NEW JERSEY: Legislature OKs School Nurse Bill

      A bill to prevent schools from hiring nurses uncertified in child health cleared the New Jersey Legislature yesterday, as the Assembly passed a bill already approved by the Senate. The bill, which would only affect nurses hired after the law's passage, has been endorsed by nurses and teachers lobbies, but is opposed by the New Jersey School Boards Association. Association spokesperson Frank Belluscio "said schools could find themselves unable to tend to ailing children if, for instance, they become ill on a class trip and a certified nurse is not available." But Andrea Aughenbaugh, head of the New Jersey State Nurses Association, said, "You can't take a critical care nurse and put her in the schools, any more than a school nurse can go into critical care. It's a mistake to think that a nurse is a nurse is a nurse." The measure will now be sent to Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R), who "has yet to take a position on the bill" (Glovin, Bergen Record, 3/30).