Maybe the school nurse is our most under-utilized school professional?
I think this may depend on the particular school nurse. When DD was enrolled at the local public all started out well but went competely to he!! when new school nurse came on board. She and horrible principal seemed to validate each other's opinions. Nurse "didn't believe" DD's diagnoses, found "parents' claims to be unbelievable" and contacted our pediatrician to request "documentation of all concerns you have had about this child since birth". This was all included in our DOE complaint but she continued her aggressive behavior with other kids after DD left the school. A friend begged me for help because this same nurse was single handedly preventing her daughter from getting a 504 for a physical disability. After sending that parent to Wrightslaw and providing some basic information she was able to get 504 meeting convened, with personnel from central office in attendance. According to the description I heard this nurse was willing to do almost anything to block the 504 - no idea why - and threw a total hissy fit when the rest of the team unanimously voted in favor of providing it. During the meeting psychology student (intern?) in attendance gave a little speech about how important it is for children to feel safe with school nurse and afterwards principal apologized to my friend for the nurse's totally inappropriate behavior. Nurse left the school under not great circumstances a while later...
So... ummm... I'm very glad to hear that some have had awesome experiences with school nurses who advocate for their kids but no unfortunately it's not a universal phenomenon.
