San Benito High School District trustees unanimously approved hiring a full-time nurse at a meeting last week.
“That’s a position that would be a new position for us,” Shawn Tennenbaum, the school’s director of human resources, told the Free Lance this week in an interview.
The cost of the decision is pegged at $101,175 in general fund money for salary and benefits during the school year and summer, according to background information provided in the agenda packet. This year, the school contracted outside of the district for nurses and it was not a staff position, Tennenbaum explained.
The job would classify as a certificated position. That means it would get placed on the same salary schedule as teachers and compensation would correlate with the person’s experience and education.
In addition to working full time during the school year, the nurse would work an additional four hours a day during the summer school program, according to the same packet. During the summer, the nurse would receive pay at the same certificated hourly rate used by teachers.
The nurse would be in charge of training staff and students about health issues; implementing screenings and immunization checks; dispensing medications; and completing developmental and health histories for special education students. Other responsibilities include distributing first-aid kits to classrooms; providing health counseling to students, parents and school personnel; and following up on suspected cases of chronic or communicable diseases.
The position will be under the direction of the assistant principal and the director of special education.
The nurse must have a bachelor of arts with a focus on nursing or educational health and welfare. They also must have an active license as a registered nurse in the state of California plus CPR and First Aid certification. A bilingual candidate able to speak Spanish with patients is preferred.
To read the full job description, go to the agenda for the high school’s most recent board meeting: http://bit.ly/1MfmuSb
