Schools review nurse staffing
Realignment, cuts change scenario
Wayland officials are examining school nurse staffing amid concerns that a realignment of the elementary schools has overburdened one nurse while a budget cut is leaving a kindergarten after-school program without one.
A committee, the Wayland School Nurse Working Group, has been created to determine how best to cope with the situation this year and to make recommendations for next year's budget cycle. The realignment has turned one school into a kindergarten center and spread the town's first- through fifth-graders through its other two schools. As part of the cost-saving arrangement, the number of nursing positions has been cut from three to 2.5.
"We're looking at what the needs are. If there's a need" for an additional nurse position, said Steve Calichman, the town's public health director, "I have no doubt that the Board of Health will ask for additional monies."
Calichman said a surge in students going to the nurse's office at the Claypit Hill School has caused the board, which oversees the school system's nurses, to dip into its $12,000 substitute pool to provide an on-call nurse. The board is also looking into concerns about the nursing needs at the kindergarten after-school program.
The school district's superintendent, Gary Burton, said he is sensitive to the concerns being raised by parents and others about the nursing situation but will wait until the working committee comes up with recommendations to make any decisions. He said the realignment of the elementary schools was the result of declining enrollments and the need to cut the budget.
Under the new setup, the Loker Elementary School was turned into a kindergarten center and all first- through fifth-graders go to the Claypit Hill and Happy Hollow schools. School Committee members say the realignment is saving $400,000 this year, including $21,000 for the change from a full-time nurse position at the Loker School to part time, since the 177 kindergartners are on a half-day schedule. The Claypit Hill and Happy Hallow schools still have nurses on a full-time schedule.
Although overall there are fewer students in the system this year, mirroring a long-term trend, the realignment has both first- through fifth-grade elementary schools handling more students than last year. There are 607 students at Claypit Hill this fall, 83 more than last year, and 418 at Happy Hollow, an increase of 81 students.
The cut in the Health Department's nursing funds for this year came as a surprise, Calichman said, arriving "very late" in the budget process. "I personally felt it was the wrong decision."
He said the Board of Health is looking into reports that the nurse at Claypit Hill is overburdened, with as many as 50 ill students visiting her office on some days.
"The reality is with the school health room you never know what you're going to get," said Ruth Mori, the town's public health nurse. "If we know that there's going to be any time" that a nurse will have too many students to be able to do her job, she said, "we certainly want to help her."
At Loker, meanwhile, many parents opt for a fee-based after-school program called BASE. The problem is that the nurse at Loker is on duty only during the morning hours that the school is officially open. Last year, the kindergartners in the BASE program had access to a nurse because they were spread among all three schools, where one was on duty all day for the older students.
"This problem has been brought to our attention," said Calichman. "I do have a concern about that."
He said the working group would discuss ways to deal with the issue.
Some parents trace the nursing issues directly to the school reconfiguration, which has been the focus of some controversy since it was first proposed.
"It's the only reason. When Loker was an elementary school you had kids in the school all day so there was a nurse there all day," said one parent, Michael Schreiber.
He raised concerns about the BASE students going without a nurse during a heated School Committee meeting Sept. 15.
"There's a lot of anger in town. A lot of people are upset," said Schreiber, who has a kindergartner in Loker this year. "All towns are facing these cost issues, but most of us don't feel that things were handled in the best way for the children."
Burton said he understands the concerns about the realignment and he is thankful for the patience many parents have shown throughout the process.
"It's different from last year, and change is very painful for some people and it's difficult for many," Burton said of the realignment. "We felt it was necessary for declining enrollment, and we needed to curtail our expenses."
The issue of school nursing is expected to be a discussion point at Special Town Meeting, scheduled for Nov. 12, especially as angry parents continue to make their case. But Calichman said the Board of Health thinks it's too early in the discussion to put forward a proposal in time for next month's meeting.
John Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com. 