School Nurse

WITH a 25 percent poverty rate ($23,050 or below for a family of four) - up from 18.5 percent in 2000 - Philadelphia is the country's biggest poor city. Seventy percent of its children have public health-insurance coverage. Yet, since the summer, the Department of Public Welfare has removed 25,000 city children from the medical assistance rolls, kids whose family incomes are believed to still fall within the qualifying guidelines. For these now-uninsured children - and every other child who attends the city public schools - the district's layoff of 47 school nurses means that the children's health and educational prospects have taken a step backward.

IT IS VERY unfortunate that Philadelphia has decided to reduce the number of school nurses. All children benefit from the expertise provided by the school nurse. However, for the child with diabetes, a number of other caregivers can be trained to administer insulin and to recognize and treat low blood sugar. Parents of newly diagnosed children with diabetes quickly learn to care for their child. They also train others, such as family members and babysitters, to provide care. And, of course, older children can usually administer their own insulin.

MOST FOLKS were predicting first half, if not the opening minute. But coach Jim Fenerty behaved himself for quite a while Saturday as Germantown Academy hosted Peddie School, of New Jersey, in Part II of Basketball Milestone Weekend. And then, late in the third quarter, the impulses could no longer be repelled. Jim Fenerty stood and dispensed some advice. Ah, all was right in his basketball world. Depending upon your viewpoint, Fenerty now owns 500 or 501 victories in 31 seasons as a high school coach, with eight at the ol' Bishop Egan and 23 at GA. Officially, the number is 501, but Fenerty was not present Friday night at GA as the Patriots edged Haverford School, 60-59, in Inter-Ac League action.

MOST FOLKS were predicting first half, if not the opening minute. But coach Jim Fenerty behaved himself for quite a while Saturday as Germantown Academy hosted Peddie School, of New Jersey, in Part II of Basketball Milestone Weekend. And then, late in the third quarter, the impulses could no longer be repelled. Jim Fenerty stood and dispensed some advice. Ah, all was right in his basketball world. Depending upon your viewpoint, Fenerty now owns 500 or 501 victories in 31 seasons as a high school coach, with eight at the ol' Bishop Egan and 23 at GA. Officially, the number is 501, but Fenerty was not present Friday night at GA as the Patriots edged Haverford School, 60-59, in Inter-Ac League action.

When nurses are not in the building, noontime aides dispense students' medication at some Philadelphia schools. At others, it's principals, secretaries, gym teachers, or counselors. That violates state rules, the Philadelphia School District's largest union said in a formal complaint announced Wednesday in an effort to halt the practice. The district is "endangering the lives of the school children it is required to protect," the complaint contends. Separately, the union has grieved the layoff of 47 nurses and will go to arbitration Friday, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan said.

THE UNION representing nurses in the Philadelphia School District wants the state to force the district to stop allowing non-nurses from medicating students. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers filed a claim last week with the state Department of Health arguing that permitting the non-nurses to do so violates state school code and the Guidelines for Pennsylvania Schools for Administration of Medications and Emergency Care. The district cut 47 school-nurse positions in December as part of a plan to close a $629 million budget shortfall.

Laying off 47 Philadelphia School District nurses has caused children to suffer and is endangering their health, a group of nurses said Wednesday. One diabetic student had to transfer from her school because it had no full-time nurse, they said. At another school, they added, the principal erroneously administered a medication without doctor's orders. "He was trying to help. He thought he was doing the right thing," said the nurse, who asked that her name and that of the school and principal be withheld because she didn't want to get the principal in trouble.

By Jonathan Zimmerman In 1897, New York City hired 150 physicians to inspect the hundreds of thousands of students - many of them recent immigrants - packed into its public schools. Authorities were especially worried about children with tuberculosis, who were removed from the classroom and sent home with a note. There was only one problem: Many of the students' parents couldn't read English. Nor could they afford the medicines and other treatments the school doctors recommended.

Mary Ann Sewell doesn't just dispense aspirin and Band-Aids. Sewell, the school nurse at Bok High in South Philadelphia, tends to 187 asthmatic teenagers. She treats insulin-dependent diabetics, kids with cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anemia, and seizure disorders. As part of its latest round of budget cuts, the Philadelphia School District will lay off 141 employees, including 47 nurses, effective Saturday. Sewell and about 50 others gathered at district headquarters Wednesday to protest.