student extracurricular activities

[Feral.Cat.Herder, RN]

We have a 9th grade student with diabetes who will be attending a 5 day out of state trip with the school orchestra. The doctor’s orders state that student is able to perform the procedure BUT requires nurse observation. Due to this the parent and orchestra teacher is insisting a nurse go on this trip.
How does your districts handle such situations?

[BrisketRN, BSN, RN]

We send the parent. Less liability for us, much cheaper than paying for the nurse to go AND getting a sub nurse.

[k1p1ssk, BSN, RN]

A district I subbed for would have asked if any band/orchestra parents were nurses who would like to chaperone/be "the nurse", provided they passed a CORI and had been fingerprinted like any other sub; They would get to go on the trip for free, but wouldn't be paid for their time. If no one answered the call, it would probably be put out to the sub nurses in the district, and they would be paid the per-diem daily rate (at the time, it was either $20/hr to a max of $120, it may have been extended to $160 to cover an 8 hour day) and their trip expenses covered just like other chaperones.

Legally we couldn't make the parent go, as it could be considered exclusionary. The school has to provide any accommodations. We would certainly let the parent know they are welcome to be a chaperone, and if they agreed then problem solved.

[Feral.Cat.Herder, RN]

Thank you for your response. Sorry I should have included that the parent "can not go". My next suggestion to my supervisor was that if the parent cannot go, the child cannot go. For whatever reason my supervisor said we cannot "deny the student". I'm like we aren't denying the student anything, the parent is.

[Feral.Cat.Herder, RN]

4 minutes ago, k1p1ssk said:

A district I subbed for would have asked if any band/orchestra parents were nurses who would like to chaperone/be "the nurse", provided they passed a CORI and had been fingerprinted like any other sub; They would get to go on the trip for free, but wouldn't be paid for their time. If no one answered the call, it would probably be put out to the sub nurses in the district, and they would be paid the per-diem daily rate (at the time, it was either $20/hr to a max of $120, it may have been extended to $160 to cover an 8 hour day) and their trip expenses covered just like other chaperones.

My school district doesn't have sub-nurses nor do we train non-medical staff (even if parent is a nurse outside of the school system) in diabetic care. Not my rules, these rules were in place from the very beginning and change is something no one wants to embrace.

[BrisketRN, BSN, RN]

1 minute ago, Ree250k said:

My school district doesn't have sub-nurses nor do we train non-medical staff (even if parent is a nurse outside of the school system) in diabetic care. Not my rules, these rules were in place from the very beginning and change is something no one wants to embrace.

Is attending field trips/overnights in your contract? If it's not I'd fight it. There's no way I'd be leaving my family for 5 days to chaperone a trip unless I was legally obligated to. You have your own things to attend to, and perhaps an added cost childcare or pet care.

[k1p1ssk, BSN, RN]

Not sure on your state's education laws, but in Mass, the parents could sue the school district if a nurse isn't provided (by the school) for the trip.

[LikeTheDeadSea, MSN, RN]

We ask for someone on our nursing staff (unofficially this means people on our sub nurse list) to go. If not, the district will hire someone through an agency.

That or you can ask the parent if they feel comfortable having LD taking care of themselves and provide an MD note staying they are OK for the trip without nursing observation. Otherwise, my district would interpret this as a need to send a nurse or cancel the trip for everyone.

[Feral.Cat.Herder, RN]

Thanks for your reply. A nurse has volunteered to go on the trip. This is a new issue for us so I was curious how other districts handle things like this.

[Feral.Cat.Herder, RN]

5 minutes ago, k1p1ssk said:

Not sure on your state's education laws, but in Mass, the parents could sue the school district if a nurse isn't provided (by the school) for the trip.

Thanks. I'm not sure about our state's education laws concerning this matter, it's a new issue for the district. A nurse did volunteer to go on the trip. I was just curious as to how other districts handle this type of situations.

[OldDude]

14 minutes ago, Ree250k said:

Thank you for your response. Sorry I should have included that the parent "can not go". My next suggestion to my supervisor was that if the parent cannot go, the child cannot go. For whatever reason my supervisor said we cannot "deny the student". I'm like we aren't denying the student anything, the parent is.

You're trying to apply logic and reason...that never works in public school. If you don't wanna go it looks like your district gets to hire a contract RN to go. Maybe you'll enjoy getting away for 5 days - if your license is included in the license compact with that particular state.

[Feral.Cat.Herder, RN]

7 minutes ago, BiscuitRN said:

Is attending field trips/overnights in your contract? If it's not I'd fight it. There's no way I'd be leaving my family for 5 days to chaperone a trip unless I was legally obligated to. You have your own things to attend to, and perhaps an added cost childcare or pet care.

No it's not in the our contract. A nurse has volunteered to go on the trip. I agree with you though; I'm not leaving my children for 5 days to "babysit" someone else's kids.