Durham schools hoping job fair right prescription for ailing school nurse ranks

With more than half of its school nurse positions vacant, Durham Public Schools is holding a job fair on Friday to fill a critical void amid the ongoing pandemic.

"We are in desperate need of good, qualified nurses," Tricia Howard, the school district's lead nurse, said Thursday. "We were working short-staffed before the pandemic, and I think the pandemic only exacerbated that situation."

Now, she said, nurses are relied upon for not only their usual duties of promoting wellness and caring for students with chronic health issues, but also ones related to monitoring any suspected coronavirus infections.

"Nurses are working like they’ve never worked before," Howard said. "As a result, the nurses here in the school system are having to prioritize their caseload."

The district has 45 nurses for its 54 schools. Thirty are employed by Durham County, and the other 15 work for the school district. Twenty-five of the positions are vacant.

The neighboring Wake County Public School System has only 20 of 105 school nurse positions vacant, while Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is fully staffed.

"Our nurses have become adept at working, being innovative with being short-staffed, and they are doing an amazing job," Howard said.

Durham school officials said their struggles to attract nurses aren't tied to pay. The district's starting salary of $47,200 for a 10-month position is higher than what's offered in both the Wake County and Chapel Hill districts.

Some of the shortage is because the Durham County school board recently funded an extra six school nurse positions, Howard said.

"A lot of schools share a nurse," she said. "My plea is one nurse per school. That really should be our goal for Durham. When all our positions are filled between DPS and the health department, we will be the closest we have ever been to one nurse per school."

The job fair runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Minnie Forte Brown Staff Development Center, at 2107 Hillandale Road. Applicants must have a bachelor's degree in nursing and at least one year of experience, with pediatrics experience preferred.