Senate Bill No. 171
(By Senators Dugan, Kimble and Love)
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[Introduced January 16, 1998; referred to the Committee
on Education.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-two, article five,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the
certification of school health nurses employed by county
boards of education; and providing that a school nurse who
is a registered professional nurse properly licensed by the
West Virginia board of examiners for registered professional
nurses in accordance with article seven, chapter thirty of
this code is not required to have any additional
certification or license.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-two, article five, chapter eighteen of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-22. Medical and dental inspection; school nurses;
specialized health procedures; establishment of
council of school nurses.
County boards shall provide proper medical and dental
inspections for all pupils attending the schools of their county
and shall further have the authority to take any other action
necessary to protect the pupils from infectious diseases,
including the authority to require from all school personnel
employed in their county, certificates of good health and of
physical fitness.
Each county board shall employ full time at least one school
nurse for every one thousand five hundred kindergarten through
seventh grade pupils in net enrollment or major fraction thereof:
Provided, That each county shall employ full time at least one
school nurse:
Provided, however, That a county board may
contract with a public health department for services considered
equivalent to those required by this section in accordance with
a plan to be approved by the state board:
Provided further, That
the state board shall promulgate rules requiring the employment
of school nurses in excess of the number required by this section
to ensure adequate provision of services to severely handicapped
pupils.
Any person employed as a school nurse shall be a registered
professional nurse properly licensed by the West Virginia board
of examiners for registered professional nurses in accordance
with article seven, chapter thirty of this code.
No other
certification or license is required and no rule or policy of the
department of education may require any additional certification
or licensing of a registered professional nurse properly licensed
by the West Virginia board of examiners for registered
professional nurses in accordance with article seven, chapter
thirty of this code.
Specialized health procedures that require the skill,
knowledge and judgment of a licensed health professional, shall
be performed only by school nurses, other licensed school health
care providers as provided for in this section, or school
employees who have been trained and retrained every two years who
are subject to the supervision and approval by school nurses.
After assessing the health status of the individual student, a
school nurse, in collaboration with the student's physician,
parents and in some instances an individualized education program
team, may delegate certain health care procedures to a school
employee who shall be trained pursuant to this section,
considered competent, have consultation with, and be monitored or
supervised by the school nurse:
Provided, That nothing herein shall prohibit any school employee from providing specialized
health procedures or any other prudent action to aid any person
who is in acute physical distress or requires emergency
assistance. For the purposes of this section "specialized health
procedures" means, but is not limited to, catheterization,
suctioning of tracheostomy, naso-gastric tube feeding or
gastrostomy tube feeding. "School employee" means "teachers",
as defined in section one, article one of this chapter and
"aides", as defined in section eight, article four, chapter
eighteen-a of this code.
Any school employee who elects, or is required by this
section, to undergo training or retraining to provide, in the
manner specified in this section, the specialized health care
procedures for those students for which the selection has been
approved by both the principal and the county board, shall
receive additional pay of at least one pay grade higher than the
highest pay grade for which the employee is paid:
Provided, That
any training required in this section may be considered in lieu
of required in-service training of the school employee and a
school employee may not be required to elect to undergo the
training or retraining:
Provided, however, That commencing with
the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine, any
newly employed school employee in the field of special education shall be required to undergo the training and retraining as
provided for in this section:
Provided further, That if an
employee who holds a class title of an aide is employed in a
school and such aide has received the training, pursuant to this
section, then an employee in the field of special education shall
not be required to perform the specialized health care
procedures.
Each county school nurse, as designated and defined by this
section, shall perform a needs assessment. These nurses shall
meet on the basis of the area served by their regional
educational service agency, prepare recommendations and elect a
representative to serve on the council of school nurses
established under this section.
There shall be established a council of school nurses which
shall be convened by the state board of education. This council
shall prepare a procedural manual and shall provide
recommendations regarding a training course to the director of
the state division of health who shall consult with the state
department of education. The state division of health then has
the authority to promulgate rules to implement the training and
to create standards used by those school nurses and school
employees performing specialized health procedures. The council
shall meet every two years to review the certification and training program regarding school employees.
The state board of education shall work in conjunction with
county boards to provide training and retraining every two years
as recommended by the council of school nurses and implemented by
the state division of health.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that school
health nurses employed by county boards of education, who are
certified by the West Virginia Board of Examiners, need no
certification or license from the Board of Education as school
nurses.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that
would be added.