Since schools opened this fall, school nurses across the country have been working on COVID-19 contact tracing and quarantines. In some places, they’ve had to abandon many of their regular duties and add weekend and evening hours to their schedules.
In Georgia, more than 1,000 school nurses have been thrust onto the front lines. They are taking on new leadership roles, helping districts plan pandemic safety, and educating parents and staff about COVID-19.
Ten of those nurses work for Valdosta City Schools, and their hard work was recently recognized with a generous bonus.
Beth DeLoach, assistant superintendent for student support services, applied for a grant offered through the Department of Public Health, WALB.com reported. DeLoach applied for and received the full amount — $100,000 — for VCS school clinic nurses.
Each school nurse received a bonus of $10,000.
“I just can’t thank the district enough for supporting us through this, being a school nurse during a pandemic is not as glorious as it may seem. I’m so very thankful for them for showing us this support and love,” Shannon Robinette told WALB.
School district officials said they were glad they could do this for their school nurses, WALB reported.
“To see what they did for us, puts some value in the hard work we put in and we didn’t expect it so it’s an incredible, overwhelming feeling,” Jenne Brandon said.
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