Under the hood: North Shore School District nurses

School districts, like cars, are robust machines that operate with several moving parts working together to ensure a smooth trip.

The North Shore Central School District serves around 2,500 students across five schools: Glen Head, Glenwood Landing and Sea Cliff Elementary School, North Shore Middle School, and North Shore High School. Similar to automobiles, there is a lot that goes under the hood in the district that allows for consistent daily operation.

District residents voted to approve the proposed 2025-26 budget in May. The $125 million spending plan passed with over 70 percent of the vote, by a count of 1,657 to 697 and is 2.4 percent larger than the current budget.

The budget includes a tax increase of 2.9 percent, which is below the district’s cap. Increasing costs in the upcoming year mostly comprise employee benefits, rising salaries and the implementation of a new curriculum. District Superintendent Chris Zublionis said that the budget reflects the district’s core values while managing the challenges of fiscal uncertainty during its passage and after its final vote.

According to the state Department of Education, the district spends $44,712 per child. Over the next several weeks the Sea Cliff/Glen Head Herald will explore several facets of the district; analyzing how it works and who is responsible for running it.

Student health is crucial to fostering public education; there cannot be a school day if students are too sick to be there. Healthy students are better learners, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; factors such as proper nutrition, regular physical activity, and adequate sleep are not only essential for their physical well-being but also critical for their intellectual development

The over $1.05 million allotted in the health budget of the North Shore School District covers the salaries of the district's full time nurses, medical director services, new employee physicals, part-time clerical support, substitute nurses as well as reimbursement for health services for resident students attending private and parochial schools.

Here’s a look at how that money is spent and what the department does for the thousands of students it serves.

Responsibilities

“We see a lot of students,” Jean Buckel-Betzios, the district's health coordinator said, estimating that on a given day 20 to 30 students are seen across the district's three elementary schools; while 25 to 30 are seen daily at North Middle School and around 20 daily at North Shore High School. Each building has a nurse on site, with the high school having two.

Buckel-Betzios explained that health issues for students can vary depending on age. For new students, the change that comes with a new grade, school or year can foster anxiety in the district’s younger students.

“Those first years are new,” she said, adding that she has observed apprehension, anxiety, and headaches in younger students at the beginning of the year. “We try to evaluate that. We have them rest, we talk to them, and then as time goes on, they get over it."

For older students Buckel-Betzios identified the college admission process, standardized testing and increased expectations as “anxiety producing.”

Daily responsibilities for North Shore nurses include triaging, or determining the order of priority for providing treatment to injured individuals, corresponding with parents and medical offices through phone calls and emails, maintaining student physicals and tracking immunizations.

Nurses in North Shore Middle School and high school are responsible for handling student clearance for fall, winter, and spring sports. For high school students, the district offers 10 sports in the fall, 12 in the winter and nine in the spring. Middle school students are offered seven sports in the fall, seven in the winter season and eight in the spring.

“Every day is really different,” Sophia Amorgianos, the full-time building nurse at North Shore High School, admitted. “We can't really predict anything.”

They are also responsible for preparing the schools for flu season. Nurses have to display flu posters from the CDC that are distributed by the state at every entrance in the school and in multiple languages, include signage for students in the bathrooms about hand hygiene and to raise awareness on how to limit the spread of germs.

“If we do see an uptick,” in students with the flu, Amorgianos said that they make a point to alert students who might be immunocompromised to be more “aware of what's going on.”

“It's really education,” she said, “whatever we can to promote health and prevent the spread of germs.”

Tools of the trade

Automated External Defibrillators, stop-bleeding equipment, audiometers. vision machines, blood pressure, cups, thermometers. pulse oximeters, blood pressure cuffs, vital sign readers and wheelchairs are just some of the several pieces of equipment employed by nurses in the district to treat its thousands of students.

Superintendent Chris Zublionis described the nurses as “the primary contact in each building,” for anything “medical in nature.” He added that they also perform first aid on students or staff for any related medical issues that could arise, they also maintain the medical records of the district’s students.

Buckel-Betzios added that the department has around two team meetings a month. In addition, they will also meet with teachers, social workers, and central administration along with athletics and food service. “It's very interdisciplinary,” she said. “We really work very much with each other.”



Zublionis added that another important aspect is the nurses “well versed,” knowledge in ever-evolving state health regulations for training for district teachers. “It's complex to begin with,” he said, explaining that state Department of Health regulations are “constantly being updated.”

Walking in their scrubs

Amorgianos and Buckel-Betzios agreed the most rewarding part of their jobs was watching the growth of the students they treat. “They start there in ninth grade, and they resemble these small kids,” Amorgianos said. “By the time they're done, they're almost adults.”

Buckel-Betzios, who works in both North Shore Middle School and High School, emphasized that she loved to watch the “growth of the students,” adding that the “tremendous evolution of kids,” was her favorite part of her job.

Zublionis described the district’s nurses as “unsung heroes,” and explained that nurses in the district fulfill several different responsibilities in the district’s day-to-day functions.

“They do so much that people don't realize,” he said, highlighting their daily interactions with students, assistance with the management of records, and medication. “They fulfill so many different roles,” Zublionis added.

Buckel-Betzios and Amorgianos acknowledged that the job’s responsibilities are evolving. “We are seeing more serious health concerns in both students and staff,” Buckel-Betzios admitted, although neither she or Amorgianos could pinpoint an exact reason for the uptick, they both noted that allergies and rare illnesses have increased in students.



Both nurses also acknowledged that the job comes with its set of challenges. While it doesn’t happen often, Amorgianos said that the initial “unknown,” that comes when a student receives a life-changing medical diagnosis is one of the toughest challenges she encounters. “Our hearts bleed for them,” she added.

Another difficulty whenever it happens is a child losing a parent or a sibling, Buckel-Betzios said, adding that is “one of the hardest parts of anything.”

Despite both nurses agreeing that the demand on public school nurses is high, they both expressed confidence in their fellow nurses in the district. “We work very closely together,” Buckel-Betzios said. “We have a great team of nurses.”