School nurses fight for pay parity
By Rob Barry/rbarry@cnc.com
Tue Jan 08, 2008, 03:48 PM EST
Original article

Medford - After years of trying to negotiate salaries comparable to those of teachers, the city’s school nurses are taking a stand.

Four months into the school year, nurses have yet to sign a contract with the school administration for the next three years. Negotiations have stretched on since May of last year.

“We’ve always asked for the same pay as the teachers and they always say no,” said Karen Roberto, RN, chairman of the nurses’ local bargaining unit and a nurse at the Columbus Elementary School. “We can’t get nurses to stay in schools. The good ones don’t stay.”

In Medford, the highest paid nurses with a bachelor’s degree make just under $52,000, whereas a teacher with a bachelor’s degree and 10 years experience can make $61,430.

With a high demand for nurses in hospitals, Roberto said Medford schools lose nurses every year to higher paying positions. This would not be, she added, if salaries were brought up to parity with the teachers.

“This time we’re putting our foot down,” Roberto said, of the ongoing negotiations.

She said the contract offered by the School Department for the next three years would still put salaries at 20 percent less than that of teachers. So, in December, the nurses filed for state mediation.

“We have great respect for the nurses,” said Superintendent of Schools Roy E. Belson. “The question is how do we pay for it?”

Belson said the school system’s budget has been very tight in recent years due to a decline in state funding. As a result, spending has been very cautious.

“The cities and towns since 2003 have been getting less and less aid,” said Belson. “We’re still not back at 2002 levels.”

He added with hope, mediation will yield a mutually agreeable compromise.

According to the Massachusetts Nurses Association, 82 school systems in the state offer nurses some sort of pay equity, including Arlington, Cambridge, Boston, Malden and Winchester.

“The entire cost of our wage proposal represents an increase of $31,000 to a total budget of $44 million,” said Roberto. “That’s less than one tenth of 1 percent and, under our proposal, that wouldn’t happen until the third year of our contract.”

Belson estimated that over a three-year contract, the salaries requested for the 10 school nurses in Medford could lead to a budget increase of as much as $150,000. He said that while there is general support for the nurses’ objectives, the funds simply are not there.

Medford nurses say their current salaries do not represent the degree of training required for them to work in public schools.

“We’re all professionals,” said Roberto. “We have to meet all the criteria of the teachers and then we have to meet the nurses’ qualifications.”

In addition to bachelor’s degrees, school nurses must have either a master’s or School Nurse Certification. A hospital nurse, said Roberto, can be hired with an associate’s degree or Licensed Practical Nurse certification.

And, she added, the day-to-day of a school nurse is not what it was 20 years ago.

“People probably still think we just hand out Band-Aids,” joked Roberto.

Roberto said with an increase in medications available to kids today, and more and more couples spending both of their days working, school nurses have a wide range of care to administer on a daily basis. They treat diabetics, work out school sports programs for kids with heart conditions, treat injuries and educate teachers, students and parents about in-school health — just to name a few of their duties.

The State Board of Conciliation and Arbitration will step in to mediate the contract at the end of the month and a compromise is expected.

“I love school nursing,” said Roberto. “That’s why I don’t want to leave it.”