Senate Bill No. 333
(By Senators Kessler, Prezioso, Unger, Barnes, Foster, Jenkins,
Yost, Williams, Green, Chafin and Oliverio)
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[Introduced February 24, 2009; referred to the Committee
Education.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18-5-22 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to decreasing the student to nurse
staffing ratio; expanding coverage to all school grades; and
eliminating a county's ability to contract out nursing
services.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-5-22 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, 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.
(a) County boards shall provide proper medical and dental
inspections for all pupils attending the schools of their county and 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.
(b)
Each Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year 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 seven hundred, fifty
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 however, 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. An
appropriation may be made to the state department to be distributed
to county boards to support school health service needs that exceed
the capacity of staff as mandated in this section. Each county
board shall apply to the state superintendent for receipt of this
funding in a manner set forth by the state superintendent that
assesses and takes into account varying acuity levels of students
with specialized health care needs.
(c) Any person employed as a school nurse must 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.
(d) Specialized health procedures that require the skill,
knowledge and judgment of a licensed health professional may be
performed only by school nurses, other licensed school health care
providers as provided 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 in this section prohibits 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. Commencing with the school year beginning
on July 1, 2002, "school employee" also means "secretary I",
"secretary II" and "secretary III" as defined in section eight,
article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code
: Provided, however,
That a "secretary I", "secretary II" and "secretary III" shall be
limited to the dispensing of medications.
(e) Any school service 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 July 1, 1989,
any newly employed school employee in the field of special
education is required to undergo the training and retraining as
provided in this section
: Provided further, That if an employee
who holds a class title of an aide is employed in a school and the
aide has received the training, pursuant to this section, then an
employee in the field of special education is not required to perform the specialized health care procedures.
(f) 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.
(g) There shall be 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 Commissioner of the Bureau for
Public Health who shall consult with the State Department of
Education. The state board then has the authority to promulgate a
rule in accordance with the provisions of article three-b, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code 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.
(h) 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 rule promulgated by the state board.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to decreasing, from one
thousand five hundred to seven hundred fifty, the student to nurse
staffing ratio and to expand coverage to all school grades. The
bill also eliminates a county's ability to contract out nursing
services.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.