Round 2 at Charter School

[NettieNurse]

I want to thank everyone that responded to my first question about charter schools. Well....you will love this dilemma!

Today I had second grader come to office. He threw up in his classroom. No brainer right?! No such luck. Now I am in an extremly dangerous neighborhood. Keep this in mind and parents all below or close to poverty. I called students mother. She stated she was at work and student" can walk home" ,its only 4-5 houses from school. I told her that's against our policy and I could never let sick child walk anywhere . No fever etc... . She said then he can wait until I get off work at 6PM. I leave at 4pm, and others gone by 4:45, and I,d never get O.T.

We went back and forth and she kept saying that's a stupid policy! There were 2-3 other numbers listed,but mom said no one has a car. She stated grandma lives next door. Thought problem solved. No such luck.....I said have grandmother walk here, and walk student home. Nope, grandmother never goes outside. Finally I said, the only thing I can do is send child back to class and when bell rings ( in 55 minutes) he can walk home like usual. She said loudly " HE,S SICK! OMG I told her I will not send a child home even if 4-5 houses away. I told her let me call you back I need to talk to my boss. Well, unable to find anyone! Soooooo...the secretary walked student home and grandmother was at her door next door. WHAAAAAT. I,m pulling my hair out here and need advice! My boss said once they are inside house we are not responsible. There is so much wrong here. Secretary could of gotten mugged. Chances slim ,but..... I told boss, someone else needs to call mother and tell her what you are doing. I cannot do this. I documented all that went on. But I am truly curious to what the ramifications are with this. Please help! Thanx in advance!

[LessValuableNinja]

Does your district not have a policy or district level nurse manager to turn to?

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

Does your district not have a policy or district level nurse manager to turn to?

Most charter schools do not have a district level nurse, and some do not have a full time nurse, depending on state and area. What state are you in, OP? I would never let a 2nd grader walk home, no matter how close they are. I have, however, walked a student that close home myself and/or had admin walk them.

I hit this dilemma a few times; including when I have a clearly sick child and cannot reach a single contact now matter what.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

Your administration need to address this issue right away. Whether they issue a policy and send it out to parents stating that students will not be kept after school hours for any reason (unless disciplinary, after school clubs, etc) but that ill students can not be kept at the school past dismissal time and that parents need to come up with a contingency plan for getting their children. Otherwise, students will be dismissed at normal dismissal time with no liability to the district. (or whatever legalese your district attorney cooks up)

[OldDude]

Swiss cheese has fewer holes than the liability possibilities for walking a sick child home; even a child who isn't sick. In this case, if the parent doesn't approve of the kid walking home by himself and no one can pick him up before the deadline, or reasonably soon after, we inform them they can pick their child up from the Police Station. That compels problem solving on their part and we have yet to actually call the police to come pick up a child.

[LessValuableNinja]

Swiss cheese has fewer holes than the liability possibilities for walking a sick child home; even a child who isn't sick. In this case, if the parent doesn't approve of the kid walking home by himself and no one can pick him up before the deadline, or reasonably soon after, we inform them they can pick their child up from the Police Station. That compels problem solving on their part and we have yet to actually call the police to come pick up a child.

I think this is a reasonable response. The onus is not on the school to provide daycare or after school care. Like others have said, if there is a liability issue, and the parent refuses to provide care, it is the parents responsibility to provide care whether they want to or not. Daycares charge by the minute for care provided outside of their responsibilities. The parent should understand that they are responsible. When my child has been sick, I've been given 30 minutes to show up. I believe some orgs give an hour. If you're making a reasonable effort, I understand the org giving some leeway. If no reasonable effort exists, I consider it reasonable to say, "It's unfortunate the you have no way of taking over care of your sick child within a two hour period. We'll ask CPS to pick them up."