INDIANAPOLIS — Come next fall, more than a dozen Indianapolis Public Schools may not have a full-time nurse.
Last month, IU Health ended its pilot program with the district, citing “staffing challenges.”
The program was originally supposed to go until 2024 with 19 schools.
For parents with children who have special medical needs, the decision is putting them in a tough spot.
"It’s easy for medical needs to be invisible until it is your kid,” said Krista Searles, whose daughter goes to Butler Lab School 55, and has severe asthma and ketotic hypoglycemia. “That school nurse is kind of her safety net for making sure she is able to be at school and learn just like the other kids who don’t have asthma."
But now, that safety net is being taken away, and Searles has struggled to get answers from the district.
“If we lose our school nurse and I don’t feel safe sending my daughter there, what’s my option? Where do I go?” Searles said. “I see a lot of kids at her school that have more complex medical needs than she does, and I know that those kids wouldn’t even have the option of attending that school if there was not a nurse there.”
In a statement online, IPS said, “We have begun early conversations with other community partners who are eager to come alongside IPS to continue this invaluable service. We are exploring each of these opportunities and will share the results broadly once solidified.”
Last week, 13 Investigates also found about half of surveyed Indiana school districts don’t meet the school nurse recommendations. The state requires each district to have one registered nurse on staff and recommends one RN for every 750 students.
Indianapolis families worry this recent decision will only make that problem worse, along with creating educational inequities.
“These kids, they won’t be able to stay at that school if they remove the nurses that have been there,” said Megan Alderman, who has one son in first grade and a daughter starting kindergarten in the fall at Center for Inquiry School 70. “The ball has been dropped here, and nobody is ready to pick it up, and our kids are going to be the ones who suffer."
Full statement from IU Health:
“The ongoing statewide staffing challenges and additional pressures have impacted our ability to continue the IPS school nurse pilot program. We understand the vital role that school nurses play in ensuring the health and safety of students. We are working in close partnership with IPS to find alternative solutions and ensure a seamless transition for student care. IU Health will continue to manage nursing services through the current school year, and have likewise expressed a willingness to extend services into the new school year if necessary to avoid any potential disruption in care," said Melissa Cash, who is the Vice President-Retail Health and Employer Solutions at Indiana University Health.
List of schools at risk of losing full-time nurses (four will be closing at the end of the school year):
- Cold Spring School
- SUPER School 19
- Butler Lab School 55
- Francis W. Parker Montessori School 56
- George W. Julian School 57
- Sidener Academy for High Ability Students
- Butler Lab School 60
- Raymond E. Brandes School 65
- Center for Inquiry School 70
- Christian Park School 82
- Floro Torrence School 83
- Center for Inquiry School 84
- George Washington Carver School 87
- Ernie Pyle School 90
- Meredith Nicholson School 96
- Francis Bellamy School 102
- Robert Lee Frost School 106
- Jonathan Jennings School 109
- Positive Supports Academy and Roots Program