Illinois state Rep. Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) | Facebook
Illinois state Rep. Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) | Facebook
Illinois state Rep. Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) wants to see a bill that would require the Chicago Board of Education to establish a school nurse pilot program goes even further.
“Why is the bill so narrowly written so that it applies only to 20% of the lowest-performing schools,” Morrison quizzed fellow lawmakers about the legislation, House Bill 70, during a recent House Elementary and Secondary Education: Administration, Licensing and Charter School Committee hearing.
State Rep. Mary E. Flowers (D-Chicago), who is sponsoring the bill, assured Morrison and other concerned legislators that “if we start there, we can always expand. I think nurses should be in all the schools. I think the pandemic shows us the importance of washing hands and checking temps. Shows the importance of nurses.”
As currently proposed, the legislation to amend the overall Chicago District Article of School Code would start with the 2022-23 school year.
Testifying before the panel, recently retired school nurse Marilynn Parker told lawmakers she supports the proposal, and it could go a long way in improving the system.
“I just retired in January,” she said at the hearing. “Over the past 35 years that I had been with the board, we are assigned three to seven schools with one nurse. That’s not enough time for a nurse to service a body of schools in one week.”
Now in his 10th year serving in the 54th District, Morrison sits on the House’s Appropriations-General Services, Personnel and Pensions, Human Services, Energy and Environment and Insurance committees.
He won reelection in November by knocking off democrat Maggie Trevor with 52% of the vote. His 54th District includes all or portions of Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Inverness, Hoffman Estates, Arlington Heights, Barrington and Schaumburg.
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