Parochial school parents want school nurse re-instated

WARWICK — Parents who send their children to St. Stephen-St. Edward School are expected to attend next week’s Warwick Valley School Board meeting to ask the district to restore an on-site nurse at the Catholic elementary School.
The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 21.
Parents say their children’s health will be jeopardized without an inhouse nurse to administer medicine for children with allergies and to handle emergencies. There are about 250 students at the school.
Discussion about funding the position arose in April during the district’s budgeting process. At that time, Warwick Village Trustee Eileen Patterson and Faith Ferguson, who both have children at St. Stephen-St. Edwards, began a campaign with School Superintendent Dr. Ray Bryant and the school board “to encourage them to keep a nurse in our school.”
“Over the course of the Spring and Summer, Eileen and Faith were lead to believe that the Warwick District would find a way to fund a nurse,” reads e-mail sent to St. Stephen parents urging them to attend Tuesday’s meeting. “They asked us to encourage the St. Stephens parents to pass their budget which we did .. . They told us to sit tight and if the funds became available, they would fund the nurse. Dr. Bryant and one of the board members confirmed that there was a vote over the summer where the board was asked to approve $30,000 for two part-time nurses at St. Stephen’s and they voted no.”
Bryant is away on vacation this week. However, his office issued the following statement: “Recent school closure affects legal requirement for Warwick School District to provide nurse to local parochial school. The district will continue to provide health services for its district’s children in non-public schools, including St. Stephen-St. Edward School.
“According to state education law, if a district has a school with a student enrollment smaller than that of a parochial school located within the district and they provide that school with a nurse, the district is legally required to also provide the parochial school with a staff nurse. When Pine Island Elementary School was open, this was the case, and the district did provide a nurse to St. Stephen-St. Edward School for many years.
“With the closing of Pine Island at the end of the 2010-11 school year, the district no longer fit the legal criteria which required it to provide a staff nurse. However, the district will continue to provide the legally required nursing services for our district’s children in non-public schools.
“While we understand their concerns, and sympathize with the administration and parents at St. Stephen’s, the district is no longer permitted, legally, to provide the school with a nurse but will continue to provide nursing services such as screenings and physicals at their school, as required by law.”