Paraeducator urges Pasco board to restore health‑aid positions, citing nurse shortages

Brooklyn Washburn, a senior nursing student at Heritage University and a paraeducator who has worked in the Pasco School District since 2021, urged the board during public comment to prioritize district nurse staffing and to restore districtwide health aide positions the district eliminated last year.

Washburn said many nurses in the district are split between two schools and that students with chronic, life‑threatening conditions such as diabetes, asthma or severe allergies may not have timely access to a nurse. "The National Association of School Nurses recommends that you have 1 nurse for every 750 students, yet Pasco is falling below that standard," Washburn told the board.

She also said two districtwide health aide positions that previously handled vision and hearing screenings were removed last year; with those positions gone, school nurses must leave buildings to perform screenings and substitute RNs are sometimes hired to cover, creating both gaps in care and additional expense. Washburn urged the board to restore those positions and said dedicating one nurse per school would "keep our students safe, healthy, and ready to learn."

The board did not take formal action on the comment during the meeting. Board policy 1411 (public comment procedure) was cited by staff as the basis for the public comment process; staff encouraged speakers to submit written comments by email if they wanted a response outside the meeting.

No staff response or district commitment to restore positions was recorded in the meeting transcript; the comment was included in the public record.