Agenda Item
r. Proclamation: National School Nurse Day, May 7, 2025
Summary: Presented by: Ms. Whitney McGinniss, Board Member, District 2
Details: National Nurses Week is every year, from May 6th-12th and School Nurse Day is celebrated on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. National School Nurse Day was established to foster a better understanding of the role of school nurses in the educational setting. School nurses are professional nurses that advance the well-being, academic success, and life-long achievements of all students by serving on the frontlines and providing a critical safety net for our nation’s most fragile children.
Our students today face more complex and life-threatening health problems requiring the expertise that only a school nurse can provide. Students have a right to have both their physical and mental health needs safely met while in the school setting. School nurses support student rights and ensure families feel confident that their children will be cared for when they are at school by addressing the home and community factors that impact students’ health. They act as a liaison to the school community, families, and healthcare providers on behalf of children’s health, promoting wellness and improving health outcomes for our nation’s children.
RECOGNITION National School Nurse Day 2025
WHEREAS: National School Nurse Day was established in 1972, to recognize the role of school nurses in
the educational setting; and
WHEREAS: School nurses have served a critical role in improving public health and advancing the well-
being, academic success, and life-long achievements for all students. School nurses improve
attendance through health promotion, disease prevention, and disease management, helping
students learn and thrive; and
WHEREAS: School nurses function as a liaison to the school community, parents, and health care providers
by promoting wellness and improving health outcomes. School nurses bridge health and
education to improve each child’s cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development.
School nurses champion the whole student every day of the year; and
WHEREAS: On National School Nurse Day, we take special time to celebrate and recognize the
contributions that school nurses are making to the health and learning of our district of 92,000
students. School nurses lead school health, use critical thinking, and focus on the school
community while practicing ethically; and
WHEREAS: School nurses play a critical role for students, ensuring that they are ready for learning by
managing complex/chronic health conditions, promoting healthy lifestyle, and encouraging
positive behaviors; and
WHEREAS: School nurses rise to the daily challenge of juggling a complex array of medical and social
issues. School Nurses are healers, comforters, educators, mentors, role models, and critically
needed members in a school district and school community; now
THEREFORE: The DeKalb County School District is pleased to recognize the dedication and
accomplishments of school nurses who improve the overall well-being of our children and
understand the link between health and learning.