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A teacher had a student suffering a severe asthma attack in class and "emailed" the school nurse. While awaiting a response from the nurse, the student fell to the floor gasping for air. Her fellow student angrily jumped up and carried the girl to the nurse's office. For this, the student was suspended for leaving the classroom. What the heck is wrong with these teachers and principals that they would punish a student for saving a fellow student's life?!?! If either of these students were my son or daughter is be in jail for what I'd do to this teacher and principal. How can a caring human sit there and wait for an email while a student is gasping for air?
There are a million things wrong with that scenario, and probably the least of them was the student's suspension. What kind of idiots have a policy for using email in a medical emergency? Have they not heard of phones? And was the teacher really going to sit there and watch that student die instead of calling 911 or doing something besides wait for EMAIL?? Why didn't she have the student's inhaler in her desk? The whole thing is sad and stupid, at least if the story is true as told, and it sounds like the student who got suspended is better off out of there anyway.
You guys will flame me but I'll put out the why, and y'all only have yourselves to blame by electing school board members and legislators who adopt these regulations.
I was going to wait until the end to say the following but I know a lot of you won't get to there so I'll say it now. I in no way condone what happened and would, were I a teacher in the school, likely raise hell if I saw this unfold. But I'm telling you how it is in many places and have my Administrator hat on.
The teacher followed the policy set out for classroom health emergencies, send an email to the Nurse and awaited a response. As my former Principal would have said, "That's a non-negotiable, these policies are in place for a reason". Had she instigated what happened, the kid taking the sick kid to the Health Room, she would have been disciplined and there would have been no news story.
The student was nailed for loitering (being in the hallway during class time without a pass) and insubordination. Another "non-negotiable".
School boards and state legislators have taken discretion away from teachers and administrators, as someone mentioned because of fear of lawsuits, and situations like this are the result.
I can picture a couple Principals I had doing the exact same thing this one did in suspending the student.
I think the big issue is the policy in the 1st place. Send a Email to the Nurse and wait?
This case it was 3 minutes between Email and the Student taking the other student out to the Nurse.
If the Nurse is engaged or busy with other Students, Meetings etc, It could be 10 20? minutes, A hour before she checks her Email again.
How does the teacher know the nurse PC is not broken? A problem on the Email Server?
This should be (Red Button) Internal 911 inside the school, That will get The Office Staff, Admin, SRO ... Running to the Room,
Or we could just let the student carry the non-dangerous, non-narcotic medicine that is needed to save his or her life. We have an entire system that can only think in absolutes and wants to cover its own *ss more than protect the safety of students. American K-12 education is a sad, sad joke in so many ways.
Or we could just let the student carry the non-dangerous, non-narcotic medicine that is needed to save his or her life. We have an entire system that can only think in absolutes and wants to cover its own *ss more than protect the safety of students. American K-12 education is a sad, sad joke in so many ways.
My understanding this was a Alternative school, So letting a student carry it might not be a good idea. But they need to have a workable Emergency Plan.
Not letting an alternative school kid carry an inhaler. What might she do with it?
My 12 year old carries an epi pen. Woe to the administration of any facility who thinks they will restrict her from carrying it. Or who thinks that emailing a school nurse in lieu of calling 911 is acceptable.
I think the big issue is the policy in the 1st place. Send a Email to the Nurse and wait?
This case it was 3 minutes between Email and the Student taking the other student out to the Nurse.
If the Nurse is engaged or busy with other Students, Meetings etc, It could be 10 20? minutes, A hour before she checks her Email again.
How does the teacher know the nurse PC is not broken? A problem on the Email Server?
This should be (Red Button) Internal 911 inside the school, That will get The Office Staff, Admin, SRO ... Running to the Room,
As an RN who has worked a lot with kids, and who has a friend who is a health room para, from whom I've learned a lot about school health, it occurs to me that the teacher could use some training in just what can be communicated via email and what cannot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mnseca
Or we could just let the student carry the non-dangerous, non-narcotic medicine that is needed to save his or her life. We have an entire system that can only think in absolutes and wants to cover its own *ss more than protect the safety of students. American K-12 education is a sad, sad joke in so many ways.
That's quite a giant leap there. (Note, I just now saw flyonpa's post, after I started this. I agree that may be the reason the student wasn't "carrying".) IME, most kids are given permission to carry an inhaler by age 10 or so. But you're making the assumption that the student had an inhaler available in the office. This may not have been the case. Also, the child obviously needed more than an inhaler.
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