Boston: Nurses in every school, still need communism

BOSTON,October 9—For the last nine years, Progressive Labor Party and its allies have been fighting for a nurse in every Boston public school. Led by a core group, many nurses, with support from other union members, fought for this demand and we finally won. It is a sad commentary on this capitalist society that it took nine years to win such a basic necessity. It is also a testament to the heroic workers who persevered in this struggle. Now we need a further commitment to get rid of this capitalist system once and for all. We need a revolution for communism where the working class organizes health care for everyone.
For safety, a nurse must be present in a school to cover emergencies. But also 1/3 of our students have chronic health conditions, such as asthma and  diabetes, that must be managed by a school nurse daily or as-needed. School nurses also provide a safe place for children worried about abusive situations, homelessness, fear of deportation raids, hunger, and difficult family situations.
Students in working class neighborhoods, primarily Black and Latin, have more chronic health problems, more homelessness, and need MORE support from a school nurse to help them stay healthy and improve their learning experiences. So in effect, a nurse in every school is an anti-racist struggle to equalize health care. Even though inequality will always persist as long as we have capitalism, we must have confidence in the working class to fight to control all aspects of society. That’s working class power – communism.
When the struggle began, if a nurse was sick and couldn’t find a substitute, another nurse would have to leave their school and cover at the absent nurse’s school. And, a number of nurses were already covering two schools!  We first fought for more substitute nurses and, through the union contract, we won six “float”  nurses. To win this struggle, we spoke often at union membership meetings, at open school committee meetings, and at Boston City Council hearings.  Nurses also reached out to parents of children in their schools to speak out against unsafe conditions.  We asked all nurses to document unsafe conditions in their school, modifying a survey provided by the Massachusetts Nursing Association. The  nurses covering two schools were the main responders about stressful and unsafe staffing situations. We used the survey to involve more nurses in the struggle. Nurses who were voted into union-leadership roles used their positions to serve both the nurses and the students (as a communist would), not to build our careers (as capitalist ideology would dictate).
 These days the job of a school nurse is much more complex and time-consuming. We manage diabetics, life-threatening allergies, daily medications, mental health issues, children who formerly would be hospitalized but now depend on a school nurse to maintain their health, and more.
After our  long struggle, the union leadership agreed to make a-nurse-in-every-school the #1 contract demand, and it is now part of the Boston Teachers’ Union contract! Under communism there will be no shortage of nurses and all workers needs will be met. We won this battle. Let’s keep fighting for a better world – communism! Dare to struggle, dare to win!