A tiny boat of not-quite 100 school nurses in a sea of thousands of supportive Texas teachers is making some big waves in Houston.

The Houston Federation of Teachers' year-old School Nurse Task Force has taken up many causes on behalf of the Houston Independent School District's (HISD) school nurses. Their most recent battle is making sure that, like teachers, school nurses get credit on their salary schedules for each year of related past experience. When a teacher comes to work for a school district, that teacher receives credit for every year of experience teaching in an accredited school, says the Texas Federation of Teachers (TFT). This was supposed to be the case with the relevant prior experience of nurses who came to work for the public school system.

However, The Texas Education Agency--the body that makes the teacher/school nurse rules--is considering taking away the year-for-year credit. And because of that proposal, the HFT school nurse task force, headed up by school nurses Marilyn Lawson, R.N., M.S.N., and Starla Reichek, R.N., has shifted into high gear.

With the support of the Texas Federation of Teachers, the Houston Federation of Teachers and the scores of school nurses who have been joining the task force since its inception in late 1998, the school nurses called for a hearing, which was held Jan. 26.

Lobbying for fair play may seem like a civic duty, but in Texas, a noncollective bargaining and right-to-work state, it's union business, and HFT school nurses had to take personal leave days to attend the TEA hearing. "This is considered union business and we are only allowed two personal days per year," said Reichek, who noted she used her last one to attend the hearing. HFT support was crucial since it was the local that paid the way of the school nurses to the hearing in Austin.

Marilyn Lawson, who also heads up a statewide TFT school nurse task force, told the TEA deputy commissioner that the general rule for validating the employment experience of teachers recognizes teaching in institutions that would be accepted for service credit by the Teacher Retirement System. Yet the proposed rule for school nurses would not grant them similar recognition for their previous work experience with children and students in other settings.

Reichek focused attention on the practical impact of the proposed rule. "Our current attrition rate in Houston ISD for nurses who work with multi-impaired children is 25 percent per year," she testified. "If we deny school nurses service credit for work done in teaching or university-affiliated hospitals and other teaching institutions, we undercut our ability to compete for the services of talented and skilled registered nurses," she said.

TFT president John Cole, in a written submission to TEA in support of the HFT School Nurse Task Force, stressed that the proposed rule would contradict the legislature's aim in its last session, when school nurses were added to the state minimum salary schedule. He noted that the state legislature had given "school nurses the benefit of inclusion in the state salary schedule and the state-mandated pay raise in order to help recruit and retain qualified, experienced professionals in our schools. Relatively low public school pay, in comparison with other opportunities open to these professionals, has contributed to crisis-level attrition rates among school nurses. An administrative interpretation of [the legislation] that fails to recognize school nurses' years of relevant experience for the purpose of salary-schedule credit will suppress their rate of pay and will serve to frustrate the purpose of that legislation."

For now, says Reichek, the nurses are taking a wait-and-see stance, with hopes that the TEA will see the error of its proposed ways. To help it along, the HFT task force had already solicited some 300 letters of support--from teachers, nurses, Houston legislators, moms and dads, said Reichek, which they submitted for the public record. "Anyone who walked in my house during Christmas had to sign a letter," she said.

But those aren't the only actions the group has taken since its start. It seems the group nearly hit the ground running. In just three months, the unit grew from its original 38 to approximately 90. "We're tackling issues on a daily basis," says Reichek.

With assistance from HFT staffer Zeph Capo, the group has taken on such issues as: staffing and stipends for school nurses who work primarily with multi-handicapped students; lack of supplies; school nurse orientation and professional development; school nurse mentoring; hepatitis B vaccinations, which are being denied to district nurses; and transportation of sick students.

In addition to all that--and the regular workload of school nursing--the HFT school nurse task force even finds time to issue a newsletter to keep Houston school nurses as informed and aware as possible.

The task force's message to other school nurses? "Even in a right-to-work state, they can do what we've done," says Reichek. "Get the message out!"