Wayland Board of Health weighs losing school nurse oversight

WAYLAND — October 24, 2022 — Wayland Board of Health learns school nurses may be moved to school department oversight. Health Director Julia told the board Oct. 24 that the proposed transfer grew out of AFSCME contract negotiations in which the town conceded a salary inequity for nurses it could not document with a compensation study, and that the interim town manager and superintendent see reassignment as the fix. The School Committee was expected to take up the question two days later. Members and the new public health nurse said the board should retain a clinical advisory role, warning the principal-as-supervisor model leaves nurses without medical leadership. The board also heard from Human Relations Service, which lost "roughly 25 percent" of clinical staff at the end of FY21 and saw Wayland visits fall about 20 percent; Weston pays HRS $35,000 this year versus Wayland's flat contribution. The board unanimously approved two sets of minutes and the director's report.