Lynette Fay has been very beloved (and feared by some students) at Barlow for 14 years. Over all of these years, Fay has kept Barlow a safe and fun place to be. At Barlow, Fay has worked countless hours as one of our campus monitors. She usually arrives at Barlow around 7 am and leaves the campus at 3:30 pm. That is an eight-and-a-half-hour day! That is on a normal day, but on game days, Fay doesn’t get home until around 11:30 pm.
At every school event, many students have to be prepared to put on their best smiles for a selfie with Fay. At events like games, dances, and even walking in the hallway; Fay will whip out her phone and tell you to smile. Taking selfies with such an amazing addition to Sam Barlow is a privilege and will be a highlight of many students’ high school years. Along with a list of what Fay said she will miss the most she included, “I will also miss taking selfies at special events and being so involved in the Barlow community.”
Fay has created so many memories; when asked which was her favorite, she could not decide on just one. She said that one of her favorite memories was watching all four of her kids graduate.
Fay kindly shared another highlight from working at Barlow, ”This one time there was a group of kids who liked to skip a certain class. Myself and the other campus monitors happened to be watching cameras and saw them leave the backpacks outside of the classroom. We knew right away they were going to go to class for the attendance part and then just sneak out. So we ran and grabbed all of their backpacks and brought them to our office. When they snuck out and realized their backpacks were gone, the looks on their faces were priceless. They did not know what to do, but eventually realized that we were the ones who probably had taken them and had to come to our office to get them.”
Before working at Barlow, Fay was a 911 dispatch agent for 15 years in Portland. Doing this job prepared Fay to work countless hours at Barlow: “It has prepared me for this new job because I am familiar with using the police radio, the computer systems and how general police work is done. My experience from being a campus monitor has given me the experience in effectively communicating with people of all walks of life.”
Fay has decided that after 14 years at Barlow, she is ready to move on to a new chapter of her life. Fay has always wanted to work in the police force and is excited to work in a new job. Fay is taking her experience from being a dispatch officer and from Barlow into the Gresham Police Department. “My new job title with the Gresham Police Department is called ‘Community Safety Specialist’. I will be working with other people with the same title on managing the online reporting system and monitoring calls holding at dispatch to see which ones we can take that don’t require a lot of follow-up. This will alleviate patrol officers from having to be tied up on non-emergency calls so that they are available for more urgent matters.”
Even though Fay will be greatly missed, the students of Barlow are happy for her and excited to see what the future holds in her new job. Fay has been such an important part of Barlow and will forever be appreciated for all the time and hard work she has put into our school and the students.
Fay gave us a short message to share with all of Barlow, “I just want to thank the Barlow community for being so awesome! I have LOVED being a part of the community here and meeting so many wonderful people. I have made some amazing friendships over the past 14 years and will miss being so involved. I will still be around during football and will hopefully be volunteering around the school whenever I can. Thank you for making these past 14 years so wonderful!”
