About an hour after the morning bell at Northwood Elementary School in North Baltimore, a boy came to the health suite looking for a mask. A few more kids streamed in with minor needs, like bandages. A second grader with butterflies pinned in her hair wanted someone to yank a wiggly baby tooth.
“I gave her some ice and wrote a note home to mom,” said Brianna Gibson, a registered nurse who says she sees about eight kids a day.
Dozens of Baltimore public schools lack a permanent registered on-site nurse daily, despite a 2021 state mandate for all 149 city school health suites. Some have aides with less education, overseen by a registered nurse somewhere else.
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