We have a full time "clinic aide," but parent volunteers are in the clinic every day to cover her lunch, and sub for her when she has a meeting or out of office emergency. The parent volunteers go through pretty extensive training on the various protocols, but are not required to sign a confidentiality agreement (although discussion of confidentiality is a major component of the training). Those volunteers are able to call the parents.
It seems like a reasonable compromise in your case might be to have the office staff call the parent instead. And I like your idea of sending a note home.
We have a full time nurse and do not help out in this area in any capacity. But we do have phone #'s for phone chains.
You all could solve the problem by having the parents sign a waiver at the beginning of the year stating they will allow a volunteer to call them if their child is ill or injured.
First, we have a full time nurse. Second, we help with the hearing/vision screening (we do eyes, she does hearing). The volunteers that help with this are District Volunteers, which means they have badges. To get a badge, there is a screening process which includes signing a letter of confidentiality. We do not make phone calls as that job belongs to a professional, in our case, the nurse herself or an employee of the district (office staff when the nurse is at lunch). In your case, you might see if the district will okay a few parents if they sign a confidentiality agreement. Can't hurt to ask. Seems like a reasonable compromise to me.
SoccerMomto4Kids: there are all kinds of goings on at schools where parents don't like something. One of the reasons this site is so popular is when someone asks for advice, that is what we try to give... we try not to slam each other's schools for policies we are not responsible for, have no control over, and cannot change. Thing is, phone numbers are private and it is a real issue for some people. Our school doesn't allow parents access to phone numbers either. We, like many other parent groups, get the phone numbers through the parents when they send back surveys or phone tree paperwork. They are giving us permission to have and use their phone numbers. Not trying to rag on you, just offering some 'take it easy' advice. Hope you understand... Everyone here knows that I sometimes don't...lol...
We don't have even a part-time nurse, so the the secretaries make the judgements. However, during the lunch hours, when boo-boos are at a peak, and the staff is trying to sneak in their own lunch, our PTO arranges volunteers to provide TLC. As far as I know, though, if a volunteer thinks a child's parents needs to be contacted, the secretary on duty makes the call, not the volunteer. I don't think this is as much an issue of security as it is of courtesy and "correctness" - the school is calling, not a volunteer.
There are 2 secretaries in our office for 720 kids, but they seem to manage the phones quite nicely. And between them, they have nearly 35 years of experience, so they can spot a "faker" when they see one. Works ok in our school.
p.s. we do have access to the phone numbers for our telephone tree and thru our school directory. But, we do NOT have access to the emergency cards in the office which have alot more personal info, sometimes confidential info. Maybe your school just needs to create a list of "primary" phone numbers for your volunteers, if access to the emergency cards is the real problem.
You're not allowed to have phone numbers? How ridiculous...you don't organize a phone tree? I've never heard such a thing. As a parent, I would be FURIOUS if my child was sent back to class sick without any input from either a nurse or me. What an unfortunate place that they've put you all in...and how unfair it is to the children. Unfortunately, there's probably not too much that you can do. Good luck...maybe it'll blow over or they'll come to their senses.
Our PTO has always helped in the Health Room since we only have a part-time nurse. We have given out ice bags, band-aids, clothes for 'accidents', called parents for sick kids - anything that needs to be done. These volunteers man the health room from 9-3. This year the office decided the PTO Volunteers could no longer have the phone numbers to call the parents because of all the new "Privacy" laws. So most kids are sent back to class. The office tells the volunteers unless the kids have a fever not to call the parents. I disagree. I think it's the Parents Call (whether the child goes back to class or waits to be checked out) not the volunteers. I also think that if the PTO Volunteers are screened well enough they should be able to walk out to the office and retrieve a phone number, call the parent, and let that parent make the call whether they want to come pick up the student. (This is an elementary school) I want to know what you do in your school. I think if a student comes to the nurses station every day that parent needs to know that. I also think that if a child comes to the nurses office some kind of note should be sent home with that child so the parent knows their child was in the nurses office. Do any of you do this? Thanks in advance!
