BAY MINETTE, Ala. — Thanks to a reprieve of sorts, public-school nurses in Baldwin County won’t have their planning days cut in the upcoming 187-day school year.

During Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Baldwin County Board of Education, Director of Schools Dr. Alan Lee had proposed eliminating five days from school nurses’ schedule, which would have been taken from their planning time for the school year. However, the board turned down Lee’s recommendation when the action died for lack of a motion.

“Teachers are at 187 days, and nurses are part of the staff,” District 7 Board Representative Tracy Roberts said during the work session preceeding the meeting. “I don’t think they should be cut. I know how much they do to get ready for the school year.”

District 6 Board Representative Robert Callahan Jr., echoed those sentiments.

“I have a problem with cutting the nurse staff,” he said, pointing to “the things the nurses have to do to get ready for children with fairly serious problems.”

In an address to the board, Alabama Education Association UniServ Director John Hudson explained those duties, which he read from a letter he had previously mailed to board members asking them not to make the cuts.

“Nurses must meet with the parents of students that receive medication and/or medical procedures to discuss the physician’s orders and obtain the required authorizations that must come from both parents and physicians,” he said. “Time must also be allotted for reviewing immunization histories of new students, data entry of medical information (SDE heath assessments, mediation records, care plans, etc.) and the very important task of preparing the first-aid rooms for the school year.”

Lee’s recommendation came after Gov. Robert Bently approved legislation in June that made those cuts at the state level. He told the board that the recommendation was one he preferred making.

“But each day I’m faced with the decision of how to spend the money,” he told the board.

With the recommendation dead, the county school system will now foot the bill for those days that the approximately 50 school nurses to work, instead of the state.

Hudson pointed to county revenue that is projected to generate $25 million a year over a three-year period for education, as a means of helping to pay for those days, which fund individual salaries of up to $23,852 for licenses practicing nurses and up to $44,767 each per year for registered nurses, as indicated by information provided by the board.

“This would be considered an allowable expenditure per the penny-tax school-board resolution as this is a critical life, health and safety issue,” Hudson said.

The Alabama Education Association representative said he was pleased with the board’s decision.

“They did what’s best for the nurses, what’s best for the children and what’s best for the school system,” Hudson said after the meeting.