Bend-La Pine Schools celebrates classified employees

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- More than 900 Bend-La Pine Schools’ classified staff clean buildings, cook and serve meals, drive buses, support students in the classroom, ensure Webex, iPads and other vital technology is working well, and so much more.

This week, Bend-La Pine Schools recognizes all support staff members during National Classified School Employees Week, March 1-5.

“Much of the incredible work our support staff members perform is behind the scenes and often goes unrecognized, but the work they do is extremely important and keeps us running from day-to-day,” said Interim Superintendent Lora Nordquist. “We’re very thankful for their hard work during this past year and stepping up to make sure we were able to continue serving students and families.” 

Support Staff by the numbers:

• We are home to 903 total classified employees, which includes a diverse collection of staff members including office staff, custodial, maintenance, transportation, information technology, educational assistance, nutrition services and more
• With adjusted driving schedules due to hybrid learning, bus drivers are driving 8,180 miles a day
• Since Jan. 1, 2021, information technology staff have already resolved 1,500 technology help tickets
• Maintenance and custodial crews maintain more than 2.85 million square feet of school building space
• From March 2020 to Feb. 2021, Nutrition Services has served over 1.5 million meals.

“We encourage students, families and the community to recognize classified staff members this week with a simple ‘thank you,’ Nordquist said. “They do so much for us, and a little recognition goes a long way.”