Why Advanced degree, LVNS being hired now as school nurse

pattymac · Aug 9, 2005

Totally strange....in our district you have to have a BSN to be a school nurse.

Katnip, RN · Aug 9, 2005

Our area doesn't even have nurses. Or MAs or CNAs. They can't give so much as a Tylenol, even with permission of a parent. I think the only thing they're allowed to do is call either 911 or the parent to come get the kid.

elkpark · Aug 9, 2005

I am a RN BSN attempting to get into school nursing and while applying for these positions, one very prominent surb district in Dallas states she was told to hire LVNS in place of RNs and that they no longer can hire BSNs. So my question is, how is some getting advanced degrees in the school setting as if they have years to stay, while others are turning away RNs for LVNs?

Hm.... I'm sorry you're having that experience, but it reminds me that I just recently heard a piece on NPR about how Shrub's whole "No Child Left Behind" educational "reforms" are based on the policies he oversaw being put into place in TX, but now it turns out that the educational system in TX is going completely broke thanks to those policies -- nobody really minded or paid attention when it was just the poor school districts that were struggling, but now it's so bad that even the cushy, rich suburban districts are bleeding from every orifice -- laying off teachers, closing programs, allowing buildings to fall into disrepair ... And, apparently, switching from RNs to LVNs for school nurses (eventually, they'll probably just do away with school nurses entirely). What a shame, and what a shame that Shrub has been able to get away with foisting all of this off on the rest of us ...

Jolie, BSN · Aug 9, 2005

I am a RN BSN attempting to get into school nursing and while applying for these positions, one very prominent surb district in Dallas states she was told to hire LVNS in place of RNs and that they no longer can hire BSNs. So my question is, how is some getting advanced degrees in the school setting as if they have years to stay, while others are turning away RNs for LVNs?

Requirements vary widely, and are dictated by the budget, or by administrators with little understanding of what a school nurse does. Some districts hire only certified school nurses, and pay them on the same scale as teachers. Other districts want BSNs so they can have the flexibility of requiring them to teach health classes in addition to their nursing duties. Other districts hire LPNs or CNAs to minimize their costs.

Our former school district fired its certified school nurse in favor of an inexperienced RN, claiming that by NOT having certification, the new nurse could be more flexible in her duties. Since when does less education and no experience make one more flexible? I suspect that they wanted someone too "green" to question the workload.

Our new district, which funds every imaginable before-school, after-school, and during-school activity does not employ nurses. The VNA is contracted to write care plans, check immunizations, and do occasional health teaching in the schools, while the secretary handles the routine medications and sick children, and teachers must tend to the medically fragile students on a daily basis.

GreenWitch · Sep 20, 2005

I work in a rural Georgia area, I am an LPN, we only have one RN in the county. All of us have the same salary regardless of degree or workload.

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2005

I have a friend here in the Texas panhandle who has been a school nurse for 7 years. She is an LVN and she makes a whopping $8.00/hr.

Here's why Texas is moving away from RNs as school nurses...$$$.

GreenWitch · Sep 21, 2005

??!!! You can make more than that at McDonald's here in Georgia! At least around Atlanta anyway.

RN34TX · Sep 21, 2005

There was always an ad in the Dallas morning news classifieds for school nurses for DISD schools but it always stated that it required a BSN. This was 2-4 years back.

I remember the ads well because it listed the salary range and the highest end was still slightly less than I made and I was an LVN at that time.

So I'm wondering now what RN's in Dallas were actually interested in the job and were turned away in favor of LVN's to save money.

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Sep 21, 2005

??!!! You can make more than that at McDonald's here in Georgia! At least around Atlanta anyway.

Really?

That's discouraging. LVNs in dialysis are currently being hired at my old dialysis unit at $10./hr. They're downsizing RNs in dialysis as well as school nursing here.

Fun2, BSN, RN · Oct 8, 2005

The schools in Texas were having problems way before "No Child Left Behind".

Not all schools in Texas had full-time RN's before "No Child Left Behind".

My child has just as much right to learn as your child thanks to "No Child Left Behind".

Hm.... I'm sorry you're having that experience, but it reminds me that I just recently heard a piece on NPR about how Shrub's whole "No Child Left Behind" educational "reforms" are based on the policies he oversaw being put into place in TX, but now it turns out that the educational system in TX is going completely broke thanks to those policies -- nobody really minded or paid attention when it was just the poor school districts that were struggling, but now it's so bad that even the cushy, rich suburban districts are bleeding from every orifice -- laying off teachers, closing programs, allowing buildings to fall into disrepair ... And, apparently, switching from RNs to LVNs for school nurses (eventually, they'll probably just do away with school nurses entirely). What a shame, and what a shame that Shrub has been able to get away with foisting all of this off on the rest of us ...