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Residents' staff and parents urge board to clarify on-call nursing; committee directs policy revisions
Summary
Public commenters and residential staff told the USDB committee that remote on-call nursing should not replace on-site licensed nurses during residential hours; the committee voted to ask staff to revise policy 8.26 and return it for consideration in September.
Three public commenters told the Utah State Board of Education USDB committee that the draft on-call nursing policy should not make remote consults the primary model for overnight residential care. Jonathan Hagelson, extracurricular and athletic director for the Utah Schools for the Deaf, asked that decisions about overnight staffing and interpreter supports be individualized and jointly planned with parents so students are not excluded from extracurricular activities.
Hagelson said, “My comments are not about reducing nursing service support, but about ensuring this policy includes a clear, collaborative, and individualized process for my extracurricular activities and overnight travel.” He urged the policy to clarify who pays for interpreters when they are needed for a student’s communication access.
James Smith, who supervises a residential cottage program at the Kenneth Burnett School of the Deaf (Ogden campus), opposed using on-call nursing as the primary nursing model overnight and described three incidents he said occurred last school year—missing prescribed medication packs that were not resolved for days, a delayed in-person assessment that later identified a hernia, and students kept in cottages because the nursing office was closed. “Telephone or text communication cannot always replace direct observation, physical assessment, and clinical judgment,” Smith said.
Student-life coordinator Eric Lynn corroborated those concerns, describing firsthand experience with similar situations and urging that the committee ensure in-person nursing coverage is available for overnight residential needs rather than relying primarily on remote nursing.
In response, the committee discussed policy language that uses terms such as “reasonable” without a designated response time; presenters said internal expectations aim for a 30-minute response and typically about 10 minutes when practical, but the policy does not set a formal maximum. Member Longacre moved to direct staff to update USDB policy 8.26 on-call nursing services to consider the recommended changes discussed at the meeting and bring it back for committee consideration in the September USDB meeting. The motion (as amended to use the word “considering”) passed without recorded opposition.
What’s next: Staff will revise policy 8.26 to clarify response expectations, define when on-call nursing versus in-person nursing applies, and consider Jonathan Hagelson’s recommendations on interpreter funding and parental involvement. The committee will consider the updated draft in September.
