School nurses in Newark are getting a much better deal under their new contract — annual raises of 4.5%, a more relaxed daily schedule, and higher starting salaries.
Jessie Gómez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. She says post-pandemic, nurses’ work has been much more demanding.
“A lot of them said they’ve had to treat students for mental health issues, talk to them, what happened after the pandemic, not only assessing them physically but also learning and trying to understand them mentally as well, help them break thru those challenges,” she said.
The nurses’ workday is longer under their new deal, but that is to allow more time for lunch and transition between class periods.
Gomez said the nurses were having a hard time making ends meet, and having a hard time at work.
“Some nurses said they struggled to pay rent on their previous salary and then others reported just seeing a rise with depression, asthma, anxiety among the students that they serve,” she said, “so an increase in all of that also meant an increase in their workload.”
Under the contract maximum tuition reimbursement more than doubled, from $26,500 to up to $60,000.
Gomez said during negotiations the nurses took their case to the Board of Education.
“School nurses had been attending meetings to tell board members that they had been taking on more responsibility after Covid,” said Gomez, “and they wanted their pay and benefits to sort of reflect that.”