School Nurses Eliminated?

Bay Minette Intermediate School nurse Sharon Curtis showed us the protective masks they'll use this year if the deadly H1N1 flu virus threatens Baldwin County. On Friday, just three days before school starts in Baldwin County, state education and health officials will hold a news conference to talk about swine flu. But will the school district be prepared?

In 2007, there were 71 nurses working for the school district, now there are on 56...and because of the budget crisis, 18 more positions could be cut.

"We're very, very worried," says Curtis. "Our first responsibility is to take care of the students and provide them with the necessary care of the students and in order to provide that, you need to have a nurse on campus. With the potential cuts, I'm not sure how we're going to be able to provide the safety and the medical care that our children need while they're at school."

"We're facing a 56 million dollar budget shortfall," says Terry Wilhite, school spokesman. "At this point, all we're trying to do is provide bare, basic service to our students. Health and safety, that's number one in our book, but if we don't have the people to do that, we're going to be in quite a mess."

If 18 positions are eliminated, nurses offices on some school campuses would shut down.

You can watch the joint press conference held by state education and health officials about the H1N1 flu virus live Friday at 1pm on wkrg.com.