You may be able to save 20 bucks on gas, but if you can't afford the mortgage, it's not an option," Israel said.