Asking for a raise

[czab]

This is my first year as a school nurse. Prior I have been a pediatric nurse for the past 15 years. I was hired at an elementary school this year. They have had a new nurse every year for the past 3 years. I was looking at the surrounding school nurse salaries they are thousands higher. There are 4 nurses in the district, we are not in a union. I spoke with the superintenndent and he said to get the nurses together and bring it to the board. I was told the nurses have tried several time to get the salarys increased they had NO luck. I enjoy the job, I would love to stay But they pay is HORRIBLE compared to the other district. I know all the teachers loves that I am there, they have told me on several occasions. Does the principal have any pull will salaries ?

Thanks

[100kids, BSN, RN]

Personally I would wait until after I had been there a full year before asking for a raise. As an employer I hired you at a certain salary and I would expect you to be ok with that for a year. After a year however there is nothing wrong with presenting your case for an increase in pay. I would say that the pay in surrounding districts is only 1 piece of the puzzle and make sure the 2 jobs are comparable before using that as data. I think the most important thing for you to do is talk to the other nurses and find out what they presented to the board in the past and why they think they were not successful. Data is your friend. Show the value you provide to the school, show the data of how many students you interact with daily and how you help keep the kids healthy and in school. Provide absenteeism data comparing schools with fulltime nurses and those without. I'm sure there's more but that's off the top of my head. Good luck! It's nice to have some other nurse's to work on this with. Take your time and put together a good argument. Being underpaid is a real problem for most school nurses. I wish you well.

[czab]

thank you for your input i will definitly use it!!

[A1hamRN]

I'm in a similar situation 1st yr as school nurse 14yrs pediatric nurse. I started my position being paid at the bottom of the barrel making what a 1st yr teacher just out of school makes... We are a district of 18 nurses, one in each school. Most have been here for 10 + yrs and used to the pay cut, but we have lost 3 nurses in the past yr due to financial burdan. I don't want to be the 4th, but I'm finding it more and more difficult to make it on my low salary. I'm married and my husband is very supportive but the stress of this is hurting our family. I love this job so much! I worked hospital nursing and took a $20,000 pay cut to be here, but when I applied and was interviewed I knew it was a pay cut but thought I was starting off as a 14yr exp. not at 1st yr.. I have talked to higher up but was thinking of approaching the superintendant about this... Any thoughts?!