The safety of children in school should be one of the highest priorities in any community, and some organizations, such as schoolnurse.com, provide a helpful overview for the topic of injuries at school.
We had a recent example of “how not to do it” in Elwood. At the April 16th Regular Meeting of the Elwood Board of Education, one parent addressed the Board during the Residents Remarks period.
She was bringing to the attention of the Board two incidents, one relating to her own child and one to the child of another parent, where the school district’s own polices and procedures were not followed by district staff.
The incident affecting her child was a fractured wrist, while the injury to the other child involved a concussion, stemming from a head injury in gym, which occurred while the instructor was apparently out of the room. The broken wrist was obvious, while the head injury was less obvious, but both should have been handled by a school nurse and the parent immediately called.
It sounded as if there were mistakes at multiple stages of the process, since the district’s own policy is clearly stated on the third page of the information section of the District Calendar.
Moreover, that policy is reflected in Local Policy EBBA, as follows:
--------------------------------------
FIRST AID
In case of an accident, first aid will be given by the nurse, and the parent will be contacted.
In the event of a severe accident when neither a member of the family nor family physician is available, the nearest doctor will be called to give emergency treatment and to advise the school as to the best procedure to be followed while awaiting the parent’s arrival.
If hospitalization is indicated, a parent’s consent will be sought before action is taken, if possible.
School personnel are authorized by State law to give first aid only. First aid is the immediate and temporary care following an injury or sudden illness, until the child can be placed under parental or professional care.
---------------------------------------
The child with the head injury remained at school, and was sent home on the afternoon bus, and vomited on the way home. When the child’s mother subsequently took him/her to the hospital, a concussion was diagnosed.
It is sad that parents have to raise such issues with the Board of Education, instead of being able to have them properly responded to, and promptly resolved, by District administrators.
The safety of our children has to be placed first, before other considerations, and the District Administration should be concerned about making sure children receive proper medical care and should follow-up with parents, promptly, after children have been injured on school property or at school-sponsored events.
Parent inquiries or complaints must be given appropriate priority by the District Administration before any attempt to avoid acknowledging staff errors. Delays, or avoidance, creates the need for parents to seek intervention by the Board.
Finally, the District Administration must learn from such mistakes, to insure that other children, and their parents, will receive proper care and consideration going forward.
