Shortage of School Nurses: SDUSD

It's only the first week of school in the San Diego Unified School District but parents are already worried about what will happen if their children get sick or hurt at school.

The problem is there aren't enough nurses to go around.

Currently, there are 129 nurses to serve 183 schools in the district.

School nurses who were served pink slips this year did get their jobs back but the president of the teacher's union, Bill Freeman, says many nurses already accepted other jobs while waiting to hear what would happen.

"It does make it a little bit difficult for sites, particularly small sites, to get nursing time to do the necessary paperwork to make sure the students are going to get the medical care they need," said Amy Redding, a concerned parent from the district.

Redding has a 4th grader with asthma who doesn't require extra nursing care, but she added that other students who need injections and special medication could need a little bit more assistance.

The district maintains that the students' and staff members' safety is one of its top priorities.

A statement released by the district reads:

"The support of 8-10 temporary nurses has been enlisted to support schools and students during the first week of classes. These temporary nurses will be primarily responsible for medication reviews at the schools that could not fund nursing services for the 2012-13 school year."

The district also adds that staff members are trained in CPR and basic first aid in case of emergencies.

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