Questions about a career as a School Nurse

[texancanadian]

I wanted to know if anyone had any information on a career as a school Nurse and can share things like

a) The salary (I know its going to be lower than in a clinical setting but how much lower ?). I am a relative new RN with around 8 months experience in a hospital setting.

b) Do you follow the normal school schedule (8-5 M-F 9 months of the year) ?

c) Are you eligible for all the Teacher benefits provided by the state like Pension, Retirement Plan, Health Insurance etc.

d) Any special training required. Like additional certification, exams etc.

e) Are these jobs very difficult to get

f) Can you be a school nurse and work PRN in a hospital setting in the summer etc.

g) If anyone has details about how to get a school nurse job for any of the North Houston area school districts ( Spring, Klein, Tomball, Cy Fair, Conroe, Humble etc) please let me know

[pinkynbd_99]

Well I'm not a school nurse, but I worked a few school years as the clinical nurse assistant in a Middle School @ Cyfair ISD. From my experience I can tell you

1. salary is usually the same as what the school teachers get paid (around $48,000)

2. They do follow the regular school schedule depending on their school (elementary/middle/HS)

3. They qualify for all the benefits that teacher do

4. They get CE credits by the meetings that the school district gets them and if they want more they need to get it themselves, I think that the school district pays for some but not too sure.

5. Getting a job as a school nurse especially with Cyfair is not difficult because they are always needing nurses, its just that they want nurses with experience, years of experience. Because they want you to know what do incase of an emergency.

6. And I did know of some nurses who worked during the summer to supplement for more money.

I hope this helps out, of course it's been a few years since I worked @ CFISD, it could have changed if anyone can correct, please do. But one thing I will tell you, most school nurses (atleast where I was at) had atleast 10-15 years of experience already before becoming a school nurse (I guess a preference of the Director) and it's REALLY different than hospital setting. it's more lay-back in a way? and very hilarious at times. So good luck!

[luvschoolnursing, LPN]

Every state is different. You can talk to a school nurse in your area to find out how things are in your area. In Pennsylvania, we are on the teachers' pay scale,we are part of that contract. So we get the same pay, work schedule and benefits as the teachers. You need a minimum BSN and then a School Nurse Certification (about another 10 credits I think, I can't remember) In my area jobs are rather difficult to get. I had 17 years experience when I got hired, but none of that counts, so I started out on the lowest pay. (about 33,000 two years ago) There is no reason you couldn't do agency or PRN work in the summer, but I don't.