Did your kid's health records follow him from PEP to K?

[Anonymous]

The nurse at my kid's school is half-crazy I think. She has previously called my home, being very dramatic and excited, saying she didn't have records for my kid, going on and on, like it was some kind of emergency. I told her I would fill out whatever she wanted and I never heard another peep from her. No paperwork ever came home.

Fast forward a few months and I get another one of these dramatic, emergency phone calls and she's going on about lead testing. We turned that in to MCPS when he started at 3. The form says it's mandatory for Pre-K so I know we turned it in. We no longer even live in a lead-test zone and I don't even think she has any way of knowing that we ever did (although I stupidly admitted it) on the phone because I told her I know we have already submitted that info, which she disputes was necessary for pre-K.

I think she is nuts and does not know how to look up records. I resent that she is asking me to track down info provided to MCPS three years ago. We switched pediatricians including transferring the records so I'm not even totally sure the new ped has a copy of the lead test. I also resent the way she went about asking for it and the time it's going to take me to track it down and the money too for the form fee since we are hemorrhaging money on therapy right now.

So that's my vent and here's my question--did most people have to start from scratch when they switched schools or should those records have followed my kid?

[Anonymous]

This is OP. I should add that when she called us the first time she was absolutely mystified how we ended up at the school and could not believe that we had not attended K orientation. Ugh, hello, IEP? This is a school with a very large SN program. You would think that the nurse would have some familiarity with the SN program given that some of those needs could be medical.

[Anonymous]

We're not in MCPS, we're in a different MD district, but in our district records specifically do not follow the kid from child find into the elementary school unless you give permission, and then it's only the specific records that are relevant. I'm honestly not sure if that would include the general medical records or not.

[Anonymous]

Thanks PP, but PEP is with MCPS and not Childfind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The nurse at my kid's school is half-crazy I think. She has previously called my home, being very dramatic and excited, saying she didn't have records for my kid, going on and on, like it was some kind of emergency. I told her I would fill out whatever she wanted and I never heard another peep from her. No paperwork ever came home.

Fast forward a few months and I get another one of these dramatic, emergency phone calls and she's going on about lead testing. We turned that in to MCPS when he started at 3. The form says it's mandatory for Pre-K so I know we turned it in. We no longer even live in a lead-test zone and I don't even think she has any way of knowing that we ever did (although I stupidly admitted it) on the phone because I told her I know we have already submitted that info, which she disputes was necessary for pre-K.

I think she is nuts and does not know how to look up records. I resent that she is asking me to track down info provided to MCPS three years ago. We switched pediatricians including transferring the records so I'm not even totally sure the new ped has a copy of the lead test. I also resent the way she went about asking for it and the time it's going to take me to track it down and the money too for the form fee since we are hemorrhaging money on therapy right now.

So that's my vent and here's my question--did most people have to start from scratch when they switched schools or should those records have followed my kid?

OP, we live with an antiquated records system. Do not assume anything even year to year at the same school. You were actually at fault not the nurse. She is just doing her job and has probably 1000s of paper files to sift through and 100s of calls to make.

[Anonymous]

Nothing goes from PEP to K. There is a firewall.

[Anonymous]

OP, we often received paperwork from PEP and were able to use that as part of K enrollment, but it doesn't always happen. You can try calling the school where the PEP class was and see if they've still got the health file there. They can send it to the new school or you could offer to pick it up.

And honestly, with the black hole of paperwork that comes in at us, it's never a bad idea to make a photocopy for yourself.

[Anonymous]

Are you sure it was a nurse? Maybe it was just the health tech. Your child should have a health folder and a confidential folder. Make an appointment at the school to go through your child's folders and see what is in there yourself.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP!

I have a little one (now in first) who was a PEPer who transferred to K but I needed to provide new documentation to the Elementary School. New proof of residency, new health records, new copy of her birth certificate, basically a shiny new cumulative file. Her confidential file from PEP went with her, but the school wanted the materials for the cumulative file (These are different, the cumulative file is just standard info, where a student lives, how old they are, parents phone numbers, emergency contacts, copies of report cards, but no IEP stuff. All of that is confidential and stored elsewhere where only some people have access to it.)

Fun twist, I am an MCPS teacher and work extensively with PEP students. I -know- that the cumulative files, with all the health info and parent phone numbers and residency proof travels to K, sometimes I add my own files on the students I work with to those big accordion folders so I don't have to seek all of my former students separately at their schools when they are in K in the fall and pony to many different places. So I don't know -why- information the school system already has needs to be sent in again. But it does, or it did for me too for my own child!