Dear Superintendent Hite,

We are calling on you to take immediate action to address the nursing shortage in the Philadelphia School District.

As you know, as of mid-October 2021, at least 20 schools in the Philadelphia School District have no school nurse in the building. In addition to their role in supporting the health of our children and communities during a global pandemic, school nurses are responsible for a wide range of regular, daily health-related tasks, including caring for children who become sick or injured during the school day, administering inhalers, and even giving insulin.

In their absence, much of this work has fallen on the shoulders of teachers, staff and principals who are already doing their own jobs, which are more demanding than ever. We support the educators, administrators, and staff who work so hard in our schools, and their unions, and are calling on you to address the serious situation that is currently the reality across our city. Working parents need schools to be safe and remain physically open. For that to happen, nurses are key.

The current situation is dangerous for our children and both unsafe and unfair to teachers and staff. The fact that we are in a pandemic with additional work, protocols, and risks make the situation even more untenable. We are calling for at minimum one nurse at each school, because we recognize that with hundreds of students in each building, during a pandemic, even one nurse is often not enough.

The risks of inaction are too great, as we know from the death of a first grader in 2014 at a South Philadelphia school that had no nurse on duty at the time. No parent should have to receive that phone call. And no parent should worry that they might.

We the undersigned students, parents, teachers, staff, community members, and groups demand that the Philadelphia School District administration fill these vacancies as soon as possible, and provide a clear timeline on when that will happen.

Please show us the care you have for the health and safety of our students by taking immediate action to make sure there is at least one nurse in every Philadelphia school!

Sincerely,

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(En español) Carta pública: Pedimos una enfermera por cada escuela de Filadelfia: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdsFUEUKPLy3qJKSPHq8FkBACsJiqgqtdY0mX1KmRigLrW_ZQ/viewform

Link to view letter with signatures: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b6Wok2BFU9UOOJqhqdyvx8pnO06VWHbAw7W-0XNHrgs/edit?usp=sharing