THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 19, 1995 TAG: 9507190405
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
More school nurses. Policies to handle children's diabetes. Support for school psychologists and social workers. More school nurses. A return to the basics in education. More school nurses.
These were among the suggestions heard by a six-member Blue Ribbon Commission on School Health on Tuesday night, during the last of five public hearings held around the state.
The Virginia Senate created the commission last year, to study and make recommendations on school health programs and services.
During the hearings, members sought answers to four questions:
What is the status of school health programs?
What are the positive aspects of school health programs that should be continued?
What needs are not being met by school health programs?
What else should the commission know about school health programs?
The overwhelming request was for more school nurses. Virginia has one registered nurse for every 1,809 students, said Elizabeth Ann Murphy, president-elect of the Virginia Association of School Nurses. Professional trade organizations like the National Association of School Nurses recommend one nurse for every 750 students - more if disabled children attend the school.
The nurses are vital, Murphy said, because of the problems many children bring to school. School nurses give medications for such illnesses as diabetes, attention deficit disorder and epilepsy. They cope with the problems of teenage pregnancy, depression and suicide; with children suffering from AIDS, eating disorders, substance abuse and sexually transmitted diseases.
``These factors have increased the workload and competencies required of school nurses or their inadequate substitutes,'' Murphy said. ``But in Virginia, these issues have not been adequately addressed.''
Two representatives from Common Ground - which brings together both sides of the abortion issue to listen to each other and to try to find areas on which they agree - spoke about the need to fully implement a statewide teen pregnancy program begun last year.
The Campaign for Our Children, announced with great fanfare in March 1994, has fizzled, Common Ground member Jayne Flowers told the commission. The program, which is credited with a 20 percent reduction in teen pregnancies and a 30 percent reduction in abortions among schoolchildren in Maryland, espouses abstinence as the best way to prevent pregnancy.
The $200,000 program communicates that message to children ages 9 to 14 via radio, television, billboards, school posters and lesson plans.
``I've never seen the ads played on television,'' Flowers said. ``Or the posters on the back of a bus, or around town. . . . We really haven't done it.''
Norfolk resident Ellen Beamon struck a different tone when she implored the commission to throw out sex-education curriculums. ``We don't need to give kids condoms,'' she said. ``We need to teach them basic skills.''
The commission will prepare a final report to present to the General Assembly. MEMO: If you have additional comments to make, or wish more information about
the commission's work, contact Douglas Cox at the Virginia Department of
Education, 804-225-2402. by CNB