Proposed plan would aid nursing program

Camden County and state officials have come up with a plan that could allow about 50 aspiring licensed practical nurses to enter a program that had been marked for elimination by the Camden school board.

The officials said they would pay for the nurse training with $200,000 from the county's One-Stop Career Center, a federally-funded program administered locally and by the state.

The students who were due to begin in September will be able to complete their training at the district's Jerrothia Riggs Adult Education Center, but there is no plan to continue the program afterward, according to state Labor Commissioner David Socolow.

"This is a once-off deal to try to not interrupt these people's lives," Socolow said.

Future nursing student candidates can, however, seek job training funds through the One-Stop center, he said.

While the plan concerns the 46 incoming students, county One-Stop center director Kathleen Mayfield said she was hopeful the needs of the 17 students currently in the program could be addressed.

In the past year, 15,000 people got assistance through the Camden County center and about 1,200 received job training, Mayfield said.

"This offers the gift of hope to these students," said Louis Capelli Jr., director of the county Board of Freeholders, which directed county staff to seek ways to make the training available.

The architects of the deal had conversations with district administration. However, the Camden school board has not yet formally considered the plan, according to spokesman Bart Leff.

Last month, the school board, faced with a budget shortfall, approved a pared-down $341 million spending plan. In addition to staff cuts, the board agreed to eliminate the district's $2.2 million adult education program and its nurse training program, which was budgeted at nearly $318,000.

According to Socolow, helping these students makes sense for South Jersey, which is in the midst of a nursing shortage, and for the future nurses.

"This job can be a ticket to independence and self-sufficiency for these workers," he said.