Last year, Jennifer Bramson thought about quitting her position as lead preschool teacher at McPolin Elementary.
“I was not making enough to support my family in the way that we needed me to be as a wage earner,” she said.
As a paraprofessional, Bramson falls into a category known as education support specialists, commonly referred to as ESPs.
And while licensed teachers have long been at constant struggle for fair, livable wages within their profession as the cost of living rises throughout the United States, the situation was even more dire for ESPs — the bus drivers, secretaries and other professionals who may not get as much recognition but are crucial positions.
This year — after advocating and collectively working with her fellow workers for better wages and a higher pay scale — Bramson was recognized as the National Education Association’s ESP of the year.
According to the association, the position comes with the opportunity and responsibility to work “as an ambassador for ESPs across the country, promoting the value of ESP members at local, state, and national events.”
Growing up, she was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia, and she struggled in school.
“I knew there had to be a better way to educate children, and I wanted to be part of that,” she said. “I’m always the first person to try new concepts or be willing to change on advice of coaching.”
Her classroom supports her methodology and is filled with exercise trampolines, preschooler-sized exercise bikes and other tools and objects she employs to help students with their individual needs.
Last year, she said, she had a student with severe ADHD that rendered her incapable of focusing.
“We came up with a plan,” Bramson said. “She could choose to listen while I taught while she was exercising, or she could go to the quiet corner and kind of calm down and regroup before rejoining us. We played specific games like Operation and Jenga to teach her self-control. … We developed an intervention plan with her that I did every day to try to get her caught up before kindergarten and really get those behaviors in line.”
“She is dedicated to fighting inequities for her students. … and improving the lives of ESPs everywhere,” the National Education Association wrote of her.
With the support of the Utah School Employees Association and her fellow ESPs, Bramson approached the Park City School District’s board and superintendent last spring.
They were given a market correction for ESPs wages, an $8 increase on each step of the district’s ESP pay scale and the 16% raise teachers received, as well as another 6% for the ensuing two years.
Utah School Employees Association President Mike Evans, who nominated Bramson for the award, said having key players like her makes a world of difference in negotiations.
“She has that same caring attitude and the same personality talking to these peers of hers that are paras to try and help them make it as a better work condition for them,” he said. “You just can’t help but just sort of stand back and let Jen roll with it. We all have that passion, but there’s always that one that just gives that extra little kick.”
Bramson said the increases were life changing and left her and Park City Classified Employee Association President Gina Cox with an Oprah-giving-out-cars kind of feeling.
“People were like, ‘I get to quit my second job.’ I had someone that was recently divorced. She was able to save her house,” Bramson said. “People that had put in notices to retire rescinded so that they could work three more years and retire with higher Social Security. People came back to the district. Last year, we had about 70 open positions for ESPs all year, and now we’re down to virtually none.”
Now, she said, she gets to go speak to districts around the state with living proof that if ESPs are paid a livable wage, ESP positions will be filled.
Park City School District was a willing partner in the negotiations, she said.
“They went above what we asked for,” Bramson said. “They knew that we couldn’t just meet Vail’s $20 an hour. They knew we had to step up a little higher than anyone else in town so we weren’t renegotiating immediately.”
District Superintendent Jill Gildea emphasized the importance of ESPs in the basic functions of the district as well as in aspects of students’ experiences that are easy to overlook. They make up half of any district’s workforce, she said.
“From the time a student steps foot onto the AM bus route, a driver says, ‘Good morning’ and we’re off to a great start to the day. Drivers, mechanics, dispatcher and the trainer along with the transportation director are key members of the PCSD team. Our Child Nutrition Services team then provides an appealing and nutritionally balanced breakfast and lunch to ensure students are fed and ready to learn,” she said. “What we all find is that working collaboratively and collectively, teams make great decisions together.”
Gildea paid homage to the myriad ESPs who ensure that students have a positive learning experience within the district, saying instructional assistants, behavioral technicians, outreach liaisons, maintenance crews, receptionists, administrative assistants, business service providers and registrars “provide the backbone to operational excellence at Park City Schools.”
Before being named ESP of the Year, Bramson had been to Utah’s legislative sessions and urged lawmakers to keep education funding in public education, provide funding to better pay teachers, spend more on students, promote school safety and take a host of other actions she knows would help the state’s school children.
“Education is under attack right now, and we need to all work to protect it,” she said.
ESPs who feel undervalued and want to promote change, she said, should recognize their importance and find their local association.
“I was so thankful myself when this raise happened because I was able to stay,” she said. “People always say that teachers do it for the kids not the money, but in the end of the day we have bills to pay. We need to be paid.”