SALINE, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – In a small southeastern Michigan town about ten miles from Ann Arbor, with a population under 9,000, there is a job opening for a part-time school RN/LPN or Respiratory Therapist for the Special Education Services Department. The position pays $42 to $55/per hour and the job was posted on Monday, March 20th.
Saline Area Schools has advertised this job opportunity on their website and the first thing listed in the bullet points of “essential” duties and responsibilities is: Demonstrates a strong commitment to equity, social justice, and inclusion in all practices and position responsibility.
MORE NEWS: Know Your Rights? Saline Immigration Panel Loaded With Anti-ICE Sources.
The small city of Saline is only 4.41 square miles and according to the 2020 Census, has 3,679 households with a median household income of $81,321. The city is 90% White, 1.5% Black/African American, 0.3% American Indian, 3.2% mixed race and 3.4% Asian.
Saline Area Schools, which is in Washtenaw County, lists the job summary as follows: “The school nurse strengthens and facilitates the educational process by improving and protecting the health status of children. The major focus of school nursing services is the prevention of illness and disability, along with early detection and correction of health problems. The school nurse is uniquely qualified in preventive health, health assessment, and referral procedure. He or she supports the education process by working to assure the health of students.”
The job listing says that the qualified candidate, in addition to having a strong commitment to DEI, must also have a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing, and perform necessary medical procedures on students including important duties like gastrointestinal tube replacement and tracheotomy suctioning and replacement, ventilator care, identify source of ventilator alarms, saline bullets, use of resuscitation bag and assess and identify the signs and symptoms of respiratory distress.
These are possible life and death situations that need to be monitored and attended to competently and with expedience.
Additionally, the candidate must maintain the security of school health supplies, communicate with parents, attend regularly scheduled staff meetings, work with Medicaid and also administer, record and monitor medications and treatments for students in addition to many other tasks.
The school prefers the person hired has experience working with children in a K-12 setting and they would like “experience in nursing with students with disabilities” for a minimum of at least one year. The job listing includes more than 20 qualifications and skills needed under the headings of education, experience, certificates, licenses, registrations, language skills, technical skills, mathematical skills, reasoning ability, physical demands, and environmental adaptability.
MORE NEWS: Consultant or Chairman? Dave Woodward’s Two Hats Draw Scrutiny.
Although the job listing says “To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily,” it also goes on to say, “Alternative requirements that may be appropriate and acceptable to the Board of Education may be considered.” It lists the qualifications and skills needed for the job as “representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required” and says “reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.”
When asked for more clarification on the job, the importance of a DEI commitment in order to be hired and the demographics and number of students the nurse would be responsible for, the school did not immediately respond to request for comment.
