Norfolk faces shortfall in school nurse funding

NORFOLK

Two million dollars that pays for nurses in the school division will eventually be eliminated by the state health department, which could force the division to cut into education programs to offset the lost funding.

About two-thirds of the funding for the division's 52 nursing positions is paid for by the state, Associate Superintendent for Finance John Maniscalco said last week. "It's a new and major hole," he said of the loss of funding.

Unlike most school systems, the Norfolk division does not include school nurses in its budget. Instead, the nurses are paid for by the $2 million from the state and $1.3 million provided by the city.

Virginia does not require that divisions employ school nurses and doesn't set minimum credentials for those nurses. State law gives divisions the option of hiring their own school nurses or contracting with a local health department for the service.

Norfolk has partnered with the city Public Health Department, which hires and supplies nurses to the division.

The department will have to wean itself away from state money for those nurses, said Dr. Demetria Lindsay, Norfolk's public health director. She said the funding cutback was early in the process and would not start next year.

"We haven't had an opportunity to sit down and start dialoguing and planning," Lindsay said Friday.

Many of the division's school nurses are registered nurses. Interim Superintendent Michael Spencer told the School Board last week that the division could save money by switching to licensed practical nurses, who have less training and typically have lower salaries. As part of the switch, the division would have a physician on call to field queries from the LPNs.

Board member Stephen Tonelson questioned that alternative. "It would be really scary to have a kid at school who needed more involved services immediately, while we were on the phone," he said.

But Brad Robinson, another board member, said schools would call 911 for paramedics regardless of whether the school nurse was an RN.

Spencer said Friday that the division will follow "a very thoughtful process that everyone understands" in deciding how to absorb the state's funding cut while preserving nursing services to students.

Norfolk is in a small minority in the state: Only four other public divisions receive state money to hire school nurses.

And, fewer than half a dozen of the state's 132 divisions contract with their health departments to supply nurses.

Norfolk's 52 nurses are stationed throughout the division, though not every school has a full-time registered nurse. The smallest schools use on-call nurses.

Whether Norfolk loses school nurses or switches to less expensive alternatives such as LPNs, parents such as Christine DeHaven are likely to protest.

"I am fully aware of the current state of our economy, but our children's health and safety shouldn't be put on the chopping block," said DeHaven, whose grade-school son has allergies and autism. "I am floored that the state will look to save money by cutting health services for children."

DeHaven said she preferred RNs as school nurses, but that LPNs would be better than having no nurses at all and relying on school office staff to give children injections and medical care.

Deborah Zeller, president of the Virginia Association of School Nurses, said school nursing can cut the amount of class time students miss because of sick days or hospitalization. "We get the kids back to class," she said.

Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com