Senate Bill No. 546
(By Senators Burdette, Mr. President,
Holliday and Walker)
____________
[Introduced March 22, 1993; referred to the Committee
on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
____________
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 school
nurses.
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 of education 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 ofphysical fitness.
For the school year one thousand nine hundred ninety-three--
ninety-four, and each school year thereafter, each county board
of education shall employ full time at least one school nurse for
every one thousand five hundred kindergarten prekindergarten
through seventh twelfth 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
deemed 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 and regulations
requiring the employment of school nurses in excess of the number
required by this section to ensure adequate provision of services
to severely handicapped health impaired and disabled 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.
Beginning with the school year one thousand nine hundred
ninety--ninety-one, 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 and subject to the supervision and approval byschool 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, deemed 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; and "school employee" means
teachers as defined in section one, article one of this chapter
and aides as defined in section eight, article four-a, chapter
eighteen-a of this code.
Any school employee who elects to undergo training or
retraining to provide, in the manner specified herein, such
specialized health care procedures and for whom such selection
has been approved by both the principal and the county board, may
receive additional pay at the discretion of the county board:
Provided,
That any training may be considered in lieu of required
in-service training of such school employee and a school employee
cannot be required to elect to undergo the training or
retraining:
Provided, however,
That commencing with the firstday 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.
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.
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 department of health who shall consult with the state
department of education. The state department of health shall
then have the authority to promulgate rules and regulations to
implement the training and to create standards used by those
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 department of health.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to change the ratio ofschool nurses to pupils from one to one thousand five hundred
kindergarten through seventh grade to one to one thousand
prekindergarten through twelfth grade.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.