What It’s Like to be a School Nurse During a Pandemic
Tara Montgomery, RN is the school nurse at Peabody School in Charlottesville, VA. We asked her what it’s like being the school’s first-ever nurse on staff as well as a mom of two kids, 9 and 7 — during a pandemic.
First of all, thank you for everything you do. What inspired you to become a school nurse?
To be honest, I had never thought about becoming a school nurse before. I was working full-time from home doing telehealth.
When the pandemic hit, though, this changed. Suddenly, we were supposed to be working full-time, and homeschooling, and doing all the other things that parents do.
When I got the email about the role at Peabody, the prospect of working with actual people outside the home was really attractive! So much about the school nurse position seemed like a really great fit for our family also, mainly that the schedule mimicked that of my kids' school schedule, which is so hard to find in nursing. I was also excited to make the in-person shift — so much about nursing is being on the front lines. I knew it would be a challenge, but I also knew I was up for it.
What’s it like being a school nurse during a pandemic?
I started the role in the summer, prior to school starting and there was so much prep work. Every little decision required careful consideration and input from the right people. Decisions were being made in real-time and training for COVID protocols, happened immediately after those decisions were made. It was a lot, but I found it to be a good kind of stress, motivating!
As a nurse, you are always getting asked questions you may not have the exact answers to and this is definitely true of the questions we were getting asked by the school community at large. Luckily, we have standing weekly meetings with the Thomas Jefferson Health Department and are being constantly updated on all new guidelines and procedures. I also have a direct number to our contact at the Health Department, which I definitely use! It’s great to have such easy access to the most up-to-date information so we can keep our community well-informed.
Anything that surprised you going back to school in-person this year?
Prior to being back in-person, I think we were all nervous. Personally, I know that my kids had only worn a mask maybe for 30 minutes or so at a time at the grocery store. During the summer when the school board would meet with our health committee to discuss all our options, the main concern was whether all these changes — being 6 feet apart at all times, plexiglass dividers, constant mask-wearing — would be scary for kids. Would all these factors outweigh the benefit of being in person? And at what risk? We have only had one case of COVID at school so far, and it did not spread within the school. Things are going very well.
Now that we are into the school year, there is no question that being back in person was the right thing to do. And also how well kids are at adapting to all the new protocols and the joy being with friends and teachers and learning in person is bringing them.
As a school nurse, are you bracing yourself for the winter, in light of the pandemic?
I am bracing myself just existentially as a human being! But in terms of school, I feel confident in what we are doing to keep the pandemic at bay within our community. I am not nervous about the transmission or spread of COVID at school. I do think that between the cold weather and the holidays when people will inevitably travel to see family, we will see a rise in cases in our general population, and those higher numbers will translate to the school community.
This is why we decided as a school to extend the holiday break to include a week of remote learning at either end. If we did not do this, we would be having students come back 5–7 days after the holiday, which is precisely when COVID symptoms start to show and people are highly contagious.
It takes a lot of diligence to keep school safe, and to keep kids learning in person and we are doing everything we can to accomplish both of those things.
What’s your favorite part of the job?
I really love the people I work with. Peabody has a really fun group of people that makes it exciting to come to work every day. And also, I have the most adorable patients ever! I was working in oncology prior to this. So getting to spend time with the students, getting to know them, and laugh with them is also what I love.
