By Sheila Caldwell, BSN, RN, CSN-NJ
The dance continues as my school district, Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District and the National Education Association agreed that I can remain “on loan” in the NEA Education Support Professionals Quality (ESPQ) Department for the 2022-23 school year. I have broken in my various dance shoes and am ready to groove to the beats and learn more moves as needed.
I had the privilege of working with NEA during the summer of 2022, and it was quite eventful. Working on various school health and safety matters, in addition to being asked to participate in an organizing campaign in South Carolina. It was a really great experience to go out into the field to some South Carolina schools to connect with educators. A team of us traveled to different settings to speak about the value of being in a union. Understanding that individuals have their unique perspectives about unions, there were some who engaged and some who didn’t.
I also went to Jackson, Mississippi. This trip was all about the water crisis in the state’s capital city, the “City of Soul,” that seems to have lost some at this point in time. So, some NEA staff and I went down to help rev-up some of the tunes to help revitalize the community along with the Mississippi Association of Educators (MAE) and Jackson Education Association (JAE) in advocacy efforts with local and state officials for clean water.
If you know anything about the history of the city, you would know that there have been water issues for years due to old (lead) pipes. And, periodically, residents and visitors cannot consume the tap water. When we arrived, the residents could not use tap water for more than five weeks and bottled water is not as easy to come by from a financial and even transportation standpoint.
It was so very interesting to me that you basically could go a couple miles down the road and communities had no water issues. But we need to speak about this issue as one that is racially and systemically based. More than 80% of Jackson’s population is Black and greater than 24% are impoverished according to the 2020 Census. A deeper dive tells us a bit more. A look at public school data notes that more than 75% of students are served free or reduced-price meals, and I actually suspect that the actual number of children eligible is higher than this percentage.
This was a mission trip to work side-by-side with our Mississippi-member family about something that we all need and have: a right to have clean water. There were meetings with local officials, letters sent to government officials as well as the mobilizing of other faith-based companies, local businesses, and organizations to pull out the many infrastructure and bureaucratic roadblocks to this community being able to have access to clean water, but also have decent water pressure in their homes, schools, and businesses.
As you can imagine this water crisis truly impacted learning and living. We had been informed that schools had been closed or intermittently closed due to this crisis with bottled water unavailable and the inability to use faucets or toilets. Those of us in some areas don’t stop to think about the challenges others might be facing, but they are real and right here in the U.S., even within our own state of New Jersey. Inequities pervade.
An additional reason for the travel was to help support the major community rally that MAE and JEA were hosting. We were there to help in any way that our fellow Mississippe members needed.
Knowing that as a nurse I could have an impact at the event. I decided that I would have a booth of public health information. So I visited the new Mississippi State School Nurse Consultant at the DOE building to discuss the concerns and ask about the communications with the county school nurses and the support that is being provided. In addition, I went to the Mississippie State Department of Health to speak with the nurse in charge of the lead program and to get any literature and information that I could pass onto the Jackson residents that would visit my table.
If you are familiar with any water issues here in New Jersey, we are always told to boil the water before using. This has been a major message from the state to the Jackson residents without telling them that boiling water does not, I repeat does not, remove lead and other contaminants.
At the rally, one of my most important messages to the residents was about the fact that lead is still in the tap water and discussed with them the effects on the brains of young children in addition to the health conditions that adults can have as a result of lead exposure. I informed them where they could get lead testing, where they could get bottled water and filters for their faucets that the state was giving out for free. The residents were so very grateful for the information and resources. Some already were aware, but at times had no access to assistance due to their work schedules or transportation limitations.
If you are interested in viewing the Aug/ 27, 2022 rally, it was recorded and posted on the MAE Facebook page. In days leading up to this rally, we had visited schools to deliver cases of water.
Within a matter of days of when the majority of us left Jackson, the major flooding occurred that further exacerbaterd the water crisis. Surely, you saw information about it on the news as it made national news. MAE and JEA members informed us how some of them had to evacuate to hotels outside of the Jackson city limits and how many families had to do the same.
It truly was an experience that I will never forget. I still communicate with some of the members there. If you have been keeping up with any of the news since August, Jackson will be getting specific funding and support from federal agencies to evaluate and solve the infrastructure concerns that have existed for more than 50 years. It very much reminded me of the water crisis in Detroit. We will have to keep watch still advocate on behalf of the children, families, and fellow educators in “The City of Soul,”,so that, one day its vibrancy will return, and we can dance in the streets.
Although the dance took me to a few other states during the summer, the internal work didn’t stop. A major area of focus that will go on for quite some time, was President Biden’s signing of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) at the end of June. This act was proposed to address gun violence, but it includes so very much more that provides grant opportunities for communities about mental health and hopes to clarify and expand the Medicaid in Schools program. Yes, there are components about gun violence that focus on “red flag laws,” background checks, dating violence, gun registration, gun-trafficking, and anti-violence programs in communities. You can read about the BSCA here.
All components of this act focus on the health and well-being of our schools and communities, but one of the major focus areas for me is the “Medicaid in Schools” program, that I have mentioned to you in a prior post. This is the one of utmost concern for me when it comes to health and health equity of the students, families and school community as a whole.
So, it seems the dance as it relates to BSCA and the other work at NEA for this school year are going to include some familiar moves and others that I cannot even phantom.
I’ve polished up my shoes and to be ready for 2022-2023 performances.
Sheila Caldwell is a certified school nurse in the Matawan Aberdeen Regional School District. She is on leave to participate in the SISP Fellowship described in this article. In addition to receiving numerous national and local awards, Caldwell has received the American Academy of Pediatrics-NJ Chapter School Health Advocate of Year (2016) and the 2021 National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Recognition Award for “continued support and unique contributions to NASN and school nursing.”
Caldwell can be reached at SCaldwell@nea.org.