SnowDark38

Update: So I had the meeting. Fun times, let me tell you. The principal immediately starts off with "let me explain my line of reasoning" and provides the whole "my parental instincts kicked in" argument. Basically, what everything came down to is that he was too curious for his own good. Asked the front office staff why the student was going home. Made very explicit note of the fact that the student was asleep but his neck was tilted to the side in a "strange way" but thought nothing of it until he heard why the student was going home. Woke the student up once he found out and the student was groggy (you know...cause he woke up) and didn't sit his neck upright immediately. Feeds this kid the idea that his neck is stuck by asking "can you move your neck?" (And of course this student ate that up and spit it back out with fervor). "But I didn't call the nurse." Meanwhile I'm sitting there with my supervisor who just stops taking notes with that last statement. "Please...explain." Goes on to explain he didn't think he could interrupt my lunch for an emergency. And wanted it in writing - explicitly stating to us "I want it to be memorialized and I want her to write a statement that she is okay with me interrupting her lunch." To which my supervisor calmly explains that it's already a policy and also that it, ya know, goes with being a nurse. "This was sent out in an email at the beginning of the year." Good Lord. I even stated "I do not send students to sit in the front office if they are not assessed to be safe and stable. I had a student with me during that entire lunch who was wheezing. This student was sent to sit in the office because both mom and I agreed he could wait there for pickup." OOOOH! And there was also a moment where the principal was trying to say the health suite should be open at all times since I have a health assistant...who I have once a week. The best part is the AP was like "yeah, she's here only on Wednesdays." AP is the best, I will have to say. Because of who this principal is, she was trying to be on my side while not being too obvious. Like, she offered to sit in my office and watch the kids if need be so the principal would stop demanding to know why the kids were in the front office. But again I explained that the students who wait in the front office are stable and safe. Overall, it was ridiculously dramatic and unnecessary.

Our system requires 3 years at a school before you can move. ? But this Principal had 19 complaints made against her last year...and probably will have even more this year because we have an anonymous union meeting coming up where we can file complaints. A large portion of the staff has a problem with him.

WOW!...I can't even imagine their hospital bills.

What's worse is that I wasn't even out of the building. I was in my office monitoring the student who was wheezing. ?

Oh yes! I called my supervisor as soon as I got that email in the morning. I was going to address the situation myself once I got to school the next morning after I cooled off. But then I got that email and I never used my speed dial so fast.

It can be really scary when that happens. Especially when you have younger ones who don't always tell their teacher that they're having trouble breathing. Everyone's pretty much right. As long as she had high 90s sats and was not deteriorating, give dad a warning for an EMS call if he does not arrive by the end of the 20 minutes. It's the for the well-being of the student.

Story time. TLDR Principal calls 911 for a non-emergent. Doesn't notify nurse or parent of 911 call. Blames nurse for "poor judgement" without actually consulting nurse. I had a young student visit me earlier in the day complaining of neck pain. Student is well-known for exaggerating injuries/pain/stories/etc. Denies injury of any kind 3 times and denies waking up with neck pain. Student is like "I can't move my neck." Proceeds to demonstrate which ways he can't move his neck with perfect ROM. OK, ice. Sit for a minute. See how it feels. Temp is great! Kid stopped using ice about 1 minute in. Dismissed back to class. Student returns two hours later crying that he can't move his neck. Student using neck same as before. Stops crying as soon as I call mom. Mom decides to have someone pick him up since it's almost the end of the day but she'll call me back once she confirms someone can get him. She talks to him real quick to do a verbal assessment (she's also a nurse) - same questions as I had. Student sits for about 10 minutes asking to go get things. I'm observing the kid, but since he felt well enough to do so and he's not using the ice again- "OK, go and come right back. I'm going to lunch soon, so I'll let mom know if she doesn't call back soon." Mom calls back as the kid is getting his stuff. I tell mom that I'll be at lunch and if it's okay with her, he can wait in the front office and come back after if he's not picked up by then. Ma's like "sure, I'm good with that. His auntie is like 25 minutes away." Kid goes to front office with a note saying I'm at lunch and auntie is on her way. Meanwhile, I'm spending my lunch monitoring a student who is wheezing while I eat but she's good and making conversation with me. The last few minutes of my lunch, the principal comes over the announcements and announces that the front lobby was on lock-down because an ambulance was coming through. I jump up from my lunch and run to the front office panicking because I have no idea why an ambulance was called. I get there and I'm directed to the student who I had sent up earlier. The principal tells me she called 911 because the student had started crying that he couldn't move his neck, couldn't stand up, and told her his neck was broken. But when I get in there, kid's as calm as a lamb. Student had fallen asleep with neck bent in a strange way. I start assessing the student. Vitals are excellent. Calm. A/Ox3. Everything is great. Encourage the kid to do a few deep breaths while I go get some more ice and encourage him to re-position. He refused because he was scared it would hurt. Come back. EMS doing assessment on him. They find absolutely nothing except the model of perfect health. Gain the same information I have. EMS doesn't want to take him. I learn that no one notified mom that EMS was called. I have to call mom and explain that I was not notified either but that EMS doesn't want to take her child. She gives the authorization for me to sign off on no-transport. Principal is hiding outside of room from embarrassment. I get an email from the principal the next morning complaining about how the "incident was handled" and that I "sent a student with a reported neck injury to the office so could go to lunch." She then had to make the "executive decision to call 911" and is "very concerned with [my] judgement at that time in the case of a possible neck damage report." And then demands a meeting with me on a time she selected. Thankfully my supervisor is completely on my page and is backing me up. But that was the beginning of my week and I'm livid. Anyone else have a nightmare principal?

I honestly might have to. Thank you.

Well, this actually happened the other day just now...and it wasn't even when I was going to talk with her. She called my supervisor and told her that I sent a student back to class after the student tried to choke himself. But it was in fact dismissal and the student was in my office with his teacher and counselor all monitoring him until his grandparent came and picked him up. My supervisor called to clarify and I had to explain that what she said didn't even happen. Like...excuse me?

Thank you all for your responses. I know it was a really long post ? and I really do appreciate you all taking the time to peruse and respond. I do get an option to transfer, but my school system requires two years of service at a school before you can transfer out. I will definitely have to speak with my principal regarding these matters. My supervisor has encouraged me to speak with her and the AP on my own, but I am very nervous because when I've done that in the past, they turned the conversation on me and made more demands. BUT I know I can use this as a time for growth. I will keep y'all posted. Thank you again!

I'm going to preface this by saying this is my 3rd year out of nursing school and my first year as a full-time school nurse. I was a substitute school nurse for 1/2 of the year in 2018 and was offered a job at a school that...suspiciously lost 12 teachers, their nurse, and an old secretary to other schools. The Principal has only been with the school for 2 years now and the AP came on halfway through last spring. I have no idea what happened to the old AP. I was highly demanded by some of the more prominent schools in the district as a sub. I long-term subbed at one school for 6 months and I was told that I needed to come back and sub for them every time. It was just an amazing experience and I worked with staff who were fully supportive and experienced. And when I first came into my current school, things went pretty well. My numbers were high, but I attributed that to the inexperience of the teachers. I would send out emails with tips on helping students with common ailments outside of the health suite and whatnot. And overall, I was told I was doing a good job by the AP. I had a few hiccups here and there, but after a while, the true face of the school started to show. My principal started by requesting that I call all parents for every visit to "save" myself "from the trouble," which I and my supervisor explained to her was not feasible, but I would attempt to call more often. More time went by and I come to find out she made multiple complaints against me to my supervisor for situations outside of my control and somewhat due to my own lack of experience. I've been trying to adapt and meet her expectations, but I've been thrown under the bus so many times that I don't feel that I can trust my principal to have my back. i.e. today I sent a student back to class after observing and checking them out after getting knocked on the head with the stall door in the bathroom 15 minutes. Student denied HA/SA/dizziness/somnolence and stated feeling better. Teacher contacted parent 10 minutes later and the parent contacted me literally moments before I got around to making the phone call home due to an altercation that came in that I had to address and call home for. Teacher told parent she was sleeping in class and about the head injury. I literally picked up the phone and was like "oh, hi so and so, I was just about to call you. Blah blah blah came in because she hit her head on the....what? Sleepy? No one told me this. Let me go find her, I'm going to recommend a pickup w/ f/u." Mom was already on her way per the teacher's request. Couldn't find the student because teacher had dropped her off to lunch (sleepy eh?) and then had picked her class back up after calling mom and walked the student to the front office for dismissal. She did not speak to me once. So I went to address the situation with the principal first because I am trying to improve my communication with her. I'm the one who got in trouble and was told: "This is what I heard happened." Proceeds to tell me details I had not heard from the teacher (bruise on the kids forehead) and then she said "the teachers are just going to keep overstepping you if this keeps happening." She didn't even mention correcting the teacher or that not telling me about the student was wrong. I know I could have worked on communicating with the teacher...but it goes both ways. My health suite was extremely busy and I could barely get around to calling parents because of the constant flow coming into the health suite, today especially with all the fights. Every time there is a complaint about something from a teacher, I always end up getting these emails late at night saying "you did such and such....and it was wrong." My anxiety keeps going up because of these. I get to work every day scared that she's trying to get me fired or that I'm going to do something wrong. There's just this constant lack of feedback and I'm too scared to talk to her because I can tell she doesn't like me...or maybe I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. How have you handled difficult administrators in the past, or currently? I need wisdom. My supervisor is very laid back and doesn't really offer me good advice. Stories of your own experiences are also welcome. I learn well through example. (P.S. I'm sorry if this is really jumbled. My brain is just fried and I'm kind of falling apart.)

I was informed by the nurse I'm subbing for that it is a 7.5 hour day, some days a little longer (8 hrs to tie up loose ends). My scheduled hours are 7:15-2:15. But again, I was informed by the nurse that i had a 30 minute break. The letter I received said that I would get 28.71/hr, nothing about salaried pay.

Well, I called the office of payroll. The 190.32 is apparently the equivalent of 29.20/hr for a 6.5 hour day. I don't get paid for lunch, which apparently they allocate an hour. When I came to this school, I was informed I was only allowed 30 minutes for lunch...so I haven't even taken that long because I don't eat big lunches. Can I protest not being paid for an hour if I'm still working that hour?

7.5 - 8 hours. I'm actually covering full-time for 12 weeks.

I am a substitute school nurse. I love the job. I love the students. All around, it's just great! But I have come across an issue that is baffling me, and I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue. So when I came onboard I received a letter stating that I would get paid $28.71/hr because I have my BSN. But as I've been getting my paychecks, the amount paid out is significantly lower than I estimated. So I checked the public school web address and found a Misc. Salary pay for a bunch of groups, and sub nurses were there. It says 190.32/day which adds up to the gross amount being paid. I have emailed my supervisor to clarify what is going on. Again, has anyone else had this happen? What was the resolution? Any advice on what to do or what can be done?