Who We Are

Certified School Nurse

The nurses who serve the students and staff of School District U-46 come from a wide variety of educational/experiential backgrounds. There are 44 Certified School Nurses in the district and all have Bachelor of Science Degrees, in fact, most are working on or have completed Masters Degrees as well. 

The Certified School Nurses in District U-46 provide a wide variety of health-related and assessment-related services to the students. Following are some of the activities they perform.

• Serve as liaison between home, school and community

• Provide first aid and emergency care at school

• Administer medications and deliver treatments as ordered by a physician

• Provide classroom teaching at the request of teachers

• Manage student chronic illness during school hours

• Develop school nursing policy

• Gather health-related information for educational purposes, including health histories for students with possible or diagnosed health concerns

• Participate on the school Service Team

• Obtain information from classroom teacher and parent regarding a student's behavior using the Conner's Behavioral Rating Scale. This is done for a small percentage of students. The nurse then scores and presents the results to the parent and teacher

• Conduct vision and hearing screenings on students not screened at other times or those needing additional screenings. The nurse refers students who fail vision and/or hearing screenings and follows up with parents on those referrals

• Provide health-related resources to staff, families

• Ensure compliance with Illinois State Board of Education regulations regarding physical exams, immunizations and other state-required data

• Assist in keeping children healthy and in the classroom.

Direct Service Nurse

Most schools do not have a full-time Certified School Nurse on duty, however, there are 26 Direct Service Nurses who take care of students for 3 or more hours a day when the Certified School Nurse is in another building. The Direct Service Nurses provide first aid and emergency care, administer medications, and deliver treatments as ordered by a physician. They are all part-time employees. These nurses all have a Registered Nurse license; some are working toward a Bachelors Degree.

Support Staff

In addition to the nurses, the Health Services Department staff includes 12 Secretarial/Clerical staff and 4 Vision and Hearing Screening Technicians.

The Vision and Hearing Screening Technicians administer vision and hearing tests to all students in the grades mandated by the State of Illinois (currently kindergarten, first, second, third and eighth grades). Preschool students are also screened, as well as all students in Special Education and those new to a building. The Screening Technicians also refer students for vision and/or hearing follow-up.

The Secretarial and Clerical staff provide office support, maintain records, and help ensure compliance with state-mandated requirements.

All these services and activities performed by the members of the Health Services Department combine to provide students and staff a comprehensive and supportive health program geared to maintaining optimal health and good school attendance. Joan Borre supervises the work of this department.