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Mine is a new charter school (opened August 2015). Started with just 120 Kindergarteners last year. This year we got 120 new Kindergarteners and last year's K kids are in first. We will continue to add one new K class per year until we are a K-4 school. My school is in a very poor area and all our kids get free breakfast, free lunch and 2 snacks per day while they are here. Our school day is long (7:45-4) so they get most of their daily food with us.

I mostly love my school. 95% of the families are amazingly committed to their kid's education, are warm, as involved as they are able,. etc. I do find with this population, it is difficult to get follow-through with documentation, bringing in medications, etc., but for the most part, the families are wonderful. Our teachers are all very young, so FULL of that "I am going to change the world" attitude :laugh: Makes for a very positive work environment, which is a HUGE change from the jaded, crotchety teachers I worked with before ;)

Specializes in Pediatrics, Community Health, School Health.

So interesting to read about all the different schools!

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Specializes in Psychiatric Nursing.

Last year, I was in an inner-city school, K-5, with many of the children living in poverty and dangerous neighborhoods. This year, I was swapped out with an LPN and placed in a school in a pocket of the city with a large population from Central America. Out of 600 children in this K-5 school, there are 25 Caucasian children, about 70-80 black children, and 500 children from Guatemala, Panama, and El Salvador. There are several local Central-American family owned businesses, most of them landscaping businesses. Today, I have sent 4 children home from school sick, and I had to have an interpreter make 3 out of 4 phone calls, because the parents do not speak English. Although this school is considered an "inner city" school as well, the surrounding neighborhoods are safer, and the Central American children seem to have most of their needs met and have supportive families. I am embracing the change!

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I'm in a 7-8 Jr. High School with approx 700 students. There are 2 of us, but we have a large ESE department with many mental and physical disabilities. About 70-75% of our students are free/reduced lunch. We have a fairly large ESOL department also. I think we also are at the top of the list for Status Dramaticus!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Community Health, School Health.
Last year, I was in an inner-city school, K-5, with many of the children living in poverty and dangerous neighborhoods. This year, I was swapped out with an LPN and placed in a school in a pocket of the city with a large population from Central America. Out of 600 children in this K-5 school, there are 25 Caucasian children, about 70-80 black children, and 500 children from Guatemala, Panama, and El Salvador. There are several local Central-American family owned businesses, most of them landscaping businesses. Today, I have sent 4 children home from school sick, and I had to have an interpreter make 3 out of 4 phone calls, because the parents do not speak English. Although this school is considered an "inner city" school as well, the surrounding neighborhoods are safer, and the Central American children seem to have most of their needs met and have supportive families. I am embracing the change!

Yes, I work with a very similar (almost identical) demographic and the families are warm, caring, and give everything they can to their kids.

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Suburbia, near the water. Small public school, 7-12, about 750 kids. Small town, mostly upper middle class to stinking, filthy rich. We do have a large, poor, sometimes illegal, population, a lot of ESL.

Everyone knows everyone. Sports suck, except we do excel in individual sports. Strong music and art. Strong scholastics.

I love the kids. My Kid is one of them.

Lots of pot, that is the main drug besides alcohol.

Parents VERY involved.

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Specializes in School nursing.

Urban Public Charter, grades 7-12. We also have grades 5-6, but it is in a different building about a mile away and they have their own full-time nurse, so I get a colleague, which is very nice :). My population is about ~500, my colleague manages ~200.

We have a big mix here: Caucasian (Irish Catholic a large part of it), Black, Hispanic, Haitian, mixed race. I do have a growing list of parents that do not speak English and I really wish my Spanish were better. This may finally be the summer I take a Spanish refresher course. I have several students willing to practice with me! Huge focus on culture here, which is cool. We display 40+ flags to cover all the areas our students and staff represent.

We have a mix of free/reduced lunch, working class, and middle class. I have some great parents and I have parents that never have a functioning phone number. Significant increase in students on 504s and IEPs in past couple of years, but I feel that is on rise no matter what type of district you are in.

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I am in a rural elementary, PreK-5th. About 370 students total. PreK has one teacher and every other grade has 3 except for first grade and they have four. VERY involved community, all three schools (elem, middle, and high) are within sight of each other. There are 6 other elementary schools, 6 middle schools, and 6 high schools in our school system. All of our students get free breakfast and lunch through a grant our school qualifies for. There is a lot of history at these 3 schools. Many of the teachers and parents graduated from this high school. Very warm and nurturing environment, lots of opportunities for kids, especially low academic kids. Majority of students are white, there are some hispanic, 2 middle eastern, and 2 mixed children. Farmland surrounds the schools, it's not out of the ordinary for cows to be blocking the roads or to get stuck behind a tractor on your way home. But, we are only about 10 minutes from town. Absolutely love my little school and community!

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I am in the suburbs in a High School with about 1800 students, grades 10, 11 and 12. We have a new principal to learn but I am glad for the change. We have about 20 new teachers along with the others who appear strained within their own worlds all day. I rarely chat with any of the teaching staff. We have less of the unruly kids but got more immature students who wants to see the nurse like they were in elementary. Most of them don't communicate with their parents about anything so I am calling them about existing problems they refuse to share with the household. The subs are one to two family middle class homes with everyone too busy at work to answer calls or pick up sick students. Life in the Fast Lane.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Home Health, Hospice, School.

I work in a public school, grades 6-8, with approx. 1200 kids. I'm questioning coming back next year as this is the first year in 7 that I have not been really happy working as the school nurse. I have 6 Type 1 Diabetics on campus who come in 2-3 times a day (and often more as a few of them are not well controlled AT ALL). This doesn't include my 18 scheduled ADHD medications and the array of other illnesses I see on a daily basis. As the days go on, I am starting to wonder if the little bit of pay is worth it all.

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