School nurse provided

[pooh4evr]

DDs school has 2 nurses everyday- don't know if they ar Rn or what but they are always there of course ther are about 800 kids in our elementary school (fwiw I went to the same district different school in the 80's and we always had a nurse too)

 

[zoie101]

PRIVATE SCHOOL HERE
and not a nurse every day
there seems to be a lot of kids with
health issues
but the teachers got a raise!

 

[sk!mom]

We have a nurse---once a week. So get sick, hurt, or some other emergency on Tuesday and you're golden- the other 4 days- you're SOL.

 

[RMulieri]

Okay, I have to weigh in on this one. I *am* a school nurse. The state of Georgia mandated nurses in public schools about 5 years ago; our salaries are paid through a state grant. It is shocking to me when I hear the secretaries talk about how they used to run the school clinic--with all the inhalers, meds, injuries, illnesses it's a huge responsibility to take on!

I work in a middle school which has about 900 students and 140 staff. Do you know how many kids I evaluated last year?? 9,716. That's right--over 9 THOUSAND CLINIC VISITS. For one nurse, in one year. That's a lot of sick kids.This time of year I see about 40 kids a day, but in the spring when the pollen blooms that number can skyrocket to 80 or even 100 kids per day.

Today I took care of a student who passed out during the mile-run and I suspect a heart problem; mom is going to take her to the doctor. One girl forgot to take her seizure meds this morning. I had several with asthma, sore throats and vomiting, and a few finger, knee and head injuries. A burn, some bug bites, and a few with "I-hate-math-itis." I taught 17 teachers how to use an Epipen. 20 minutes before closing an administrator wanted a written report of every kid in the school who has some kind of health issue. I was dressed down by another admin in front of another group of 15 teachers over something beyond my control

School nurses elevate the level of education in any school by keeping kids (and staff) healthy. Sick kids can't learn. It costs a lot to keep a good nurse on staff, but it should be a necessary cost of doing business. States need to step up to the plate and fund school nurses.

Well said.i am an RN but not a school nurse.I would love to be one, but there is no funding for an Rn .They staff LPN's in each school.Now I love LPNs( my mom is one), but I really think since there are lots of liabilities out there and many more kids with medical needs that the school system should at least have 1 or2 RN's as well.

 

[Tink-aholic]

I teach in a public high school. We have three full-time RNs on staff in three different clinics (about 2000 kids). One of the RNs left her position as the "head" nurse a few years ago to become a teacher in the school instead. Even though she had been the school nurse for over a decade, her salary almost doubled when she joined the teaching staff...

 

[clori]

our schools k-8 have a full time RN and an aide

 

[Not so Dumbo]

We do not have a nurse. Meds are distributed by the office secretary, but only if they have a written permission form filled out by the parents. As far as sick or injured kids go, they just call the parents and send them home.

 

[crisi]

School nurses elevate the level of education in any school by keeping kids (and staff) healthy. Sick kids can't learn. It costs a lot to keep a good nurse on staff, but it should be a necessary cost of doing business. States need to step up to the plate and fund school nurses.

I agree, but we had 34 kids in my daughters 3rd grade classroom (they brought in another teacher - they are down to 23 kids in a class - but they thought they were going to be able to pull off 32 or 33 kids per room). We have no librarian any longer - lost to funding cuts.

We do have at least four time aides for the four deaf/hard of hearing kids. And that doesn't go into the additional aides and teachers to deal with ESL, Learning Disabilities, the kid with CP, etc.

We've lost a lot of federal funding in the past decade - and had additional burdens placed on an overloaded school with NCLB. We then lost a lot of state funding. So funding shifted back to localities with property taxes. Unfortunately for me, I'm in an area that hasn't passed their levies (though I always vote for them).

If my kids test scores start dropping, I'll pull them private (difficult for us because most private schools are religious and we are a religious minority) or homeschool (which I would be lousy at). Right now we home supplement and my kids both perform well above grade level.

 

[Pinnie]

I am a teacher in a suburban public school system in SE MI. We do NOT have a nurse in any of our buildings. I have a diabetic child in my room and I have to count his intake of carbs, test his sugar level and administer insulin as needed. I also have to carry the 2 epi-pens around with me wherever we go for the 2 students with peanut allergies. I wish we did have a nurse, but our district is barely making payroll with teachers.

pinnie

 

[robsmom]

We have a school nurse who dispenses meds, bandaids etc. She handles sick kids and also teaches health segments. I don't know the exact rules in NJ but i believe all schools have one or share one. do not know if there has to be on on premise at all times. I do know that I have a relative who wanted to be a school nurse. she has a bachelor's in education, a bachelor's in nursing and a master's in child life studies. she is a pediatric intensive care nurse in a major hospital and a certifiend child life expert (which she did for 5 yrs). According to the state of NJ she is not qualified to be a school nurse!!!

 

[bigbabyblues]

I don't even think our school has one LOL

My DS goes to a private school, and they don't have one either. There is one child in the school with a peanut allergy.

 

[minkydog]

I teach in a public high school. We have three full-time RNs on staff in three different clinics (about 2000 kids). One of the RNs left her position as the "head" nurse a few years ago to become a teacher in the school instead. Even though she had been the school nurse for over a decade, her salary almost doubled when she joined the teaching staff...

I can totally believe that. I am an RN with a BS degree and 31 years experience, over half of that in pediatric ICU. My salary is roughly half that of a 1st year teacher. Believe me, nobody goes into school nursing for the money. It is hard, hard work but oh, so rewarding to me.

I work in a school with a very distressed population.Over 90% of our kids are on free lunches & breakfasts. We have a lot of transient families and a lot of illegal immigrants. Most of our kids have never seen a dentist and many of them do not go to a real doctor. Kids come to school hungry, bruised, sleepless, coatless, without glasses and sometimes without underwear. Mondays in my clinic are always interesting--the parents send the kids to school with all their illnesses and injuries from the previous weekend and basically I do triage all day, sending home kids who clearly need medical treatment.

Its a sad thing to realize that I am their main provider of healthcare. My own children cannot even imagine living the lives that my students have.

 

[cntrygal]

We are lucky we have a full time Rn, an Aide and Family Nurse Practitioner that comes in 1 day a week, to do phyicals. Until a couple of years ago we also had a dental hygeinist, that clean every kid in schools teeth, once a year and did sealents.
We have a central school, with pre K - grade 12 in one building with an enrollment of about 630.

Several of our neighboring schools also have a full time health center, run by our local hospital, staffed by a Family Nurse Practitioner, specializing in pediatrics, they do emergancy care, well checks, sick visits, write scripts, even do pap smears, STD checks and the occasional preganacy test

 

[sk!mom]

I agree, but we had 34 kids in my daughters 3rd grade classroom (they brought in another teacher - they are down to 23 kids in a class - but they thought they were going to be able to pull off 32 or 33 kids per room). We have no librarian any longer - lost to funding cuts.

We do have at least four time aides for the four deaf/hard of hearing kids. And that doesn't go into the additional aides and teachers to deal with ESL, Learning Disabilities, the kid with CP, etc.

We've lost a lot of federal funding in the past decade - and had additional burdens placed on an overloaded school with NCLB. We then lost a lot of state funding. So funding shifted back to localities with property taxes. Unfortunately for me, I'm in an area that hasn't passed their levies (though I always vote for them).

If my kids test scores start dropping, I'll pull them private (difficult for us because most private schools are religious and we are a religious minority) or homeschool (which I would be lousy at). Right now we home supplement and my kids both perform well above grade level.

Off-topic- sorry but yikes - 34 in one class. I'm teaching 3rd grade this year and have 16 students. State law mandates class size of no more than 22 through 4th grade. My DD went to the school where I teach and never had more than 20 in her class.

Now in middle school- preAP- her classes last year and this year have never had more than 20 - 22. I think some regular ed classes have more, though.

You are right on about NCLB- lots of mandates with no funding. Nurses and Librarians aren't mandated so they have been cut or, in the case of Librarians, replaced with paraprofessionals.

 

[kim929]

our elementary schools share a nurse. the middle schools have their own nurse and the high school has 2 on duty along with 2 therapists. That is just our town.

 

[tzolkin]

My children's school has a full-time nurse.

When I was in elementary school, we had parent volunteers. They were only allowed to call your parents if you had a fever or if you were vomiting. I never ran a fever, but I knew if I was sick. I learned that I had to lie and say I had vomited in order to talk to my mom. I had mono, shingles, ovarian cyst/period issues and would have been told to lie down for 15 minutes and then go back to class if I didn't go into the bathroom and pretend to throw up. I told my mom what was really wrong and she took me to the doctor.