Poor planning

[ana010]

I live in a state that has a law to prevent excessive absences. Students may miss 8 days per semester, unexcused. I am in a high school. I am completely out of patience and sympathy for these children with allergy or cold symptoms who have no fever and want me to send them home. I have asked student if he/she thought in January (when student missed 6 days) that he/she might be ill in April. Of course student does not care, but I will continue to pose these questions and maybe one kid will realize he/she needs to plan ahead!

Ok, rant over. Carry on with your day.

[ana010]

34 minutes ago, beachynurse said:

I don't have a choice about excussing the absence. If a student leaves through the clinic, it's excused no matter what. That would be awesome if I could determine if it was excused or not. However, the parents here would just flip out, and I'd get overruled anyway. so there really isn't any point in going down that path.

I get that. Admin wanting parents happy all the time makes it difficult to do what is best for the child and to do your job to the best of your ability.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

On 4/24/2019 at 5:01 AM, MHDNURSE said:

I have a K student who has missed 42 days!!!!! She is already older than all her peers b/c her mother kept her home an extra year, so she is 7 and now at risk for failing K b/c she has missed so many days. The really sad thing is we reported her to DCF for school neglect and they did nothing- passed the buck and told mom to call some agency for "resources" to help them get their $hit together to go to school. Well said agency was like no idea why you are calling us, we can't help and have a waitlist 6 months long. This is a case of a little girl who misses mom during the day so she cries until she vomits and then says she is "unable to walk". Mom falls for it and lets her stay home. I know I sound harsh, but I have spent hours meeting with them, counselling, offering support and in the end, mom just doesn't really care or see the big deal.

There's psych component here for sure. Axis 2 in training!

Hppy

[Eleven011]

3 hours ago, beachynurse said:

I don't have a choice about excussing the absence. If a student leaves through the clinic, it's excused no matter what. That would be awesome if I could determine if it was excused or not. However, the parents here would just flip out, and I'd get overruled anyway. so there really isn't any point in going down that path.

This is me too. Even if I don't think they are sick at all, if they call their parents and they say send them home, then they are excused.

[ConnecticutMassRN]

14 minutes ago, Eleven011 said:

This is me too. Even if I don't think they are sick at all, if they call their parents and they say send them home, then they are excused.

I don't understand how this is a nurse dismissal? If the student has opted to call their parents, rather than present to the health office for an assessment, this is not a nurse dismissal (in my school)... this would make me crazy!

[Eleven011]

45 minutes ago, ConnecticutMassRN said:

I don't understand how this is a nurse dismissal? If the student has opted to call their parents, rather than present to the health office for an assessment, this is not a nurse dismissal (in my school)... this would make me crazy!

Oh, the do come into the office. But after I assess them, they can still call their parents and ask to go home, even if I don't see anything wrong. If a parent says yes, they are excused through the nurses office.

[CanIcallmymom, BSN, RN]

On 4/25/2019 at 1:19 PM, Eleven011 said:

Oh, the do come into the office. But after I assess them, they can still call their parents and ask to go home, even if I don't see anything wrong. If a parent says yes, they are excused through the nurses office.

I always say to the kid who asks to call the parent and I don't think they need to go home: "Okay, I'll call in a few minutes but I have to do something first, go ahead and go back to class since you don't need to stay in the clinic and if they are going to pick you up, they'll call you out of class..." And usually, when I call the parent and say "I saw your kiddo a few minutes ago and assessed them...such and such...I went ahead and sent them back to class because they seemed well but they asked that I call you."

That has worked well for me *so far*.

[NurseInTheHall, ADN, RN]

10 hours ago, CanIcallmymom said:

I always say to the kid who asks to call the parent and I don't think they need to go home: "Okay, I'll call in a few minutes but I have to do something first, go ahead and go back to class since you don't need to stay in the clinic and if they are going to pick you up, they'll call you out of class..." And usually, when I call the parent and say "I saw your kiddo a few minutes ago and assessed them...such and such...I went ahead and sent them back to class because they seemed well but they asked that I call you."

That has worked well for me *so far*.

I started doing this recently. I *might* get a little too much joy from the baffled looks on their faces. ?

[CanIcallmymom, BSN, RN]

15 hours ago, NurseInTheHall said:

I started doing this recently. I *might* get a little too much joy from the baffled looks on their faces. ?

It truly helps me A LOT. Once the parents know that I sent them back to class, they're usually cool with not picking them up. A few have, but hey...not through me!

[AdobeRN]

Even though our district has a great truancy policy it is rarely enforced (at least at elementary level) the most that happens is the parent goes to court and just gets a warning or at worst the parent is required to actually walk into the office every morning and sign their student in for the day. Our AP and data clerk get so frustrated with this since it is alot of paperwork/documentation they have to do.

The truancy officers basically have told those at Elementary level that they have bigger fish to fry at the high school level when it comes to truancy.

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

6 minutes ago, AdobeRN said:

Elementary level that they have bigger fish to fry at the high school level when it comes to truancy.

And I get that - I do. Prioritization of resources and all that. However - it begins at the elementary level. Maybe it's going to a Disney resort the week after a major holiday - the child is missing two weeks of school but hey, family gets to enjoy Disney without the crowds and "it's just kindergarten."