Putting the Spotlight on Health and Student Services
The idea that school nurses only hand out band-aids is fast changing as the jobs of school health employees expand to cover duties that social workers, physical therapists and doctors perform. Employees who provide health and student services programs directly advance the well-being, academic success and achievement of students. Without them, equal access to education for students with disabilities would not exist.
NEA in its “2002 Status of NEA K-12 ESP Membership Study” has accumulated the following data about health and student service employees.
• NEA considers the following classifications to fall under the health and student services category: licensed practical nurses, nurses’ and health aides, medical technicians, family and parent service aides, and community welfare services workers.
• Health and student services employees make up 3 percent of NEA ESP membership. That translates to more than 10,000 people.
• More than 79 percent of health and student services employees work full-time.
• More than 65 percent of health and student services employees work with special education students.
• More than 88 percent of health and student services employees have attended professional development training in the past two years.
• In a recent survey, 59 percent of health and student services employees were often asked to work outside of their current job descriptions.
• The following topics represent the kind of training health and student services employees are looking for:
Child abuse information
Communicating with parents, law enforcement officers and social services
Current medical insurance information
New medications and their effects
New medical equipment and technology
Updating on state requirements, communicable diseases and administering medication