Any Substitute School Nurses Here?

[MHDNURSE]

Good morning,

So to give some background, I am currently working part-time and am in the beginning of my second year at a new school. Our school last year only had Kindergarten (125 kids). They moved to first grade this year and now we have K and First, so 250 kids. I only work 9-1:30 which has been a great schedule since I have two kids (in 3rd and 5th grades). With this schedule I am able to take them to school in the morning, come to work, then get home to be there when they arrive home from school. With the doubling of the number of kids, I have been a lot more busy with paperwork and am already feeling the struggle of getting through files, documenting immunizations, sending letters home, screenings, etc. in those 4.5 hours. It is extremely likely that for the 2017-2018 school year, they will ask me to increase my hours to 8:30-3 (doable but not something I would love), as well as now have 375 kids, one grade of which might be on a different campus, meaning I would have to travel mid-day to another site (not something I am excited about). If things next year would stay just as they are this year I wouldn't even be considering leaving. I LOVE the staff here, feel totally supported to do my job as I see fit and the admin staff pretty much are happy and eager to help me in any way they can. The teachers are all amazingly dedicated and just a great bunch. I get 6 weeks off in the Summer and three weeks vacation (Dec/Feb/April).

In my home school district, as well as the neighboring town school district, they are eagerly looking for School Nurse substitutes. I am considering leaving at the end of this school year and subbing instead so I can decide when I work, and be more involved in my own kid's school activities (their school welcomes parents for lunch, help teach, etc. and I have not been able to do this with my current job). Sub nurses are paid a LOT more in my district ($35/hr vs. $26/hr) but of course hours are not consistent.

For those of you who sub, what is it like subbing? Are you getting a call early in the morning on the day of, asking if you can work? Are you functioning like a regular school nurse or are you doing mostly admin tasks? I am sure this varies from school to school, but overall I am curious. Obviously I would ask all of these questions in an interview, but I don't want to interview unless I am already pretty much decided I am not coming back next year (people talk and news gets around). I have to make a decision by March 1st when I re-sign my contract for 2017-2018, or tell them I am not coming back.

Thanks for any advice.

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

I subbed in a large public district prior to landing a full time gig. I sometimes got a heads up one a day or two out, sometimes a call/text in the AM (or the evening before). It ebbed and followed work wise, but I did end up doing a month+ long stint for a nurse on medical leave. I stepped right in the that regular nurse's daily role/routine. Other times, I was asked to be the nurse on a field trip, while the regular nurse was in school managing the rest of kids.

[kummerspeck]

I have a permanent part time position with my home district, but I also sub when it fits my schedule. (I'm also a f/t night nurse outside of school nursing right now). My home district pays $100/day, $50/halfday for sub nurses, so the pay is terrible and we have a really hard time getting school sub nurses because of that. When I sub, I am the school nurse and I don't do the admin stuff, I'm there working with the students who need to see the nurse for whatever reason. I've also subbed as the nurse going on the field trip with the kids who need more supervision medically.

I've thought about quitting my job to sub full time, but the pay is terrible, and with the district having a float nurse, I would not be getting enough calls to even make it worth it. I don't know what advice to give you, I'd love a full time position in school nursing, and I've got three kids 5th, 6th, and 7th grade.

[Baloo]

I subbed in a couple of different districts the previous couple of years. I would say the calls were split as far as advance notice goes. Some calls/texts were days or weeks in advance for planned days off and others were early in the morning or the night before for illnesses. You will be a lot busier towards the end of the year when everyone has vacation time to take.

For the majority of the time, when I subbed I was only expected to 'just take care of the kids', no admin work unless I wanted to.

After subbing for awhile, I realized school nursing is where I wanted to be, earlier in this calendar year (last school year) I actually left my job to sub full time. After I had given my notice though, an opportunity came up to fill in as a full-time long term sub for half of a year, which then, fortunately for me, turned into a full-time position for this year.

So I made the leap to leave my job to sub full time, but was just in the right place at the right time for it to morph right into a full time position.

If you're okay with sporadic income (I was a stay at home parent before becoming a nurse, so my family was used to only one income), and the districts are busy enough, I'd say go for it...although my only hesitation would be to consider how awkward would it be if you had to work in your current school?

[tonih79, LPN]

well my district don't have subs when we get sick the schools just "does the best it can" we have no money for subs and we have 38 schools with 1 nurse at each school. Just be sure the area districts have a budget for subs the budget can change yearly.