Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Health topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Jackson Township says nurse staffing shortfall persists as student medical complexity rises
Summary
Assistant superintendent Dr. Godleski presented the annual nursing plan: the district reports higher medical complexity among students, a need for additional full-time and floating nurses, and plans to hire another nurse for the high school.
The Jackson Township Board of Education received its annual nursing report from Assistant Superintendent Dr. Godleski, who said the district is seeing more medically complex students and faces a continuing shortage of school nurses.
Dr. Godleski described four acuity levels used by district nurses, with Level 1 requiring one-to-one care and Level 4 indicating minor, occasional needs. "Our school nurses have a great responsibility for every child in the Jackson School District," Dr. Godleski said, and noted that while some school populations fell, nursing visits did not decline proportionally because of increased complexity.
The presentation included a districtwide summary of nursing visits (the speaker cited about 89,952 visits for the prior year) and a staffing chart that listed current nurses and floating nurses. Dr. Godleski said the district is actively seeking an additional full-time nurse for Jackson Township High School and continues recruitment for floating and substitute nurses.
The report also described training and capacity-building measures: nurses certify staff on EpiPen and glucagon use, the district has two athletic trainers at the high school to support sports-related health needs, and the district is training additional staff to become CPR instructors to broaden in-house training capacity.
Board members had no additional questions; the report was accepted as informational. Administrators said hiring remains a priority for 2025–26 given the workload and medically complex caseloads.
