ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP — The Buckeye Local Schools Board of Education voted Tuesday evening to reduce the presence of school nurses in district buildings during the coming school year.
Member Sharon Schoneman cast the lone vote against the controversial measure, which will save the district $16,682.70 annually. Board president Norah Anderson was absent because of a medical issue.
The move is an economy resulting from closing Pierpont Elementary School; however, Schoneman said that fewer buildings do not equate to fewer students or a decreased need for school-nurse services. She feels it is important to have three hours of school-nurse presence in each building per day.
“That’s good practice,” she said.
Under the new plan, which was recommended by Superintendent Nancy Williams in April, there will be a districtwide reduction in nurse presence in the buildings, from 75.75 hours per week to 68 hours per week.
Williams told the board in April that although the district has lost 150 students since 2004, it had not made an adjustment in nursing hours to reflect that loss of enrollment.
Prior to taking the vote, the board heard from a Ridgeview parent and two nurses who work in the district, all three of whom spoke against the plan. The nurses pointed out the many challenges they face every day in their jobs and the specialized nature of their work, which will be shifted onto secretaries and principals in their absence.
“If you were a patient in the hospital, would you allow a secretary to give you your medicine?” asked Judy Mudd, nurse at Edgewood Senior High. “Yet this practice goes unquestioned in our schools.”
Mudd said school nurses are “clearly money well spent,” but members Mark Estock, Jacqueline Hillyer and Mary Wisnyai, looking at future deficits and a murky funding and economic future, voted for the reduction in hours.
The board tabled the recommendation two months ago so Williams could gather more information on the matter and report back to members. Estock said it was “another tough” decision but was confident the superintendent and administration had done their research and he was satisfied with the answers they provided.
In separate but related action, the board reduced the contract for nurse Juli Meaney from 23.75 hours per week to 16. Meaney has been a school nurse for 10 years.
The board went into executive session at the close of the public portion of the meaning, the session being held to discuss the sale of public property.
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