The physical and mental health of students is a hot topic and is a major nationwide concern during the pandemic. Now some area schools are seeing the benefits of some added state funding. The 2022 School Aid Fund is adding dollars, in form of new school nurses.
Some northern Michigan school districts are finding a silver lining after the height of the pandemic: , to provide extra health care in schools. Under the guidelines, districts had to take action in 2022 to hire psychologists, social workers, counselors, or school nurses. The Benzie-Leelanau Health Department is working to bring nurses into the school buildings.
Stephanie Burns is the Public Health Nurse at the Leland School, and says it feels like they’re “really paving the way. It feels like a new frontier because we haven’t had school nurses for a long time.”
While their parents and grandparents may be used to seeing a school nurse, many of these kids have never had one before. Betsy Hardy is a Personal Health Supervisor with the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department. “A lot of us growing up have an idea for school nursing that involves band-aids and a sick room. But really the model for school nursing and the standard of practice has evolved to be, much more consultative and comprehensive. And really looking at the health needs of the school as a whole.”
But dating back to the early 2000’s (in some cases even before that), many school districts began cutting nurses to cut costs. Leland School Superintendent Stephanie Long was working in a different district at the time. “One of the first things we started cutting was, we started with nurses, then it went to social workers and then it went to counselors. I think the intention was to preserve classroom teachers, which was fantastic. But a classroom teacher and a staff of secretaries can’t do everything in a building.”
Burns agrees that the burdens fell to the front office. “Everyone is thrilled and somewhat relieved to have a school nurse onsite. There are a lot of things that happen at school that need to be seen by a school nurse and not just the secretary, who has a million other jobs to do.”
“I commonly see kids who need ice packs and band-aids, from falls on the playground. I do COVID testing,” Burns says. But school nursing is now so much more. Since the pandemic started, there is a new focus on student mental health. “Some kids, their mental health may come out more in a physical symptom. Like a headache or stomachache. And they may not even know how to put words to that. So I’m here to help,” Burns continued. “There are definitely more kids than I thought, that I would see right away with just feelings of anxiety. We live in a really difficult time. So I think the more support we give kids at school, and families (the better). I talk to parents that are very, they seem relieved when I talk to them.”
And schools say students need to feel good in order to learn. Long says, “We’re thrilled to have a school nurse back on our campus. It’s been fantastic.” And Hardy adds the goal is “keeping kids in school, keeping them healthy in school. Helping the school community to really become a healthy place where kids can grow and do their best.”
Leland is just one example: Several schools in the Benzie-Leelanau Health Department coverage area are benefitting from a school nurse. “We have partnerships with area schools in both Benzie and Leelanau counties. So Benzie Central Schools, Frankfort-Elberta Schools, Leland, Northport and Suttons Bay,” Hardy says. “It’s been a rapid transition from not even having school nurses on our radar screen a year ago, to having not only school nurses who worked on COVID but now are transitioning to a much different and more comprehensive role.”
For Long, the impact is not surprising. “We always knew there was a need. We just didn’t have any funding for it. Now that there is a source of funding, it’s become abundantly clear how much we’ve missed.”
The state funding offered full funding for the first year and. In the long-term, the hope is to have one nurse in every school building, and that will require long-term commitment. Long says, “We know that we’re good at least for the next four years. And our hope and prayer is that the state will figure out once again that these people are necessary and come up with a consistent source of funding so we can keep the service.”
Hardy agrees. “We are very hopeful that priorities are shifting. And our communities and folks that make decisions are looking at the needs of kids in schools and the needs of their families to help support them.”
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