I have a special ed teacher who is in her 2nd trimester of pregnancy. She is convinced that she is having a high risk pregnancy though nothing she is telling me suggests high risk. I think it took her a while to get pregnant and she is a bundle of nerves. I am a per diem perinatal educator at the local hospital so I've been trying to reassure her that everything her doctor tells her indicates positive news.
I completely understand her desire to protect her baby. However, she is paranoid about all the students now. I have to do daily temp checks on most of her class. If they are out one day, I have to "assess" them before they are allowed to walk though the door. It's really wearing me down. I get that nobody wants illness in their classroom. But it's an elementary school. I can guarantee you will see vomit, fevers, and lice every year. We have had quite a few kids with Fifth disease and she is really upset about that. Again - I understand the concern but I can't figure out a kid has Fifth's until the rash appears and they are not longer contagious.
I actually suggested she speak to her OB about getting out on disability early. I think she needs it for her emotional well being.
I have a very similar situation. The only difference is that instead of pregnant teacher it is a "brand new grandma" that does not want her new grandbaby exposed to anything. She takes the passive aggressive route also. Sends practically the entire class of non-verbal autistic kids to me one by one but always FINDS a reason so what do you do?? Turn the kid away???
And really??? She sees that baby once a week on the weekends only.......
Retire already PLLLLEAAASSSSEEEEE!!
I have begun to call the parents on every single visit and I always start out with. "Ms. brought ____________ to see me because she seems concerned that ______________________"
It has slowed down a little since I started doing this. I am hoping the parents will start to complain and voila! I can be twice as passive aggressive as her!
This just makes me so very, very irritated. When I send my kids to school, I trust that their teachers will do their job (and do it well). I expect them to learn. My daughter requires a 504 plan to help her with this (she has ADD) and her team of teachers (middle school) are absolutely amazing. They work with her, work together, and work with me/my husband to help her realize her maximum potential.
Now, if she was being sent daily to the nurse for ridiculous temp checks and the like, her progress wouldn't have been so great, no?
By sending kids to the nurse for every.little.thing. that child misses invaluable instruction that they need from that teacher. Those parents put their trust in that teacher, yet that teacher seems to be doing all they can to get that child out of their class. That teacher pulls away from her job description over an asinine health belief system. How are you running those intense programming sessions desperately needed for those nonverbal kiddos and meeting those IEP goals if they're constantly sending them to nurse?
It's absolutely selfish. So, so selfish.
I give all of you so much credit; I don't think I could be a school nurse, so thank you all for all that you do. I would be throwing many a hissy fit! -- "Hissy-fit Pixie"
You are so correct with this behavior being selfish. When I first became a school nurse, I was astounded that teachers were ok (or even encouraged) missed class time for silly stuff. When I was growing up, our teachers pushed a trash can with her foot up to the students who said they were about to vomit and said "when you do, I will send you to the nurse." And you were in deep doo doo if you were caught in the halls with no pass between classes. Now, I have been doing this 10 years and it still astounds me! Most days, there are more kids roaming the hallways during class time at my school than sitting in class. Nobody bats an eye.
Is it ironic that school nurses are the ones that understand the goal is always to get that kid back and class and learning better than the actual educators do???? After all, we are the fishes out of water. At the end of the day, schools are here to educate not be primary care clinics.
There is a direct correlation between the number of students a teacher sends to the clinic and their classroom management skills and effectiveness.
I have a few teachers that rarely send a kid. These teachers keep their students in class and engaged. Not only that, the kids don't want to leave class because they are having their needs met during class time.
And SPED and 504??? We have an even greater responsibility to provide students a good education in the least restrictive environment, It seems to me that the nurse's office is pretty isolating and restrictive!! But, what do I know????
Did grandma and every other adult around the newborn get their Tdap booster???
Not sure if they did or not but I sure did recommend it. That conversation came up when she wanted to know what I was going to do about the student (with no siblings or ties to my school at all) who came down with pertussis at another school about 13 miles away. What I actually wanted to tell her was "I am going to go gather some of her infected cootie juice and spray it all over you the next time you ask me a stupid question which will probably be before the day is over."
Not sure if they did or not but I sure did recommend it. That conversation came up when she wanted to know what I was going to do about the student (with no siblings or ties to my school at all) who came down with pertussis at another school about 13 miles away. What I actually wanted to tell her was
"I am going to go gather some of her infected cootie juice and spray it all over you the next time you ask me a stupid question which will probably be before the day is over."
pixierose, BSN, RN
882 Posts
This just makes me so very, very irritated. When I send my kids to school, I trust that their teachers will do their job (and do it well). I expect them to learn. My daughter requires a 504 plan to help her with this (she has ADD) and her team of teachers (middle school) are absolutely amazing. They work with her, work together, and work with me/my husband to help her realize her maximum potential.
Now, if she was being sent daily to the nurse for ridiculous temp checks and the like, her progress wouldn't have been so great, no?
By sending kids to the nurse for every.little.thing. that child misses invaluable instruction that they need from that teacher. Those parents put their trust in that teacher, yet that teacher seems to be doing all they can to get that child out of their class. That teacher pulls away from her job description over an asinine health belief system. How are you running those intense programming sessions desperately needed for those nonverbal kiddos and meeting those IEP goals if they're constantly sending them to nurse?
It's absolutely selfish. So, so selfish.
I give all of you so much credit; I don't think I could be a school nurse, so thank you all for all that you do. I would be throwing many a hissy fit! -- "Hissy-fit Pixie"