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Board pulls school nurse job description for review after members raise licensure and supervision concerns
Summary
Board members asked that the proposed school nurse job description be pulled from the consent agenda for revision, citing gaps on licensure language, LPN vs RN scope, supervision reporting lines and screening procedures.
Board members pulled a proposed school nurse job description from the consent agenda and discussed multiple revisions they say are needed before approval.
A board member asked for the job description to specify whether the district intends to hire licensed practical nurses (LPNs), registered nurses (RNs), or both, and to clarify scope-of-practice differences. The board member said LPNs are not authorized to perform independent assessments at the same level as RNs and asked who would medically supervise an LPN on campus. Superintendent Marty responded that the district currently employs an LPN under supervision and that the job description was revised primarily to add LPNs to align the written description with existing practice.
Several board members asked that the job description explicitly list mandated-reporting responsibilities and require an active, unencumbered Kansas or multistate nursing license. They asked that the district specify expectations for medication administration, accident reporting and recordkeeping. One board member objected to physical requirement language in the draft that listed differing push/pull weight requirements (50 pounds in one section and 80/25 pounds in another) and asked those items be clarified.
The board discussed where school nurses report for employment supervision, and Marty said nurses report to the head nurse for nursing-related supervision while building principals provide general employment supervision. Several board members requested that the job description explicitly reflect reporting to the head nurse for clinical matters, and that it better describe expectations for health screenings (vision, hearing, dental) and how screening programs would be implemented under existing policy (policy JC was cited by a staff member during discussion).
No final vote was taken on the nurse job description. Board members who wanted more detail said they would route the item to the policy or facilities committee for targeted edits and return an edited draft to the board.
Ending: The job description was removed from the consent approval for further review; staff agreed to clarify licensure language, the distinction between RN and LPN responsibilities and supervision, physical requirements, medication and reporting duties, and to consider referring health-screening language to the policy committee for revision.
