Some Restrict 911 Calls
Schools Nurses Say Principals Overstep

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

The union representing School Nurses is charging that some Principals are interfering with Nurses' responsibilities, making it more difficult for them to do their jobs and at times endangering the health of students.

JUDITH ARROYO: Principals interfere.

President Judith Arroyo of Local 436 of District Council 37 last week said that she gets two to three calls a day from members complaining about Principals telling them how to do their jobs. In addition, she said she receives at least one call per month in which a member complains that a Principal stopped him or her from calling 911 when the Nurse thought it was necessary.

CSA: No Reason to Meddle

Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Ernest Logan disputed the claims, arguing that Principals have no incentive to interfere with Nurses since they care about and are ultimately responsible for the welfare of their school's children.

"We can't understand why Principals feel that they have to play Nurse and doctor," said Ms. Arroyo. "We're licensed professionals."

The problems the Nurses are having cannot go through the union's grievance procedure because they are matters of nursing care and not contractual ones, according to Ms. Arroyo. She said that when there is a problem, a Nurse files a complaint, which goes to the Department of Education's Office of School Health. "But then we go back and talk to the Nurse," she said, "and nothing has happened. DOE says, 'We sent the Principal an e-mail,' but if there's no meeting and no memo, there's no pressure."

ERNEST LOGAN: No reason to interfere.

Mr. Logan denied that his members harassed School Nurses. "It's just not an issue," he said. "There is no reason that a Principal would interfere in that way."

Don't Affect Status

He emphasized that Schools Chancellor's regulations dictate that any school employee must call 911 in an emergency. He added that there was no disincentive to do so, since medical calls are logged differently than emergency calls to the police. (Police calls related to crimes are totaled and contribute to a school being placed on the state's Persistently Dangerous list, which DOE takes into account when deciding whether to close a school.)

One Nurse, who asked not to be identified by name out of concern for her job, said that she had been transferred out of an upper Manhattan school the day after she filed a report against a Principal because she refused to allow the Nurse to call 911. She said that she treated a five-year-old child whose temperature registered at 104 degrees, which she said was dangerous and could result in seizures. Her Principal, however, said that she could not call an ambulance until the little girl's parents were located.

The Nurse asserted that in a prior incident, a child had been taken to the emergency room and the parents didn't show up until after 11 p.m. In the case of a medical emergency when parents cannot be located, a school official must accompany the student to the hospital or medical center. "After that, she said never call 911 until we reach the parents," said the Nurse. "This is absurd. In an emergency you must act, not look for parents."

'My License, Kid's Life'

The Nurse said she put ice around the sick five-year-old's head and reduced her temperature somewhat. She argued with the Principal, but could not convince her. "She said to me, 'Why are you questioning my authority?"' the Nurse recounted. "I said, 'No, it's not your authority; it's my license and it's the life of the child.'''

After more than 2-1/2 hours, a grandparent was reached and the girl was taken to the hospital. The Nurse was transferred to another school in Harlem the following day, where she said the Principal allows her to call 911 whenever she sees fit. But she said that another Nurse told her that the same situation occurred at her old school the following week, and in that case the child suffered a seizure.

In the past year, the Daily News has brought to light two incidents in which a school had a policy restricting staff from calling 911, in violation of DOE regulations.

A Brooklyn family is suing the city for $2 million after their son died in 2003 of an asthma attack, allegedly because the staff was not permitted to call 911 without the Principal's permission. In September, a girl at Jamaica High School in Queens suffered a stroke, and school staff waited an hour to call 911 in the face of a memo forbidding Deans to call 911 for any reason. The school's Principal has since been removed, but the News recently reported that the new school administration had issued another memo restricting 911 calls. That order has since been rescinded.

"Nurses are a little on the frightened side," said Ms. Arroyo. "They feel that if they do voice anything that comes out in public, they will be punished for it. But some of these Principals need to step back, recognize we're professionals, and let us do our jobs."