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“It sets a dangerous public policy precedent to continue passing legislation that requires schools to maintain medications, emergency medical equipment, and specialized health protocols without also requiring a qualified healthcare professional to oversee their implementation."- Betsy Looney, former president of the Virginia Association of School Nurses
A school nurse listens to a young student. (Photo by Getty Images)
By Nathaniel Cline
As schools reopen across Virginia, just under 10% will operate without a nurse, leaving critical gaps in student healthcare, advocates say. School nurses are responsible for managing complex student medical conditions and helping to reduce absenteeism.
Most school divisions in the commonwealth employ nurses, but current laws permit, rather than require, their presence.
Legislators and experts are exploring updating the state’s Standards of Quality, the school funding baseline requirements for the state and local governments, to include mandatory full-time licensed nurse positions. A report is expected to be presented to the state’s School Health Services Committee next month.
Chesapeake Regional Medical Center on Battlefield Boulevard. The hospital is facing ongoing civil claims from former patients of Javaid Perwaiz, while a tentative federal agreement could resolve its criminal case without trial. (Photo by Katherine Hafner/WHRO)
By Yiqing Wang/WHRO
Federal prosecutors said last week they have reached a tentative deferred prosecution agreement with Chesapeake Regional Medical Center for charges related to disgraced former OB-GYN Javaid Perwaiz.
The deal would require the hospital to admit certain facts, accept an independent monitor, repay health care programs and create a $12.8 million fund for Perwaiz’s former patients. If finalized, the deal would let the hospital avoid a criminal trial.
A landscaper blows leaves off a lawn in preparation for annual “leaf pickups” by Fairfax County public services, October 31, 2023. (Photo by Getty Images)
COMMENTARY
Legislators didn’t allow local bans of gas-powered leaf blowers. Va. localities are doing it anyway.
By Ivy Main
Three years in a row of losing in the legislature might persuade some people to give up trying to get what they want. For members of the group Quiet Clean Virginia, their losing record simply challenged them to seek another path to victory.
Quiet Clean Virginia and its affiliate groups in Northern Virginia advocate for local bans on gas-powered leaf blowers, machines that are either essential to modern suburban living or the scourge of it, depending on your point of view.
By Ashley Murray
President Donald Trump has not slowed his pursuit of central policy goals and personal pursuits, even after major setbacks at the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts.
But even after the Supreme Court ruled against him, Trump is forging ahead and using what some legal observers describe as “creative lawyering” to find alternative routes to push his agenda, even as public support fades.
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