Senate Bill No. 454
(By Senator Rowe)
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[Introduced February 5, 2003; referred to the Committee on
Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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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 requiring
county boards of education to employ one school nurse for
every one thousand three hundred pupils based upon net
enrollment in all grades; and allowing counties to enter into
agreement to employee nurses jointly on a shared-time basis in
order to comply with staffing ratios.
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.
(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 county board shall employ full-time at least one
school nurse for every one thousand three hundred five hundred
kindergarten through seventh grade pupils in net enrollment or
major fraction thereof of pupils in all grades beginning with the
school year two thousand-four-two thousand-five: Provided, That
each county shall employ full-time at least one school nurse and
may enter into agreements with other counties to employ school
nurses on a shared time basis in each cooperating county so that
the ratio required by this subsection is provided in each
participating county: 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.
(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 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 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 the first day of July, two thousand two, "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 the first day
of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine any newly employed
school employee in the field of special education is 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 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 commissioner then has the authority to promulgate
a rule in accordance with propose rules for legislative
promulgation, pursuant
to the provisions of article three, 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 rules proposed by the
commissioner.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require county boards of
education to employ one school nurse for every one thousand three
hundred pupils of net enrollment in all grades. Current law
requires one school nurse for every one thousand five hundred
pupils of net enrollment for grades kindergarten through seventh.
This bill also provides that in order to comply with the new nurse
student ratio, counties may enter into agreements to employ nurses
on a shared time basis.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.