Valley View: Positively Impacting the Health of all People in District

Recognizing the importance of health and wellness for staff and students has become a tradition in Valley View School District 365U.

A big part of this tradition is VVSD's staffing of a full time nurse in all of our school buildings. Our district has a combination of RNs with additional training to become certified school nurses, and staff that are non-certified RNs from a variety of clinical backgrounds.

With a district of nearly 18,000 students and more than 2,500 employees, the charge is to support and positively impact the health of all people in district with 23 full time nurses.

I serve as the resource, mentor and continuing education facilitator for all things related to health and wellness in the school setting. One of my duties is to arrange staff certification for CPR. Both our nurses and our administrators are certified in alignment with the current AED laws in Illinois. Last spring, this class was offered to all elementary PE teachers and there are plans to offer CPR class to some of our coaches at middle and high school levels during this school year.

As the law changes and evolves in the area of school health, it is my role to be aware of changes and work with district administrators to adapt to, and follow, the law. In addition, it is my responsibility to ensure that nursing staff are aware of changes and abide by the statutes.

I do not hire or evaluate staff but I am a resource for administrators when they are hiring or evaluating a nurse within district. Within the last three years I have been invited to several schools to participate in the interview process for hiring nursing staff.  It was an opportunity to personally witness the administrative skills of VVSD leaders.

I also support the seven VVSD schools that do not have staff trained to do screen vision and hearing. If a child has not been screened, I visit the school and perform the screening. We also have students who are attending schools outside VVSD. It is my responsibility to ensure those students are screened.

I am responsible for doing health histories in those schools without  a certified school nurse if a child is being evaluated for Special Education Services.  I am involved at the building level if a student with significant health concerns needs specific nursing care during the school day as reflected in Special Education paperwork. I assist with health questions that pertain to homebound services and 504 plans.

In addition, I participate on the district wide Safety Committee, serve as the IDM coach for VVEC, and facilitate the wellness Screening that our district sponsors yearly.