Legislative News... The legislative agenda is focused on achieving a mandate for school nurses in every school building.  NYSASN participates in legislative education with lawmakers to voice our position that each school building should have a school nurse on site full-time. On April 8th, a delegation from NYSASN went to Albany for a legislative education day. We met with the office of the chairperson for the State Assembly's Education Committee, and several other legislators associated with the bills listed below. We will be in Albany again on June 10th, accompanying a NYSUT delegation in support of nursing related bills. From left to right (Suzanne Smith, Joanne Reynolds, Assemblyman Ortiz, who has co-signed the new mandate bill, Stacey Marye, and O. Jeanne Dolly) Now is the time to reinforce our agenda to all of our regional legislators. Just call, write, or visit your local lawmakers, and share our legislative perspectives below. If you don’t know your representatives, use the links below for contact information. You can access the following links to download our Legislative Proposal, the Mandate Talking Points, and the Children of New York 2007, which provides data that supports the need for school nursing.                                                       New Bill! A9519/S6625: Requires certain school districts, New York City, Yonkers, Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester, to employ a minimum of one school nurse per school building; authorizes the commissioner of education to promulgate additional staffing requirements. Bills that align with our positions: A1181/S1536: Requires that a registered nurse be in each school when medically fragile students are in attendance or when students are at major risk of injury. A378 and S5403: Employment of school nurses for the inspection of pupils…staffing determinations to be made by the commissioner with at least one professional nursing association. A3224: Provides for school nurses on premises during school hours Bills that do not align with our positions: S179/A3676: Intends to authorize school personnel who are trained EMT’s to provide “emergency treatment” within schools. The opposition letter expresses that these bills conflict with EMT certification parameters of Public Health Law, the Nurse Practice Act, and could encourage school districts to hire EMT’s, with a lesser level of care, to supplement their health care staff in place of Registered Professional School Nurses. Further, we wouldn’t need EMT’s to provide services if there were School Nurses in all the schools! Attached is a copy of the opposition letter for you to share with lawmakers: Opposition Letter to EMT Bill New Laws: A9973/S6641: Requires a school nurse or physician to administer nebulizers in accordance with a student’s patient specific order http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=a9973 A4588b/S6074a: Provides for nebulizers in schools for diagnosed asthmatic students, their patient-specific medication, amended to be contingent upon presence of school nurse on site http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=a4588b A4051A/S298A: Enacts “allergy and anaphylaxis management act of 2007” ; Commissioner of Health and Commissioner of Education to establish statewide policy guidelines to manage the risk of allergy and anaphylaxis in schools http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=a4051a A581/S1239: Requests that students enrolling in Pre-K, kindergarten, or first grade in public schools present dental health certification http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=a581 Other bills being monitored: Nutrition Bills: S5892/A8743: Children’s Healthy Access to Meals Program (CHAMP) – establishes advisory board to develop statewide nutritional standards A4832: Healthy Kids Act pilot program to develop healthy eating habits at school A7086a/S4169a, A5741: Develop guidelines for healthy foods and beverages at school A6103/S3302: Guidelines for healthier school lunches, with $.10 reimbursement per meal to defray costs of fresh produce and grains A1987: Establishes task force on food, nutrition, and physical education for NYC schools S4775: Establishes nutritional standards in public schools S3843a: Establishes child health plus and school meals enrollment coordination act Healthy Schools Act Bills: A8642/S5942, A8698: Establishes media health promotional campaign via Department of Health regarding nutrition, BMI surveys, and additional nutritional standards for foods and beverages made available at school Asthma Bills: S6641: Requires a school nurse or physician to administer nebulizers in accordance with a student’s patient specific order A998: Stock asthma medication bill, non-patient specific medication A2271/S3129: Provides for asthma management program with action plans at school A3824: Provides for inhalers made available for pre-diagnosed students, with asthma action plans A3796: Authorizes schools to allow certain students to use inhalers or nebulizers; requires action plan S2266/A10131: Requires teachers to be trained in identifying and responding to asthma emergencies/guidelines and standards to be developed DNR Bills: A8164: Requires compliance with non-hospital orders for DNR, healthcare practitioner shall not comply with DNR order pertaining to student where school board has adopted a policy not to honor such orders S4760: Requires professional RN’s to comply with DNR orders while providing services to public school students, unless school has policy against honoring such orders Procedural Bills: A3721: Requires schools to transfer educational and medical records within two days of transfer request A2480/S294: RN to BSN in 10 years A8608/S5130: Requires new entrants to provide documentation of an eye exam by an eye doctor A6667b/S5237: Requires city school districts with populations over one million to notify parents of bedbug infestations at school A1208: Grant program to defray costs of national school nurse certification A740: Relates to the power of certain school boards of education to provide or enter into contract for the provision of health care services for the school community A741: Requires public schools and school districts to disseminate materials that facilitate enrollment in the child health insurance plan A3597: Facilitating enrollment in child health plus through school based health centers A6374: Requires schools to implement a method to measure, report, and analyze the body mass index of it's students Dental Health Bills: A5793: Requires each pupil entering school for the first time and prior to the 1st, 3rd, 7th, and 10th grade to undergo a dental exam and receive a certificate stating such A4630: Requires certain students to furnish dental health certificate upon entering public school; provides for exam and treatment if necessary Immunization Documentation Bills: A5468/S3031: Enacts philosophical exemption to immunizations A5810: HPV immunizations for children born after 1/1/96 A5311: Hepatitis A documentation for new school entrants Other Bills: A5952 and S4778: Creates a personal income tax check-off box for donations to the school based health centers fund A2217: Provides that upon a resolution adopted by the board of education a parent who is precluded from walking his or her child to school or bus stop because of an existing medical condition and the route that the child must walk is determined by such board to be unsafe, transportation may be provided to such child A7941/S2048: Requires public health information campaign about health risks associated with weight and body mass index percentile screenings in schools S2266: Requires teachers to be trained in identifying and responding to asthma emergencies in accordance with prescribed standards S3843a: Establishes the child health plus and school meals enrollment coordination act A2932/S1516: Directs schools to have at least one person trained in CPR and 1st Aid when students are present (at extra-curricular, school sponsored, activities) A3826a and S7251: Risk analysis for diabetes at school during physicals A1987: Establishes task force on food, nutrition and PE to establish healthy standards in NYC schools A4374: Requires that health education in elementary schools be taught by teachers certified to teach health “How a Bill Becomes a Law”: http://www.senate.state.ny.us/sws/aboutsenate/how_idea_becomes_law.html

• Personnel
• Zones
• Legislation
  • Educational Offerings
  • Job Postings
  • Health Related Links
  • Article19 Education Law
  • Position Statements
  • BylawsScholarship
  • Membership
  • School Nurse of the Year
  • Public Relations
  • School Nurse Orientation