Nurse layoffs already putting Phila. students at risk, protesters say

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. Fortunately, she said, the child was OK.

One nurse, Eileen Duffy, said of the cuts: "I am so worried. I am not giving up on this."

For the third week in a row, dozens gathered outside the School District headquarters on North Broad Street to protest the nursing cuts, which were made to help bridge a budget shortfall of more than $629 million.

The district's actual shortfall is not clear. District officials have said they will address the matter at a School Reform Commission meeting next week.

Until recently, Shannon Smith was the full-time nurse at Ben Franklin High School. Because of the midyear budget cuts, she now spends three days a week there, one day at Girls' High, and one day at Motivation High.

Franklin has no nurse the days Smith works elsewhere. Wednesday, a student came into her office with a head injury, which she was able to quickly assess.

"What if I wasn't there?" Smith asked.

When Smith is elsewhere, an administrator dispenses medication.

"But they don't know the side effects," Smith said. "They don't know the interactions. Who's going to triage these kids?"

Franklin students Kenya Vines and Jasmine Berry came to the rally to stand with Smith. The school needs a full-time nurse, they said.

"Last year, I thought I had cancer, and Nurse Shannon calmed me down," said Berry, 16, a sophomore.

"If there's no nurse, and you're sick, kids are just going to leave school," said Vines, 17, a senior.

Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said the nurse layoffs are dangerous and a violation of state rules. Union attorneys are now readying complaints with the state Departments of Education and Health, Jordan said, because only school nurses can dispense prescription medication.

"The district contends that these are just guidelines," Jordan said. But, he added, "the state is telling me that they have teeth to them."

The union has filed a grievance over the layoffs of nurses and other union personnel, Jordan said. He has asked for expedited arbitration, but the district has not yet responded, he said.

Action can't come soon enough, the nurses said.

Peg Devine, for 19 years the full-time nurse at Greenfield School, was shifted to part-time at Greenfield and part-time at South Philadelphia High because of the cuts.

Recently, Devine spent the better part of a day trying to straighten out the medication of a profoundly handicapped student. The issue wasn't resolved at the end of the day, and Devine wasn't there the next day to make sure the boy got the correct medication.

"There is no continuity of care," Devine said. "This is dangerous."

The district has said that it still has enough nurses to meet state requirements and that all medically fragile students still have adequate nursing care.

District spokesman Fernando Gallard said he had not heard about the problems the nurses described, but hoped they would share specifics with central office staff.

"It is important for us to get further information on those incidents so we can act quickly to make sure that schools have the appropriate health services," Gallard said. "As we move forward with this new level of nurse coverage, information like this will help us to make sure we have the appropriate services in schools."