General Questions

Rilia2 · Jul 26, 2008

We work 185 days per year. We are on the same schedule as the teachers. We have professional days, but our nurse leader usually cannot get us any type of continuing ed. that would give us CEUs for these days! We are can go to one paid conference per year. We get 12 sick days and 3 personal days per year. These can all be rolled over as sick time from year to year. I have to say we have great benefits, but the pay is somewhat lacking!

JudithL_in_NH · Jul 28, 2008

I have a 188 day contract, identical to the teachers (though I am paid 10% less that a teacher with comparable education and experience). Ten sick days that roll over from year to year; up to 100 sick days can accumulate and be "cashed in" when leaving or at retirement at 1/2 their pay value. Education allotment of $2K/year; I spent about $600 last year on conferences. Two professional days and three personal days that do not carry over if they are not used.

District nurses usually have our own inservice on staff workshop days and we are expected to be inhouse on those days. If a nursing inservice isn't planned we generally are allowed to work on paperwork in our offices instead of attending the teacher workshops. I do have to attend a faculty inservice every other week about teaching--while I find these interesting, they really have pretty much nothing to do with my job.

luvschoolnursing, LPN · Jul 29, 2008

I work the same days the teachers are scheduled. I think it ws 187 last year. We get 10 sick days and 3 personal days. I get paid the same as the teachers. Only problem with that was my 17 years nursing experience did not count when I switched to school nursing, so I started out at base pay. It's worth it though, especially when I read the threads about the hassel hospitals give you when you call off sick. I remember that. Now if I'm sick, I just call off. Only problem is my school of about 1,000 is uncovered for that day, so I try to go to work no matter what.

msqtsmith · Aug 1, 2008

I have posted this a few time just trying to get an answer. I have an interview for an LVN position at a head start program its summers and weekends off but I was wondering if u get paid while on these breaks or if the pay they offer is for the 9 mths you actually work!

luvschoolnursing, LPN · Aug 1, 2008

The short answer is "it depends." You need to ask when you are interviewed. If you are paid hourly, you will only get paid for the hours you work and not in the summer. If you are salary, you can often divide it over a 12 month time period. I am salary and get paid all summer.

msqtsmith · Aug 2, 2008

Thanks I will ask it says salary and give you a range so I am guessing its like u said divided over 12 mths woo thats a big pay cut. But I think I will really like it so may be worth it

ahsweeney · Aug 11, 2008

OK - here come my general questions. I live in GA and my youngest just started kindergarten. I left the hospital when she was born, so haven't worked in a (paid) professional capacity in 5 yrs. I've volunteered to be the nurse for the cub scout camp, I'm the 'health officer' for our cub scout pack, and have been the 'go-to' person at our church's VBS sessions. I am now ready to start back - doing something. I need something that will allow me to have school vacations off, so I've been looking into school nursing. At our elementary school the clinic is run by a regular staff member - not a nurse - who has taken a 1 day training seminar

At the end of last year's school year, I applied to the county as a 'clinic sub'. I figured that would get my foot in the door, get familiar with the administration and the system. During my interview (with the assistant principal and the Cluster Nurse) I found out that the Cluster Nurse IS THE ONLY NURSE for the whole cluster - 1 high school, 2 middle schools and 4 or 5 elementary schools!!! I about choked!!! I thought she managed a staff of 3 or 4 other nurses!!

Is this normal or is each state/school district different? YIKES! No wonder there is such a huge turn-over with school nurses.

luvschoolnursing, LPN · Aug 11, 2008

It all depends on what your state's required ratio is. Here in Pennsylvania, our ration is 1:1500. I have around 1,000 students in my school so I am below the requirement. The reqired ratio does not take into account how many schools the nurse is responsible for or how far apart they are. Our elementary school nurse has 4 schools she is responsible for. When she first started, she was all alone but since they have hired 3 "nurse aids" who are all RN's, so even though she is technically responsible, her other buildings do have nurses in them. Believe me, she fought long and hard and compiled a lot of data to get the extra help. When you ask around, you will be amazed at the student load some school nurses have. BTW, the national association of school nurses recommends no more that 1:750.

Wishinonastar, BSN · Aug 17, 2008

I get 12 sick days and 3 personal days. Much more liberal than the hospital! I work 195 days. I am in a non-certified position. I have 550 students in my building. Many schools in the area have a nurse only a few days a week because they rotate schools. The district is only obligated to have 1:1500 but I understand it is worse in some states. A more financially solid district may hire one for each building even if there are only 300-400 students. Sometimes they are not certified positions though.

ArleneK · Aug 19, 2008

I get 12 sick/personal days off a year.

I work as many days as the teachers although I leave early on parent teacher conference days.

On professional development days they usually have something for us as well or we go to local school nurse workshops.

seenitallERnurse · Aug 20, 2008

wow, this info is really helpful. my hubby is a teacher and i've considered year to year walking away from hospital nsg to start school nsg.

the hr info is great but i have some other questions re: experiences as a school nurse.

1) are you confronted w/ social issues? how often? and what is the chain of follow-up? (i.e. if a child confides to you that they are the victim of abuse in their home, they may be pregnant, they are suicidal, they need information on abortion, they seek treatment for an std . . . )

how far reaching is the scope of a school nurse expected to be to deal w/ these types of issues?

2) do school nurses regularly "take heat" from disgruntled parents like many teachers receive?

3) do school nurses have a significant, daily role in the care of dev. delayed students? do nurses give tube feeds & meds or does the 1:1 assigned "caregiver" accompanying the child do those tasks?

4) is documentation in the school setting as horrendous, or even more horrendous, than most institutional settings?

thanks for any experiences . . .