When Caldera High School campus monitor Jennifer Sawyer accepted a school district Excellence in Education award on May 20, wearing a shirt that read “I don’t get paid enough for this,” she wanted to make a statement. However, that message never reached its intended audience. When Bend-La Pine Schools posted images of the event, her shirt was conspicuously blacked out. In response, Sawyer elected to speak at the May 27 Bend-La Pine School Board meeting, where she recounted the scenario to hundreds of attendees watching both in person and online.
Sawyer, a dedicated member of the Caldera High School staff, serves alongside two other hall monitors with the primary responsibility of keeping students safe. Her presence is imperative to the school’s security, and she takes her role seriously.
“Me and two other individuals are in charge [of] the safety of every single human being in that school,” said Sawyer, who reported walking around 20,000 steps each day and referred to herself as the “mistress of detention.”
However, over the past several years, Sawyer has found it increasingly difficult to carry out her responsibilities. Since the pandemic, she has noticed a significant rise in behavioral concerns, leading to feelings of burnout among both educators and support staff. Additionally, underfunding in schools and Bend’s high cost of living have left employees with financial concerns. Sawyer, for example, earns $23.04 an hour compared to an average income of $31.74 in the city of Bend. As a part-time employee, her gross salary is only $23,943 per year.
“It would be a huge morale boost for us to get paid fairly,” Sawyer explained.
Achieving fair pay is a primary objective in the current bargaining process between Bend-La Pine Schools and the Bend Education Association (BEA) and Oregon School Employees Association (OSEA), unions representing local educators and support staff. This spring, school district officials and union representatives have met to discuss a variety of issues in local schools, but salaries have remained at the center of negotiations.
As this process unfolds, many are left wondering why Bend-La Pine Schools would choose to black out the message on Sawyer’s shirt. According to Scott Maben, Director of Communications for Bend-La Pine Schools, the answer lies in the context of the event.
“In our view, the statement detracts from the primary purpose of Excellence in Education, which is to recognize a select group of educators and support staff who go above and beyond in the work they do in our schools,” said Maben.
Sawyer, however, has a very different view on the matter. With concerns regarding compensation and workload hanging over the school district, she felt that a ceremony recognizing incredible employees was the perfect time to draw attention to the common issues faced by each and every honoree.
“Good people are getting burnt out, truly,” Sawyer emphasized. “And I’m one of them.”
In Sawyer’s eyes, Bend-La Pine Schools’ choice to post the edited—in her opinion, censored—photos shows a refusal to recognize the complex issues faced by public school employees.
“It’s cowardice to [avoid talk of pay inequity] instead of embracing that this is a conversation that we need to have and being bold and trying to make sure that your employees are being taken care of,” Sawyer explained.
While the district’s funding is largely determined at the state level, Sawyer feels that the school district’s decision to erase the message on her shirt demonstrates a lack of transparency and an unwillingness to work alongside school employees in pursuit of a brighter, more equitable future.
