Cincinnati Public Schools has about half the number of school nurses recommended by the Ohio Department of Health and the American Academy of Pediatrics, but the district hopes to soon change that.

        Those agencies suggest a standard ratio of one nurse to 750 students. The level in Cincinnati Public now is about one nurse for every 1,350 students, according to the Cincinnati Health Department.

        To ensure adequate health care for students, the district wants to add 14 nurses to its schools at a cost of $700,000.

        The district doesn't pay for any of its 26 school nurses.

        The district reduced nurse staffing levels in 1995 because of budget cuts. The board asked the local health board to subsidize the nurses.

        Today, 20 of the 26 nurses in Cincinnati Public Schools are paid through the Cincinnati Health Department's operating budget, which is approved by City Council during its budgeting process.

        The other six nurses are paid through Empowerment Zone funding. Cincinnati was added as an empowerment zone in 1999, and the federal government promised to spend $10 million a year for 10 years to revitalize some of Cincinnati's most troubled neighborhoods.

Adamowski

        “We're in bad shape with this,” said Superintendent Steven Adamowski. “There is no school district in the nation that I know of that spends nothing on school nurses.”

        Mr. Adamowski said he wants the district to do its part for the health of children.

        He proposed spending the $700,000 as part of the $437 million 2002-03 district budget to pay for the additional 14 nurses, as long as the other agencies continue to maintain funding for the other 26 nurses.

        Last year, City Council cut $159,570 from the school nurse program and later voted to restore the cuts.

        “We have every hope that funding will continue,” said Deborah Anderson, assistant health commissioner for the Primary Care Division of the Cincinnati Health Department.

        City Council is in budget talks, and there's been no discussion yet to trim school nurse funding.

        Nurses provide services such as student health assessments, treatment under physicians' orders, hearing and vision screening and on-site immunizations.

        The additional district funding would guarantee nursing services in all elementary schools, Ms. Anderson said.

        Debra Larkin, a public health nurse in Cincinnati schools for six years, said she oversaw 1,500 students at three schools last year.

        “If you can keep one nurse in one school, you can better impact the health of kids,” she said.

        Cincinnati's school board could vote on its 2002-03 school year budget as early as Monday.
       

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