School systems across Virginia are trying to figure out how they can reopen for face-to-face classes. And, they might be getting some help from lawmakers.
A nurse in every school building. That’s the mandate behind a bill introduced by Republican Senator Jen Kiggans of Virginia Beach. Currently, there's no mandate for every school to have a nurse, and some school systems don’t have any.
“This is not just for the pandemic, although I think we can all agree that having a health care professional in a building would be a wonderful benefit to getting our kids back there," says Kiggans. "But even afterwards, nurses are just wonderful educators and we need someone who can start doing some other health education on nutrition or label reading or exercise or obesity.”
The senator has been working with Gina Bellamy at the Virginia School Nurses Association to draft the bill.
“You cannot educate a child that’s not healthy, and you cannot keep a child healthy that’s not educated," Bellamy explains. "Education and health go hand in hand, and now is the time to step up to the plate and give the Virginia school children what they deserve.”
One potential stumbling block: the cost. Lawmakers do not have an estimated cost for this proposal yet, although hiring a nurse for each and every school building will not be cheap. And they’ll have to do it at a time when they’re trying to slash millions of dollars from the budget because of the economic crisis.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
