Testimony from teachers, principals and the superintendent in an Oregon Employment Relations Board hearing concluded Friday in a labor dispute between the Bandon Education Association and the Bandon School District.
At issue is whether the district’s involuntary transfers of bargaining team members after difficult contract negotiations last spring amounted to unlawful retaliation. The district maintains the changes were justified by enrollment declines, budget constraints and concerns about instructional rigor.
The Bandon Education Association filed an unfair labor practices complaint in June 2025, arguing that the district retaliated against teachers on the union’s bargaining team by transferring them to different positions without following proper protocol.
Last spring’s contract negotiations were widely described as difficult and contentious. A mediator ultimately helped the two sides reach an agreement.
Since the involuntary transfers, multiple teachers have resigned. Some parents have expressed concerns, and others have accused Superintendent Shauna Schmerer of misconduct.
In her opening statement, union attorney Sarah Drescher argued the district lacked a legitimate reason for the transfers.
"Even after the teachers protested, requested meetings and demanded answers, filed a grievance, the district still refused to provide a real explanation for these transfers," she said.
District officials contend the transfers were driven by budget concerns, declining enrollment and the lack of rigor in certain classrooms — not retaliation. Administrators testified they considered many other options before finalizing the transfer decisions.
Middle school principal Becky Armistead testified about the timeline for informing teachers about the changes.
"We did not want to make things worse by in any way creating a situation that felt disrespectful," she said. "The feedback that we have received since is that this felt disrespectful, and so the best of intentions did not work out the way, I can tell you, I had hoped."
High school principal Sam Dockery testified about concerns about "grit and rigor in the classroom," particularly regarding Ashley Pearson and Kate Hawthorne, two teachers who were involuntarily transferred and later resigned.
However, Dockery said he had no notes from meetings with them and no documentation detailing concerns.
Pearson and Hawthorne both testified that they were never told their classroom instruction lacked rigor.
Schmerer testified that administrators had concerns about the classroom rigor of six teachers, but only Pearson and Hawthorne were transferred.
The district maintains in documents that its actions "were based on lawful, legitimate, non-retaliatory reasons unrelated to any legally protected conduct."
Armistead testified that the bargaining process was not related to the later teacher transfers.
"One thing was not in any way in my mind related to the other," she said.
The hearing took place across three days last week, totaling approximately 23 hours.
The lawyers now have until April 3 to submit their final arguments before Administrative Law Judge Stephanie Miller makes an initial ruling. That recommended order will have to be confirmed by the state Employment Relations Board.
