After two years of emails, speeches and bake sales, a group of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools parents will finally get their wish: one nurse in every school.
In a vote Tuesday evening, the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners approved a $1.5 billion budget, which included $1.8 million in funding for 33 new CMS public-health school nurses, bringing the total number up to 161 for the 2014-15 academic year. The money will also cover another three school-nurse supervisors.
Teri Saurer, founder of N. C. Parents Advocating for School Health, the group that pushed for the increased school-nurse presence, said she couldn’t be happier.
“This is a huge success for the parents and children of Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools. The comfort to parents is invaluable. It could be potentially life saving,” said Saurer, mother of a 7-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with epilepsy at 9 months old and allergies to several types of nuts at 3 years old.