A bill that passed the state House addresses having new teachers - about 5,000 per year - to be CPR-certified.
State Rep. Sal Rocca, R-Sterling Heights, took over the bill when his wife, Sue, was term-limited. A registered nurse, Sue Rocca originally wanted to require all teachers in Michigan be certified in CPR, but when this met with opposition from current teachers, the bill was modified.
“The consensus finally was that this would be something that new teachers would have to do before they could be certified to teach,” Sal Rocca said. Louise Somalski, legislative coordinator at the Michigan Federation of Teachers and School Related Personnel, said the necessity of the bill is questionable but “it can’t hurt.”
“CPR class is a three-hour class, so it’s not a huge commitment,” she said. “If it’s another thing that adds to the safety of children, that can’t be bad.”
Cassandra Book, associate dean at the MSU College of Education, agreed that the bill will do no harm.
“Whether everyone ought to be certified - I don’t know,” Book said. “It’s the kind of thing that a school district could offer training for once a teacher is hired and on site.”
Rocca’s proposal would place the burden of cost - about $30 at the Michigan Red Cross - on the teachers themselves, and would require new teachers to be certified in CPR before they are certified by the state to teach in a classroom.
The pricing burden is one of the reasons Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, voted against the bill.
“I’d say if we mandate it we ought to be paying for it,” he said. “We don’t address how it’s going to be paid for. It’s just a new cost for teachers and a cost for districts when it comes time to be recertified.”
Todd Fisher, manager for the Mid-Michigan chapter of the American Red Cross, says most teachers are not currently CPR-certified.
“It’s more than safety in the schools, which is vital; they’re also trained in the community,” he said.
Melanie Lynch, a music education sophomore, said she would become CPR-certified anyway, but would appreciate if the state defrayed costs.
“Teachers should be as prepared as they can be to deal with anything that happens in the classroom,” she said. “I think if they push this bill, it should include everyone.
“I don’t think people should be angry about a little extra work that would make their classroom safer.”
