$12.81 an hour - RN School Nurse

[DelanaRN]

So, I have a telephonic interview for a school nurse position next week. I am excited about the prospect of an interview, although having it telephonically is most definitely not ideal. However, due to my being over a thousand miles away from the school (preparing to move to the state the school is in later this month) impedes my ability to be at the interview personally.

Anyway, I digress. I have only been an RN for one year. Prior to that I was an LPN for one year. Even further back than that I had an associates degree in business and meandered from job to job making about $12 bucks an hour until I went back to school for nursing.

I worked as an LPN as an on call Hospice Nurse full time while attending an accelerated RN Program (21 college credit hours a semester). Upon completion of my RN, I was promoted to Hospice RN Case Manager. My husband is in the Army, so we are relocating to Georgia from Missouri later this month. My current rate of pay is about $52,500 of year...alas, that job ended last Friday as we declutter, have a huge yard sell, prepare for packing/moving, etc.

I have a little boy (soon to be Kindergartner), 2 boys going into the 7th grade, and an 18 year old.

The position is for elementary school nurse, and it is an hourly, not salaried job. As much as I think I could enjoy the job and especially the days/hours of said position, I honestly don't know if I can afford to seriously even consider it. $12.81 an hour? Seriously? When I expressed interest in the position the head nurse over all the school nurses in the district sent me a pay table. When I saw that hourly rate, I contacted her to verify it was not an hourly rate based on a salary pay of 40 hours a week/52 weeks a year, so that one might be compensated during the summer months, but an actual hourly rate. Indeed, that is the hourly rate and the school nurse position only works 180 days a year. My personal calculation yielded about 16-17k annually. I have over 50k in student loans, a house in Missouri with a mortgage we can't unload, and $1400 a month rent on the house we will be residing within in the state we are relocating to.

On the upside, I can take my little kindergartner to the school I could potentially be school nurse at, and be home when the kids get back from school and in the summer...visit my family in Kentucky with increased frequency, which would be a huge blessing, and prepare for our final return move back to KY in two years upon my husband's retirement from the service.

I don't know that I have a question exactly. I haven't even had the interview or been offered a position...so it's rather premature I guess to venture into the world of "what if's".

However, is this rate of pay normally what one might expect as a school nurse?

If so, how do you get by financially? Do you PRN/moonlight at hospitals nights, summers, and weekends?

I wouldn't even consider it with the debt I currently have, but I truly enjoyed my days shadowing school nurses in clinicals and with a young family and my husband's VERY erratic work schedule, the stability and regular hours would be greatly appreciated and very grounding and stable for the children.

Any information you can offer would be wonderful. Please!

[DelanaRN, MSN, APRN, NP]

I had a telephonic interview. I sometimes get nervous and talk too much during interviews, so I'm not sure how it went. I did state I would not take any less than $15.50 an hour, which is what the job pay scale had listed for a school nurse with 5 years of experience. I currently make about $27 and hour, so indeed, it would be an extreme cut in pay. My only idea about taking the job is I could PRN in the summer, weekends, and holiday's if I wanted, which I actually do want to do, specifically in Med/Surg - to boost and expand upon my clinical skills. I have ACLS training next week and will schedule myself for PALS. I like to keep my skills current and up to date. The only reason why I would consider what I personally consider something of an insult in pay is because I have young children - the 5, 12, and 12 year olds won't be young forever. I have missed so much of their lives in the past four years by working full time and going to nursing school. The one going into Kindergarten could go to work with me. I wouldn't have to pay for before/after school care for him. I would be off most weekends and holidays, except for ones I wanted to work. I would be able to attend all the after school sporting events my children have. Additionally, we will only be at this duty station 2 years so it would likely work out short term. I haven't even been offered the job yet, so we shall see. I will keep you updated. The principal said she had several more interviews to do.

[bergren]

"The one going into Kindergarten could go to work with me. I wouldn't have to pay for before/after school care for him"

I often had IEP meetings, home visits, committee meetings, and many phone calls with parents before and after school and your child would not be appropriate to attend or be within earshot of students' personal health information. You will need a back up plan for child care if this works out.

Let us know how it works out.