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East Bridgewater parent urges restoration of second school nurse, superintendent says district monitoring staffing
Summary
A parent told the East Bridgewater School Committee that reducing nurse coverage to one nurse per building creates student-safety risks; Superintendent Dr. Williams said the district now has five full-time nurses and is monitoring needs with a floating nurse between buildings.
Lynn McDonald, a parent of a fourth-grade student at the Mitchell School, told the East Bridgewater School Committee on Sept. 16 that a recent reduction in nurse staffing is a student-safety and liability concern and asked the committee to restore a second nurse.
"This is a serious student safety issue and a liability risk for the district," McDonald said, citing three students with type 1 diabetes in the Mitchell School population and other students with asthma, severe allergies, special needs and mental-health needs. She said the school moved from two full-time nurses to one for the building’s roughly 620 students and that, at times, no trained medical professional would be available.
McDonald requested the committee reassess the nurse staffing model, consider restoring a second nurse and explore grants or other funding options. She also asked that the topic be scheduled as an agenda item for fuller committee discussion.
Superintendent Dr. Williams responded that the district reduced nurse staffing by one position districtwide after COVID-era staffing expansions and that the current staffing pattern includes five full-time nurses. "We only eliminated one nurse districtwide," Dr. Williams said, adding that the district’s configuration includes a nurse assigned to Central School, a nurse assigned to Mitchell School, two nurses covering other buildings for total enrollment needs, and a float nurse who spends roughly half a day at Mitchell and half a day at Central.
Dr. Williams said district staff use other school employees "strictly to have a body present" when the nurse is temporarily unavailable (for instance, while assisting a child on the playground), but those staff are not providing medical care. She said the lead nurse, Mrs. Behrendrett, has been adjusting her schedule to be present at times of greatest need and that the district is monitoring whether students’ medical needs are being met. "The reports are no" — meaning the district has not identified instances where student medical needs went unattended, Dr. Williams said.
The superintendent acknowledged the reduction was budget driven and said nurses now carry more clerical work outside normal school hours because fewer nurses are available during the day to share administrative tasks. She encouraged families who have safety concerns about specific bus stops or building access to contact the district so adjustments can be made when stops present safety issues.
The parent who spoke told the committee she had met with district staff, including Mr. Paquette and Mrs. Behrendrett. The superintendent said she and nursing leadership will continue to monitor daily operations and times of peak need; no formal motion or vote on restoring a position was taken at the meeting.
The committee did not adopt an immediate staffing change during the Sept. 16 meeting. McDonald said she would like the matter added to a future agenda for fuller discussion and urged the district to explore grant options such as per-diem nursing coverage used by neighboring districts.
Community members with medical concerns were told to contact school administrators directly and that the district will continue to track any incidents or unmet medical needs for follow-up.
