Editorial Challenges in School Nursing and School Health Research in the Time of Pandemic As I write this, my last editorial for The Journal of School Nursing (JOSN), I am torn between writing a sentimental review of my time as an editor and the opportunity to chal- lenge the school nursing community and school health researchers to carry the torch for advancing the health of school children. Over the past 11 years of my tenure as an editor, researchers from all health professions have addressed school health problems and issues and I have been honored to work with them. Now the novel coronavirus pandemic continues, and schools are struggling to find the best way to educate chil- dren without putting them and school staff at undue risk. By the time this is published, some schools will be open, and others will be delivering classes online, and still others will have adopted in person and online formats. The outcome of the differing attendance patterns will not be clear for some- time. What is clear is that the local control of what to do will offer epidemiologists a myriad of case studies on disease control. Educational researchers will exam the outcome data to estimate the effect of different approaches on academic achievement. School health services and school nursing researchers will study the effects of services delivered in new ways and interrupted services on many health problems. On top of the pandemic, the troubled race relations in the United States overlay many issues concerning educational attendance patterns and raise many questions about equita- ble access to health care (Bowleg, 2020). Similar problems occur in other parts of the world with the influx of immi- grants from war-torn countries (Musliu et al., 2019). Because school health services are the anchor of health care for many children, how will the changing attendance pat- terns at school impact continuity of school health services? Will there be new funding sources to ensure students in all communities have school nursing services and access to health care? What about environmental health services? What assurances will school staff and families have that resources for mandated precautions are available and implemented? Research programs in many universities are stalled because of the pandemic. Because funding is for designated periods of time, how will enrollment of research participants be affected? When will interventions resume? Members of the JOSN Editorial Advisory Board and Editorial Panel are among those researchers caught in this dilemma. Yet the problems these researchers are studying like distracted driv- ing among teenagers, bullying, lack of physical activity, food insecurity, parenting problems, internet addiction, or sleep disturbances continue while the interventions they are testing are on hiatus. All these issues raise concern about publishing COVID- 19-related studies as quickly as possible for school nurses. For the JOSN, manuscripts go through a double-blind review and the first decision is usually within 19 days of submis- sion. Revisions and proofs must be managed, then the manu- script is published in about 23 days at Online First, once accepted. The manuscript may not make it to an issue for 1–2 years. Sage Publications has developed, however, a microsite where COVID-19 research manuscripts can be published quickly (https://journals.sagepub.com/corona virus). Given the support to quickly put relevant research into the hands of school nursing clinicians and school health researchers, the progress of facing the pandemic must be tracked and published. After 11 years as executive editor, I am happy to pass the baton on to the next editor, who is not named at this writing, and am confident the JOSN will remain an important source of evidence for school nursing practice in dealing with COVID-19 and all of the other problems that need to be managed. I challenge the research community to take up the gauntlet to address the pandemic and school nurses to use the evidence to shape their practice. Julia Muennich Cowell, PhD, RN, FNASN, FAAN Executive Editor References Bowleg, L. (2020). We’re not all in this together: On COVID-19, intersectionality and structural inequality. American Journal of Public Health, 110(7), 917. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH. 2020.305766 Musliu, E., Vasic, S., Clausson, E. K., & Garmy, P. (2019). School nurses’ experiences working with unaccompanied refugee chil- dren and adolescents: A qualitative study. SAGE Open Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1177/2377960819843713 The Journal of School Nursing 2020, Vol. 36(5) 323 ª The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1059840520947949 journals.sagepub.com/home/jsn