MA School Nurse requirements

[Heartaflutter]

Hello all!

I graduated last May from nursing school and have been working on a telemetry unit since August as an RN and as a CNA prior to that. My senior year of nursing school was concentrated on pediatrics- I did my peds and leadership clinical at Boston Childrens and fulfilled my community hours at a local middle school. Needless to say, I fell in love with the possibility of working with children. This fall I decided to volunteer at local school flu clinics and was reminded at how much I loved working in the school setting.

I am now looking to go into school nursing- first as a substitute school nurse to make sure it is the right fit for me.

I have been looking at different school nurse job postings for MA as well as RI to get an idea of what employers are looking for when hiring a school nurse. I have noticed some require you to have a "DESE licensure of school nursing" while others do not specify that in their requirements.

I tried to do my research on the MSNO website to figure out whether it is required to obtain the certification prior to being hired into the school nurse role..... can anyone tell me, based on their knowledge, the requirements needed to become a school nurse in the state of Massachusetts?

Thanks so much!!

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

It may depend on the school. Charter or private schools may not require it (or allow you to complete it while working), lots of public school may require it. I work at a charter school and in process for my DESE certification as I still need to sit for the MTEL.

I highly recommend taking the four classes needed as the first step; they are a great introduction to school nursing in MA - https://www.neushi.org/.