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New York State School Nurse Teachers Association

The New York State School Nurse-Teachers Association (NYSSNTA) was founded in 1931 by Mary Birmingham Enhrentreich to “promote school health service, standards in techniques, education standards of the nursing groups and cooperation between organizations, boards of education and departments in the state.”

The records of the New York State School Nurse-Teachers Association, 1931-1978 (bulk 1950-1978), document the role of the Association in promoting school health service and standards in techniques and education. School nurse-teachers are dual professionals, licensed as registered nurses and certified as teachers.

 

 

Index code: MC2

Finding Guide:

Finding Aid for the New York State School Nurse Teachers Association, 1931-1978   

Finding Aid by Carol A. Gallacchi, Archives Coordinator
Compiled by Arlene Roush, Archives Assistant May 31, 2005

 

VOLUME: 2.1 cubic feet (5 document boxes, 1 oversized framed proclamation)
ACQUISITION: The records of the New York State School Nurse-Teachers Association were given to the New York State Nurses Association in 1978 by Marguerite J. Walters, Executive Director of the New York State School Nurse-Teachers Association. The records were transferred to the Foundation of New York State Nurses Archives under terms governing the Foundation and Association’s records management/archives agreement.
ACCESS: This collection is open to the public by appointment.
COPYRIGHT: Please consult the repository for information about duplication or publishing of any materials from this collection.
PREFERRED
CITATION:		 New York State School Nurse Teachers Association, 1931-1978 (MC 2), Bellevue Alumnae Center for Nursing History, Foundation of New York State Nurses, Guilderland, NY

Table of Contents

Biographical Sketch

The New York State School Nurse-Teachers Association (NYSSNTA) was founded in 1931 by Mary Birmingham Enhrentreich to “promote school health service, standards in techniques, education standards of the nursing groups and cooperation between organizations, boards of education and departments in the state.”

The NYSSNTA was organized as a constituent body with the state divided into geographic zones totaling thirteen by 1978.

NYSSNTA committees and sections included Certification (later becoming Education Standards and still later Professional Advancement and Professional Standards); the Welfare Fund (later the Scholarship Fund and the Educational Advancement Committee); Services Awards Committee; Retired SNT Section; Supervisor Section; Status and Legislation Committee; Necrology Committee (to keep informed of the death of school nurse-teachers); Student SNT Section; Program and Conference Committee; the Study (later Organization) Committee. There were also many ad hoc committees, committees associated with the above affiliations, and committees on membership, budget, publications, public relations, nominating, revision (of the Constitution and Bylaws) and the New York State Department of Education Committee.

Over the years NYSSNTA formed cooperative affiliations with the following: the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (NYSAHPER); the Annual Health conference, the American School Health Association (ASHA); the New York State Teachers Association (NYSTA); the New York State Education Association (charter member); the Council of Pupil Personnel Services (later Council of Pupil Personnel Services Organization or COPSO); the State Alliance of Nursing Organizations (SANO).

Record of liaison activity with the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) first appears in 1945 when the NYSNA established its School Nurse-Teachers Section. A special committee to investigate the possibility of affiliation with the New York State Nurses Association was formed in the 1950’s but disbanded in 1954. When declining membership in the NYSSNTA led to its demise in 1978 the NYSSNTA members were assimilated into the NYSNA’s Specialty Group for School Nurse-Teachers.

NYSSNTA published the SNT Reporter (1945-1968); Journal of the New York State School Nurse-Teachers Association (1969-1978); Rx for SNTs (1974-1977) and Newsletter of the New York State School Nurse Teachers Association (1977-1978). During the 1940s, NYSSNTA announcements were carried in the New York State Journal of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. From 1948 until 1952 the full SNT Reporter was carried in the Journal.

Scope and Contents Notes

The records of the New York State School Nurse-Teachers Association, 1931-1978 (bulk 1950-1978), document the role of the Association in promoting school health service and standards in techniques and education. School nurse-teachers are dual professionals, licensed as registered nurses and certified as teachers.

Topics addressed include NYSSNTA’s initiatives to 1) require the employment of certified school nurse-teachers in public schools; 2) assist in developing regulations to protect the profession; 3) protect, through court action, school nurse-teachers from layoff. Also documented is the Associations final demise and assimilation into the New York State Nurses Association as an organizational unit.

Handwritten notes provide the only documentation of the organization prior to 1950. Pre-1960 records are limited to records on award winners and award presentation speeches, minutes of the Board of Directors and Representative Assembly, miscellaneous conference minutes. Annual meeting programs are available for 1973-1978. Some reports submitted to the Board of Directors and Representative Assembly are found in the correspondence files which also contain letters, memoranda, clippings and position statements.

The collection also includes directories, legal decisions, clippings, conference programs, decisions of the Commissioner of Education, miscellaneous newsletters, publications and instructions to school nurse-teachers from the Department of Education. Included are ca. 70 8×10″ photographs of meetings (1970’s), few of which are identified; awards and swearing in ceremonies 1973-1976; school nurse-teachers at meetings and in practice situations (1960-1970’s). Jean Amatucci, an Executive Director of NYSSNTA, one-time Director of the Legislative Program at the New York State Nurses Association and New York State Assemblywoman, is in several photographs. Over 100 “practice” slides, an audio-cassette tape of an interview with a Fort Ann Elementary School principal and school nurse-teacher further illuminate the varied roles and responsibilities of school-nurse teachers. Nurse-Teachers Day, 1973, and a framed Certificate of Affiliation certifying that the NYSSNTA was affiliated with the New York State Teachers Association, 1961-1971.

The following records of the New York State Nurses Association should be reviewed for additional information on the NYSSNTA: accessions A90-20: School Nurse Teachers Section and Specialty Group; A90-17: Membership Processing Records: A90-28: Nursing Organizations (includes newsletters, resolutions, correspondence on assimilation of NYSSNTA). Other sources of information include the New York State Nurses Association Board of Directors Minutes, Proceedings of the House of Delegates, and Annual Reports of the School Nurse-Teachers Section and Specialty Group.

The Journal of the New York State School Nurse-Teachers Association is available in the Center for Nursing Library. Copies of the SNT Reporter, precursor of the Journal, are limited to two issues from 1946 and 1967.

Box and Folder List

Series 1: Professional Activities

Box 1
Folder:

  1. Constitution and bylaws of the NYSSNTA, revisions, 1962-1975
  2. Meetings: handwritten notes, 1931-1953
  3. Representative Assembly: annual business meeting minutes, 1950-1959
  4. Representative Assembly: annual business meeting minutes, 1960-1965
  5. Representative Assembly: annual business meeting minutes, 1967-1978
  6. Board of Directors: meeting minutes, 1950-1959
  7. Board of Directors: meeting minutes, 1960-1966
  8. Board of Directors: meeting minutes, 1967-1968
  9. Board of Directors: meeting minutes, 1969-1978
  10. Executive Committee: meeting minutes, 1969-74
  11. Executive Committee: meeting minutes, 1975-78

Series 2: Conference programs, Lists and Directories

Box 2
Folder:

  1. Conference programs, 1967-1972 (brochures)
  2. Conference programs, 1972-1978 (brochures)
  3. Conference expenses, 1975-1977
  4. List of presidents and miscellaneous history, 1931-1978
  5. Directories, 1971-1978
  6. Awards Committee, 1954-1969
  7. Awards Committee, 1970-1978
  8. Correspondence, 1970-1972
  9. Correspondence, 1972-1974
  10. Correspondence, 1975-1977

Series 3: Constituent bodies, Affiliations/liaison activities

Box 3
Folder:

  1. Long Island Council: correspondence, 1976-77
  2. North Nassau Zone: membership lists, 1968-75
  3. American School Health Association, 1976-1977? ( correspondence and constitution)
  4. National Education Association (NEA), Dept. of School Nurses, 1970-1977 (newsletters, reports, minutes)
  5. New York State Council of Educational Associations (CEA): minutes and miscellaneous records, 1973-1976
  6. New York State of Educational Associations: newsletters 1975-1977
  7. New York State Council of Pupil Services Organization (COPSO), 1972-1977
  8. New York State Education Dept., Bureau of School Health Education and Services: Information Bulletins, 1970-1975

Series 4: Subject files, Publications

Box 4
Folder:

  1. Certification for School Nurse-Teachers, 1970’s
  2. Civil Service specifications for school nurses, 1961-1976
  3. Collective bargaining, 1967
  4. Curriculum mandate studies, 1976-1977
  5. Differentiated staffing, 1971-1977
  6. Legal cases, 1962-1973
  7. Miscellaneous pamphlets brochures, 1960s-70’s
  8. Publications 1946-1978 (various NYSSNTA newsletters, bulk dates 1970-1978)
  9. Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, 1956-1976
  10. Role and responsibility of the school nurse-teacher, 196?-197?
  11. School Nurse-Teachers Day proclamations, 1972-1976
  12. Survey forms, 1974 (statewide survey)
  13. Publications, 1946-1978 (various NYSSNTA newsletters bulk dates 1970-1978)
  14. Publications: New York State Journal of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, 1946-1949

Series 5: Photographs, Memorabilia

Box 5
Folder:

  1. Photographs: Officers1976
  2. Photographs: meetings, 196?-197?
  3. Photographs: individuals, 196?-197?
  4. Photographs: practice, ca. 1970s
  5. Photographs: School Nurse-Teachers Day ceremony, February 13, 1973 (Photographs and news release)
  6. Photographs: School Nurse-Teachers Day ceremony, January 23, 1974 (Photographs and clipping)
    Certificate of Affiliation with the New York State Teachers Association (framed)
    Slides of school nurse-teachers in practice situations, 197?
    Audio-cassette tape (interview with Fort Ann elementary school and school nurse-teacher), 197?
Box 6
Folder:

  1. Central Zone Secretary’s Notebook #1
    Minutes, 1972-1974
  2. Membership – List of Officers, Committees, 1957-1973
    Central Zone Secretary’s Notebook #2
  3. Meetings, 1974-1975
  4. Meetings, 1976-1978

Unboxed

  • School Nurse-Teaches Day proclamation, 1973 (framed)
Revisions:
Arlene Roush May 31, 2005
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