I seriously hate testing days. They are usually quiet in my office, so should be happy, right? Nope. Everyone is on edge and every tiny little thing becomes a major catastrophe. Case in point...had a student whose mother notified the teacher that she was not at school because mom found lice. No problem, told the parent to treat her and send her to my office in the morning to check. I checked her out this morning, and she is fine to return to class. A few hours into the testing, the principal brings her to me because she is scratching her head non-stop. I explain to her that she has been treated for lice (which the principal did not know), and I cleared her. I checked her again. Still fine.
Principal brings her back to me a little while ago because she cannot stop scratching, can she go home? She was finished testing. I told her medically, she does not need to go. Principal insists and I tell her she's the boss, it's her call. So I call the parents and send the kid home. For itching.
My other vent about testing is bathroom breaks. It never fails that I will have one, if not several students soil themselves on testing day because they are refused bathroom breaks. These are 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders who do not have medical reasons or a history of soiling. These are KIDS, why are we expecting them to conform to a strict schedule for toileting? No, let's be rigid instead and make them pee on themselves so that then they are upset, humiliated in front of their classmates, and crying. THAT makes for a great testing environment, right?
OK, just had to vent that one out. I feel better :)
state testing is coming up next week. don't know about your rules, but in my states, if a child leaves for any reason outside of the built in breaks they are out of testing for the rest of the day. so the kid that comes in with a bloody nose or the kids that didn't eat breakfast and feels queasy or the kid that needs a danged bandaid will come to the office and be stuck. so check on me next week when i have a room full of kids that have no reason to be in by me for hours. i'll be sure to be at my wits end
yes, that is true for us as well. my point being that, if guidance felt the student wasn't well enough, they could send him home. he hadn't started the test yet. don't send him to me and expect me to tell you he was too sick to stay in school. he wasn't. :)
Specializes in School Nursing, Ambulatory Care, etc..
My district freaks if a kid is excluded on test day. Right after attendance is taken, they start calling kids who are absent. I have had kids with 103.0 fever or chicken pox that they wanted to come in for testing.
Are we in the same district? they start calling home for kids that are not here too.
Last year, I had a kiddo (elem) who was really sick - fever, etc - but mom sent to school "so he wouldn't miss the test". When I said he couldn't stay, the VP and counselor had a fit, "can't he just stay until he's done with the test". I hate testing!!!
Yesterday I took off for medical appointments - my principal had a fit, called me (in the middle of one of my appointments), called my boss. Seriously! Sorry, I had four appointments yesterday and I wasn't about to wait another month or two to get another chance at them.
Specializes in School Nursing, Ambulatory Care, etc..
and the hits just keep on coming!
one of our ED kids is done with his test and they want to stick him in my office to wait for pick up because "grandma isn't going to be here for a while". I'm sorry, does it say "Babysitter" outside my door?
And, I just sent an 8th grader home with fever (102.2 - mom gave him Tylenol this morning and then acted like she didn't know what I was talking about when I called her) and told administration he couldn't come back tomorrow, per protocol. Do you know my principal had the nerve to ask me if the stu could come back tomorrow and "just test in a room by himself".
I don't get it, I really don't. Everything is about test scores, test scores, test scores. Better get those scores up. Better keep them up. But yet they don't think twice about strong-arming kids into testing when they are ill, or have to pee so bad they soil themselves, or they stick them in an unfamiliar environment for testing, or whatever. Sure, that is conducive to good test scores! Geesh!
mc3, ASN, RN
931 Posts
yes, that is true for us as well. my point being that, if guidance felt the student wasn't well enough, they could send him home. he hadn't started the test yet. don't send him to me and expect me to tell you he was too sick to stay in school. he wasn't. :)
mc3:nurse: