Some nurses and parents are unhappy with the new model put into place by DC Public Schools to try and deal with a shortage of health care workers.
Instead of one registered nurse being assigned to each school in the District, the nurses are registered to cover four schools -- and the District of Columbia Nurses Association says that's not enough.
Nurses with the DCNA say they feel left out and overwhelmed, doing multiple jobs instead of just one job because they have to focus on so many more children and schools than they're used to.
"Our kids deserve -- this city has plenty of money. They deserve the best quality of health care that they can get," said Myra Hines, a nurse with the DCNA. She's been a registered nurse with DCPS for nearly 20 years.
"Our kids come from impoverished areas, abusive situations, and sometimes when they get to school -- sometimes they just want to come in and talk to me," she said. "But all of a sudden, with this cluster model, they snatched me out of my school and put me somewhere else."
The new model placing one nurse in charge of four schools means the nurses are floating between schools, going to wherever they're needed.
There will still always be someone at each and every school to address student needs, but that someone will be a lower-level health technician -- who, according to the nurses' union, can only do minimal things to care for students -- when a registered nurse is not in the building.
Nurses in the DCNA say they’re worried that they’ll have to approve the work of health technicians, even though they may not be there to oversee it.
Ultimately, the nurses association says there are enough nurses, but the change is a cost-cutting issue -- and it’s easier to have health technicians than registered nurses.
"They've gotten to the point where they just can't take it anymore," said Kenneth Page, an attorney with the DCNA. "The job was hard enough, and now they've got them rotating amongst clusters in a space, where parents don't know about it, teachers don't know about it."
Children's National Hospital oversees the nursing program in DCPS schools, which is run by the DC Department of Health. Children's School Services, that division of the hospital in charge of the nursing program, told News4 that they informed parents and other people in the DCPS community, participating in months of community outreach to make sure everyone was aware of the change.
"Children’s School Services (CSS) maintains our decades-long commitment to improving health outcomes for students from every ward in the District," CSS said in part in a statement.
"We recognize this is a change, and we’ve participated in months of community outreach with school leaders and parents to answer their questions and make sure they’re aware of the training and experience that all staff members will have," the statement continues. "In addition, the shop stewards from both units of the District of Columbia Nurses Association met regularly with CSS leadership to provide feedback and make modifications to the new model."
But many parents told News4 that they were never informed, and their kids are now going to schools without a full-time nurse.
"Those nurses… they get to know our students," said Brian Riley, a DCPS parent with two young children in D.C. schools. "Our students get to know them and trust them. The parents trust them. They may be one of the main contacts, medically, for a lot of these kids. Taking that away from them is scary."
News4 has reached out to the DC Department of Health for comment. The department has not yet responded.
