(The Sentinel) – Last week, the Sentinel reported that Beth Schutte, a school nurse in USD 261 Haysville, was paid $126,000 last year. The district didn’t respond to our inquiries before the story was published, but an email sent shortly after publication by Schutte’s husband, Assistant Superintendent Clint Schutte, says $41,000 of her income was overtime.

Clint Schutte wrote, “The district participated in a Kansas Department of Health and Environment COVID Testing program. This required additional Health services but provided funding for the majority of overtime for the year.” He also said, “All Haysville USD 261 nurses had overtime for the year.”

The district payroll obtained in an Open Records request only listed two people – Beth Schutte and Lesley Thomas – as nurses, but information provided to the Sentinel by readers prompted Clint Schutte to confirm that 11 others listed as Health Aides are actually registered nurses. And while each of them collected some overtime, the vast majority went to Beth Schutte ($41,243) and Lesley Thomas ($23,587).

The next highest amount ($5,234) was paid to Olivia Gross. Three other registered nurses were paid between $4,118 and $4,714, and the rest were paid less than $4,000.

No explanation was provided for the disparate distribution of pay among registered nurses.

Nurses get overtime but not teachers

Timecards for Beth Schutte show she recorded working more than eight hours almost every day she was in school during the 2022 school year. Some days, it was only a few minutes, but it was often several hours. She even put in for overtime during the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks.

Clint Schutte says nurses are eligible for overtime but not teachers.