Planned redistribution and reduction in school nurses in DC Public & Public Charter Schools

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09/15/2016 17:32

Subject: Planned redistribution and reduction in school nurses in DC Public & Public Charter Schools

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JoshH
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Joined: 05/25/2014 16:55
Messages: 26
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At a Ward 4 Education Alliance meeting on September 14th, the DCPS Deputy Chief, Student Wellness, Dr. Heidi Schumacher, talked to us about upcoming changes to the way school nurses will be provided from the Department of Health, as it applies to both DCPS and DCPCS. It looks like they're going after some lofty goals (equity, better coordinated care), but the bottom line is that they're going to change from a minimum of 1 full time nurse per school to a minimum of 1/2 time nurse per school. The assessments that determine the actual number of positions for each school will come out in November and be fully implemented by January.

In my opinion, this is misguided and is being sprung on us as a done deal. I'd like to see this initiative delayed until it can be done right or shifted to accomplish these goals in a different way if it's not the right thing for us.

By reducing the school nursing staff, the Department of Health expects the schools to pick up the extra (first aid, managing student illness, etc.) as collateral duties. I heard nothing about additional money for schools to staff for these collateral duties. I just don’t believe that adding responsibilities without adding manpower is reasonable or achievable. Staff shouldn’t have to prioritize between their main duties and the medical needs of children.

For anything beyond minor 1st aid, I'd like a real nurse to be present. What happens when there's an outbreak of something contagious at the school? I'd rather the response be immediate than wait for the next day the nurse is available. And I won't trust centralized resources over a person dedicated to and present at our school. How often will students just be sent home rather than treated for minor things at school? Will non-medical staff miss important signs of illness and tell students to tough it out?

The things that the Department of Health is trying for, like coordinating care with the kids' doctors and coordinating with community resources sound great. But that is the type of thing that warrants spending more money, not reducing nurse staffing to accommodate. It also sounds like duplication of what the family support collaboratives (like the Georgia Ave Family Support Collaborative) are already doing at our schools.

Overall, this seems like a reduction in the total amount of actual nurse time in the system, and instead we'll get coordinators and quality assurance / evaluation people. That's a big change that no one has been talking to us about. For what it's worth, DCPS didn't approach us about this. They responded to our request based on rumors that we've been hearing.

The DCPS official present was Dr. Heidi Schumacher (heidi.schumacher@dc.gov) and she said that we should provide comments to the Department of Health at charlissa.quick@dc.gov and OSSE at DonnaM.Anthony@dc.gov. I think that we should also contact the Deputy Mayor for Education (dme@dc.gov), the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (dmhhs@dc.gov), and our councilmembers to see if there's a way they can make this right. I'll be writing them tonight.

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