CUMMING, Ga. — The school year begins in Forsyth County with pay raises for all school nurses and the hiring of a second mental health specialist. Each of the county’s 42 schools has at least one nurse on campus every day. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] “They’re on the front lines of everything,” said superintendent Dr. Mitch Young. “They deal with the bruises and the scrapes and the cuts. They administer medication. They’re on the front lines with parents.” Young said the district has an overall retention rate for employees of about 95%. But for nurses, he said, it’s around only 70%. In an effort to retain them, he told Channel 2’s Bryan Mims that nurses will see raises of anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000. “They are super, super valuable to our fight to help make our kids and staff, frankly, healthy,” he said. Georgia does not mandate a full-time nurse in every public school, but does require specific health policies and procedures, such as trained staff to handle diabetes and seizures. Dr. Ashley Johnessee, principal of Haw Creek Elementary, said nurses deserve better compensation to encourage them to keep working in schools. “They also provide hands-on training for life-saving techniques in our building for all of our staff, and it is really important that everybody can respond in the case of a crisis or emergency,” she told Channel 2 Action News. The district has also hired another mental health specialist to identify and help students…
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