Exactly. You all can talk about “lean times” all you want-- but states make a choice about what they think is important. We here in NJ get made fun of for our high taxes all the time. But we know what’s important (and have the best-educated students to prove it.) My kids are done with school, but someone else paid for their good education, and I accept the responsibility to keep that going.
The narrative that teachers are underpaid is mostly false. If one factors the value of pensions, most teachers make more than their credentials would yield in the private sector. While true starting salaries are low, this is often manipulated by the union itself. Rather than negotiating salaries, in my state, the unions mostly negotiate a pool of money. They set starting salaries low so that they can inflate salaries of teachers nearing retirement. This results in over-inflated pension payments during retirement. It is a broken system where there is little accountability for performance. There is no parallel in the private sector.
NJ does have some outstanding public school districts (and some truly horrific ones as well) but I doubt either result can be attributed to the presence of RNs. More likely it results from high propety taxes in very wealthy suburbs of NYC populated by highly educated prosperous professionals sending their children to relatively small local schools.
I think you misread my point. Nurses are necessary not to raise test scores but because of health needs. We can afford them because of our willingness to pay higher taxes. That concurrently also helps lead to better education. And not just in the NYC suburbs. Overall, people get what they pay for. A lot of states won’t pay for education.
Getting what you pay for is the sad case in American education, and let us clarify that you are indeed talking about affluent suburbs whose high property values and taxes support, for example, Short Hills schools, but not those in Newark or Trenton or New Brunswick. The same is true throughout the country. Affluent and well educated enclaves support fine local public schools for their own children in every state. Chicago parents support education just as much as those in NJ but may not have the resources to provide it, just as Trenton does not.
Whether health needs are best addressed at school or in the community is an open question, but I am not sure why you think nurses helped either the health or education of Newark students. Given the state of Newark schools, nothing that was done helped, apparently. I wonder if the charter schools many moved to have nurses on site.
Then, they should get one or go to urgent care or a health clinic, not get medical treatment from some cowboy nurse operating outside the scope of their training.
Most people get that info in sex ed. or health class. There’s also this thing called Google where teens can find out almost anything they want to know. If that’s not enough, put up posters in the hallways. I don’t see why you would need a nurse for preventative info.
Wowser. That’s all I’ve got to say.
Cause the internet is 100% accurate?
Cause everyone is literate to read those posters?
Best of luck to Chicago settling their current battle. And all nurses out there, I see you and respect you.
Bowing out.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
As fascinating as the anecdotes are about nurses in schools in NJ/OH/CA/etc , the thread needs to revert back to topic, please
Wowser is right. So the problem is we have - let’s pick an age - 12 year olds - who can’t read a poster. STD’s might not be the top level problem the school needs to address.
Just wow.
It seems like more and more, schools are being asked to provide social services as well as an education. They aren’t funded for both, but they might be the only way to reach some students whose parents aren’t willing or able to be involved in their upbringing. When Parents don’t Parent someone or something need to fill the void and schools are the logical choice. We would be smart as a society to agree to fill the void sooner rather than later. Also - I am not a fan, at all, of unions. But my kids have benefitted from wonderful teachers and one of them is pursuing becoming a teacher. This is a system wide shift in the roles of school in society and Chicago may be on the forefront because of the extreme needs of their students.
Teachers will have to start paying into Cobra for their health insurance think on Friday. This will end soon and really surprised it went past Monday. Feel really bad for the students and the Nov 1st deadline.
Many colleges are extending deadlines for those students affected.
It will be interesting to see how it impacts national merit. I read yesterday that they are going to allow for spring 2020 scores to be used instead.
Saw on Twitter that UMich is not extending EA deadline for the Chicago kids. Hopefully better luck with other ED/EA schools.
I thought the application just needs to be sent and the others items can come later for Chicago kids and the California wildfire kids?