How Much Should School Nurses Make?

[msjprincess]

Not obsessed but when its a perk and we're talking salary IMOP it should be mentioned.

How is a snow day a perk? We used 2 snow days this year, we have to make them up the Friday before and Tuesday after Memorial Day. Most people would prefer to have a long weekend in the warm weather than to be stuck at home in the snow.

 

[castleview]

How is a snow day a perk? We used 2 snow days this year, we have to make them up the Friday before and Tuesday after Memorial Day. Most people would prefer to have a long weekend in the warm weather than to be stuck at home in the snow.

Weird isn't it? You're brushing off your car, shoveling the driveway, getting the kids to daycare or the sitter, and preparing for a safe drive to work…and your mind is focused on how teachers get to stay home that day? I have to say even when we lived in a condo, we never saw anyone clearing snow and yelling "No Fair" about teachers.

 

[daughtersrus]

Not obsessed but when its a perk and we're talking salary IMOP it should be mentioned.

Since you're talking salary, why should the school nurse be salary and the nurse that works in the hospital be hourly?

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Geez, I must have missed most of these "other threads" that everyone's talking about.

SIL can generally increase her salary through professional certification (in this case, school nurse certification), and she would earn more if she had an advanced degree like an MSN.

I think Alison hit on a point earlier, there must be something that keeps here there. My guess would be a short commute, decent working conditions, hours that possibly her own kids have, and a schedule that gives her weekends, holidays, nights and school vacations off. I have friends that are school nurses and they make less money than hospital nurses, but it's a trade off, and one that they're quite happy with.

I do not for a minute, though, think they have it easy. It can be a tough job dealing with a lot of complex, stressful issues without the support of other medical personnel around. The school nurse is also subject to a lot of criticism so, besides being there "for the kids", one would have to have a thick skin, IMO, to do the job.

(And with all that said, I think it's low. )

 

[twinboysmom]

Since you're talking salary, why should the school nurse be salary and the nurse that works in the hospital be hourly?

School nurses generally work similar hours as a teacher. It's pretty standard that they are a salaried position. You coukd make them hourly and you could make teachers hourly as well but I don't necessarily think either of these positions would want that. As for hospital nurses, the position must be hourly. Many times a nurse stays past her shift for all kinds of reason, works overtime. Doesn't work as a salaried position and there's not a nurse would want it. Usually management type positions are salary in a hospital.

 

[lemondog]

My kids attend private school, I am on the school board so I know the nurse's salary. She makes $38,000 per year. She is an RN who worked for 15+ years at Vanderbilt in the Level I Trauma Center ER. I don't know how her pay compares to what she made there (far less, I am sure).

I told her she must be bored out of her mind being an elementary school nurse, but she said she ADORES this job and cannot imagine being anywhere else. She was ready to get rid of the emotional heartache and extreme duress that came with her previous job.

 

[daughtersrus]

School nurses generally work similar hours as a teacher. It's pretty standard that they are a salaried position. You coukd make them hourly and you could make teachers hourly as well but I don't necessarily think either of these positions would want that. As for hospital nurses, the position must be hourly. Many times a nurse stays past her shift for all kinds of reason, works overtime. Doesn't work as a salaried position and there's not a nurse would want it. Usually management type positions are salary in a hospital.

I don't necessarily think that they should be. It just seems that in many threads(admittedly mostly about teachers), the subject comes up that "professionals" should be salary. That they should work the hours needed to do the job even if that means going in early, staying late or working an extra day just like other "professions". Nurses, teachers, doctors, lawyers, computer programmers, accountants...are all professionals to me but it's not a one size fits all. Each profession has it's perks and each has things that are not so good. I don't think we can lump them together. I was just wondering what others may think.

 

[Rumpus]

I don't necessarily think that they should be. It just seems that in many threads(admittedly mostly about teachers), the subject comes up that "professionals" should be salary. That they should work the hours needed to do the job even if that means going in early, staying late or working an extra day just like other "professions". Nurses, teachers, doctors, lawyers, computer programmers, accountants...are all professionals to me but it's not a one size fits all. Each profession has it's perks and each has things that are not so good. I don't think we can lump them together. I was just wondering what others may think.

When a teacher works "late", it probably isn't an extra 8 hour shift, or extra hours on a weekend night shift because someone called in sick and a replacement couldn't be found promptly. Nor do they work rotating shifts which do afford a shift differential. Its not comparable.

 

[daughtersrus]

When a teacher works "late", it probably isn't an extra 8 hour shift, or extra hours on a weekend night shift because someone called in sick and a replacement couldn't be found promptly. Nor do they work rotating shifts which do afford a shift differential. Its not comparable.

I understand that they are not comparable. I was just asking a question because in the past, when discussing teachers, they have been compared to other professionals.

For the record, I think that both nurses and teachers deserve to be paid well.

 

[KristaTX]

I have my RN license and have my BSN. I worked as a full-time school nurse for many years here in Texas.

I was on the same salary schedule as the teachers and degreed librarians. For an RN, that's what it should be. Very few teachers did this, but every once in a while I was so irritated when certain teachers would walk by, see me doing paperwork at my desk, and "jokingly" say, "I see you aren't doing anything. I'm going to send you some students." I didn't say that to them on their planning periods, nor did I think they were goofing off . But other teachers would say to me, "There is no way I would do your job. It's too stressful." And as a non-teacher, I often felt the same way about their jobs. It is a kind of mutual respect. Not everyone likes or can handle the same things, and that's as it should be in life.

Now this could easily start another HUGE debate, as my fellow nurses will all be familiar with . But if a school wants to really cut corners, they could hire LVNs and get away with paying them less. And I mean nothing against LVNs - it's a matter of having a pay rate based on licensing level and college degree. Many school districts around here don't hire LVNs, though. There was one I worked in that had RN's paid at teacher pay level on some campuses, LVNs who made less (but I'm not sure how much) on others, and some health aides on the smaller campuses who I guess made the same pay as other para-professionals in the district such as PE aides, library aides, computer lab aides, special ed aides, etc.

 

[minkydog]

$37,000/yr? Holy cow! I would think I had died and gone to heaven. I've been a school nurse for 4 years and have a total of 34 years of nursing under my belt, mostly in peds nursing. If I told you my salary, you wouldn't believe it. In my state, school nurses are at the bottom of the pack, salary-wise. You don't go into school nursing to make a lot of money here.

Why do I do it, you ask? Because I love working with children in a calm and relatively controlled setting. Because my homelife is so intense that going to work in a school is actually a breather for me. At my age ,I have no desire to work grueling 12 hour days in the ER or intensive care. I like having no call, weekends & holidays off, summers off. My salary is just enough to pay for our insurance and medical stuff, with a little left over for short vacations.

$37,000/yr? I'm sure your SIL is worth more than that, as am I. School nursing is every bit as demanding as teaching. School nurses should be compensated accordingly. But many, many school systems do not agree.

 

[laurie31]

How is a snow day a perk? We used 2 snow days this year, we have to make them up the Friday before and Tuesday after Memorial Day. Most people would prefer to have a long weekend in the warm weather than to be stuck at home in the snow.

Weird isn't it? You're brushing off your car, shoveling the driveway, getting the kids to daycare or the sitter, and preparing for a safe drive to work…and your mind is focused on how teachers get to stay home that day? I have to say even when we lived in a condo, we never saw anyone clearing snow and yelling "No Fair" about teachers.

I'm confused. I thought if schools were closed, then everything else was too. How are day cares open if schools are closed?

When we have snow days here, the roads are closed. No one can go anywhere. Hospital nurses (and doctors, and other essential staff) have to show up for work hours early (before the roads are closed) and then get stuck at work, sleeping on a cot in a room with 5 other people, until the roads are passable again.

This is the kind of thing that makes a non-hospital job appealing to many nurses.

School nursing has its own set of challenges (I am friends with 2 of them in RL) but they are off weekends, holidays, they don't get called in to work on their off days, and yeah, they don't have to sleep on the floor at school in the snow. But I wouldn't trade the headaches of my job for the headaches of theirs. So it's all in what you need to make your life work. One of the school nurses I know makes next-to-nothing (and tells me horror stories of parents who yell at her for "making" them come get their kid with the 104 temp who's vomiting and feels horrible ) but it's worth it to them to be off when their kids are off. Whether it's a snow day or a scheduled holiday, they never have to find child care when the school is closed. And yes, they like what they do.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

How is a snow day a perk? We used 2 snow days this year, we have to make them up the Friday before and Tuesday after Memorial Day. Most people would prefer to have a long weekend in the warm weather than to be stuck at home in the snow.

When I have to get up and drive to work in 9 inches of snow like I did the other day , praying the whole time I was going to get there and the local school nurse was in bed sleeping without the worry of getting in a wreck, I consider that a perk.

Weird isn't it? You're brushing off your car, shoveling the driveway, getting the kids to daycare or the sitter, and preparing for a safe drive to work…and your mind is focused on how teachers get to stay home that day? I have to say even when we lived in a condo, we never saw anyone clearing snow and yelling "No Fair" about teachers.

I never said that! Create drama much? I don't focus on who gets to stay home when I'm driving to work. I'm focusing on getting there safely without getting into a wreck, or having some idiot run into me. I feel its a perk when school is cancelled and personel get to stay home. My friend works for a non-profit in the city. When the city schools are cancelled or delayed , she follows that schedule. She herself calls it a perk.

Since you're talking salary, why should the school nurse be salary and the nurse that works in the hospital be hourly?

Gees this is ridiculous I didn't mean salary as in , her paycheck is "salary" I meant salary in what she makes a year whether its hourly or whatever.

 

[castleview]

When I have to get up and drive to work in 9 inches of snow like I did the other day , praying the whole time I was going to get there and the local school nurse was in bed sleeping without the worry of getting in a wreck, I consider that a perk.



I never said that! Create drama much? I don't focus on who gets to stay home when I'm driving to work. I'm focusing on getting there safely without getting into a wreck, or having some idiot run into me. I feel its a perk when school is cancelled and personel get to stay home. My friend works for a non-profit in the city. When the city schools are cancelled or delayed , she follows that schedule. She herself calls it a perk.



Gees this is ridiculous I didn't mean salary as in , her paycheck is "salary" I meant salary in what she makes a year whether its hourly or whatever.

Well, it's a perk a lot of people have so I found it strange that you kept bringing up snow days. You're an essential employee so will never have that perk. Think of the perks of nursing and don't worry about everyone else. I, for one, enjoy the perks of nurses in the family when one of the kids is sick and really enjoyed that perk when I was 23 uninsured and in need of antibiotics.

 

[Buckeye Princess]

They should make the amount at which school nurse positions are filled. If the pay is truly not enough, then there would be open positions as people would find work elsewhere, if the pay was too much then there would be a huge demand for the job signaling that the pay could be lower. Wages are part of economics. People should be paid based on supply and demand for the position.