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Any of you teachers/ dept of education employees out there who can answer this please do.
Here's the situation. I have 2 children, 4th grade and 1st grade. Both of them have been denied to go to the school nurse by their teachers a total of 4 times. 2 of those times, my daughter had a high fever (over 102) when we picked her up after school.
Where can I complain about this? I am going to the principal on Monday (already yelled at the teacher, and yes I did yell). I work in healthcare and what the teachers are doing is illegal if they were in the hospital. I am thinking about filing a complaint with child protective services and the Texas department of education.
What do y'all think? I can't believe that in this day and age, that a teacher thinks they have the training to triage my children. If it has already happened to my children 4 times, it makes me wonder how many children are being kept at school sick and are being refused a medical evaluation (the school has a full time nurse as far as I know).
p.s. My son has been instructed to call us if he is ever denied going to the school nurse again (he's 9 and has a cellphone). I can't give my 6 year old a cell phone yet (though I am seriously considering it).
I have also been told by my son that they deny bathroom breaks. They have scheduled breaks and the children are expected to hold it until the next break. Is this school or prison?!?!
If I think a child is truly not feeling well, then I will send the child to the clinic. Honestly, more often than not, when a student (in my case third grade) asks to go the clinic, I don't send him/her. It's usually just an excuse to get out of class and it is the same kids who ask. I'm not saying your child wasn't sick, but often I don't send a child just because I'm asked. By about this time of year they stop asking as often. We don't have a nurse. There is an aide staffing the clinic.
I don't have a restroom in my classroom. I don't keep kids from going to the restroom, but I do deny requests to go if asked during instruction, if the child has been in trouble for behavior when using the restroom, or if the child has gone to the restroom recently and is asking again. It's not the way I do it, but I have known classes to have to wait until a break and they stop as a class.
Lordy... and my son was always sent to the school office to call me to come get him and he was NEVER sick... suddenly got well the minute we pulled up to the house!!
If MY child was REALLY sick... I would be right back at the school in everybodys face and if I got no action at the school, my next stop would be the school board office.. Sick children should NOT be at school, exposing all the rest of the kids there to whatever they have. That goes the other way too, if I found out there was a sick child at school that they didn't send home and exposed my child to something that could have been prevented.
Well, if the child is sick, the others have already been exposed. Sending him home will help him, but it doesn't help with the exposure problem.
Of course, parents should not send sick kids to school, but they do. Yes, sometimes the kids are feeling great in the morning and get sick later, but often the kids are coming in sick when they should have been kept home. (Not saying that was your situation). They send them to daycare too because they can't take time off from work.
Our school no longer has a nurse. I think they have a nurse's aide. This was done by the district to save money. I'm in Texas too, btw.
There is such a thing as classroom rules, that make sure that the whole place is not in total chaos. If all children were allowed to leave class whenever they wanted to...there is not going to be any learning going on, because I would be managing constant requests for bathroom, water, nurse...The rules when I taught school was that one person could leave at a time, for whatever reason...and when that person came back, the next person could leave.
There were extenuating circumstances, and I am a reasonable person...children had opporunities to go to the bathroom and get a drink at recess time, during lunchtime, and afternoon recess time. During these times, they could go to the nurse, office to call their mom, whatever...and then, the rule of one child leaving at a time rule came in as well...so...does that sound like it is unreasonable to you?
There is such a thing as classroom rules, that make sure that the whole place is not in total chaos. If all children were allowed to leave class whenever they wanted to...there is not going to be any learning going on, because I would be managing constant requests for bathroom, water, nurse...The rules when I taught school was that one person could leave at a time, for whatever reason...and when that person came back, the next person could leave.
There were extenuating circumstances, and I am a reasonable person...children had opporunities to go to the bathroom and get a drink at recess time, during lunchtime, and afternoon recess time. During these times, they could go to the nurse, office to call their mom, whatever...and then, the rule of one child leaving at a time rule came in as well...so...does that sound like it is unreasonable to you?
So if someone was at the nurse for a long time and someone else had to use the bathroom they just had to pee in their pants?
Really? Of course the poster previous to you wouldn't do that. The 1 person out rule is usually for the restroom.
We have some fakers at our school as well. One child complained that she had a huge headache and had to go home immediately to her teacher. When mom picked up the child, the mom was talking to someone in the front office and the child decided to ride her bicycle in our open area with a huge smile on her face. I informed her teacher and amazingly she hasn't had a need to go home early since.
I watch my students closely and evaluate them based on their eyes, I'll feel a forehead, etc... If I'm not sure I'll let the classroom teacher know when s/he gets there.
Some things come to mind-One thing is that a child's perception is not the same as an adult's, so I would find out more information before deciding what to do. For instance a child who is walking in from recess and asks to go to the restroom will be told they can go as soon as they get back to the classroom, yet they might perceive that as they have been denied, when they actually have not been denied. It's no different than when you are in the car and almost home and you tell your child they can go when you get home. Perhaps they have just come back from the restroom and asks to go again, or you have just stopped while on the road 5 minutes before and they ask again. Most people (parents and teachers) will say not yet, knowing that if the child really does need to go they will ask again shortly. The key is getting the child to understand the difference between what actually happens and what they think happens. That way if a teacher really does flat out deny a child the use of a restroom, then they know it is wrong and can choose to go without permission and you will support their choice to go anyway.
Then, fevers very often hit suddenly and most often in the afternoons in children. So it's possible that a child may just not feel well but can't pinpoint why and ask to go to the nurse early in the day. However because they might not have any visible symptoms, the teacher doesn't send them at that moment. Then later, as the day wears on, the fever comes on but the child may not ask to go to the nurse again since they weren't sent earlier. That's also like a child waking up in the morning and saying their tummy hurts yet they are eating breakfast just fine and being silly, so you send them to school anyway. Then two hours later they vomit at school. That doesn't make you a bad parent because you didn't think they were really feeling sick based on what you observed at the time.
That's another time for a discussion with the child to help them understand how they should be able to communicate exactly why they feel ill and if they do so and are told no, to ask again and again until they are allowed to go, or to just go anyway, with your support.
We have a good nurse in our school who is there full time, yet many schools do not have that, so that may be a factor as well. If the teacher knew there was not even a nurse in the building but failed to communicate that to the child, or did and the child forgot that part, then it wasn't that they were denied going, it was that there was no one to go see.
So, bottom line is I'd find out more about the situations, from your child, the teacher and the school nurse, then decide what needs to be done.
. We don't have a nurse. There is an aide staffing the clinic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nana053
Our school no longer has a nurse. I think they have a nurse's aide. This was done by the district to save money. I'm in Texas too, btw.
Many schools here in Colorado have aides in the health room. They receive some very basic training in first aid, and health room policies. The parents think the person is a nurse. As a nurse in a dr's office, I get many calls "the school nurse said. . . ". I have at times explained I don't think these people are nurses.
A friend of mine is a health room aide. She once compiled a list of "frequent flyers" and their teachers. Most were from the same few teachers.
Didn't you check your children's health before sending them to school? How do they keep coming down with fevers only when they are in school?
If we let everyone use the restroom or go to the nurse any time they want without making a judgement call then half the school would be there, especially during math class. In my school they keep a log of all the nurse excuses a student has given from kindergarten to 6th grade. It is very interesting reading and makes you realize that half of what the nurse deals with is just b.s.
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