North Babylon School District nurses are asking the school board for raises to bring them in line with nurses in neighboring districts. Job cuts were on everyone's mind at the North Babylon school board meeting last month … and with good reason.

Days after the meeting, 36 teacher positions were cut in the district. Thereason? A bloated staff and small class sizes, explained Superintendent of North Babylon Schools Robert Aloise.

A few years ago, the district took advantage of a special grant to cut class sizes, but since that time the funds have fizzled, yet class sizes remain shriveled, he said.

"The district has looked at its class sizes and is choosing to increase the class sizes to levels more comparable to the surrounding districts," explained Selina Durio, president of the North Babylon Teachers' Organization.

Also, "the population in North Babylon has been going down slightly in the last few years, and adjustments were never made," said Dr. Aloise.

With these teacher cuts, other school workers such as teacher assistants and aides are worried about a ripple-effect of job loss. Last month at the school board meeting, throngs of paraprofessionals showed up to advocate to keep their jobs.

There are more than a hundred paraprofessionals working in the district as full-time or part-time support staff in the classrooms, libraries, cafeteria or with students individually. Almost all of these professionals are women, whose children have gone through the district, explained Lois Emerick, a paraprofessional at Robert Moses Middle School and advocate for the group.

"I would like people to know that these are a great bunch of women who work very hard," said Emerick. "We've come a long way from putting videos in the TV for people to watch. We are there to fully make a student's life better in the day, make sure they eat lunch, assist and work with teachers, we are the extra support in the room."

Paraprofessionals earn between $9,000 to $22,000, according to Emerick.

Dr. Aloise explained that the district will make some cuts, as they seek "programmatic parity" within the district, meaning North Babylon school district should have the same plan, structure and staff at each of their schools …which means cuts. For example, in the various kindergarten programs in the elementary schools, there are different numbers of paraprofessionals in each classroom; some are fulltime, some are part-time.

"We have different programs in five schools," said Dr. Aloise. "Thepublic is one tax base; we want one approach to support our kindergarten program."

(Cuts the board makes to aides will not be made in regards to students with special needs. Those cuts are not decided by the board, but by a special committee.)

During that same meeting, the nurses of the schools - dressed in white lab coats - also showed up. While their jobs are secure, they came to remind the board that their salaries are one of the lowest in Suffolk County.

Eight nurses take care of 4, 842 students in North Babylon schools, according to Patricia Davanzo, the president of the North Babylon Nurses' Association. They mend the hurt caused from bumps and bruises. But they also do exams for eyes, ears and backs and oversee the daily medications for kids with allergies, diabetes and other illnesses.

North Babylon School nurses earn - on average - $30,000 a year, said Davanzo.

"If we lose a nurse tomorrow," Davanzo told the board, "she leaves to take a job in another school district, and she will likely be starting at $12,000 more per year than she was making here at North Babylon schools …Nurses in this district are not paid enough money nor are they recognized as the professionals that they are," Davanzo said. She noted that along with lower salaries, they are also not granted tenure privileges.

Davanzo - who works at Belmont Elementary School—has been a nurse for 31 years working in pediatrics, as well as a nursing home and in intensive care with newborns. But with six kids of her own, she chose to take a position as a school nurse, and loved it. She earns $43,000.

The nurses on staff at each school are talented and spend their days taking care of the emotional and physical needs of the kids, whether they are checking lung sounds, monitoring insulin levels in diabetics or administering nebulizer treatments, she explained.

"We are making an impact in the lives of school children and we want to make sure others know that we do it for a salary less than starting teachers," Davanzo said.