the problem at lausd is 90percent of teachers arent credentialed.and the real problem is we need two teachers in the classroom,to make sure kids understand carriculum and doing work,no uncredentialed assistents in classroom need to go somewhere else.

Cortines acted in a very unprofessional and unethical way in an all employee budget meeting November 17, 2008 at El Sereno Middle School. During the meeting. he was asked why 9 nursing positions were deleted this school year due to "budget reasons" and then replaced with administrators. He responded by saying "Some of those nurses don't do A DAMN thing!". You can hear a pin drop with the silence that followed. He is supposedly everyone's leader in LAUSD including school nurses and making a negative comment about us in a public forum was totally inappropriate and unprofessional!!! First of all, he seems to be have no knowledge that nurses must have a bachelor's degree to even be considered for hiring as a school nurse. To stay employed, we need to complete a School Health Credential (about 42 college units) within 5 years of employment. So, how many nurses out there do you think would like to work in the school district when they can earn 30-40% more than a Credentialed School Nurse with only an associate degree, an RN license, and no need to go back to school to get a CREDENTIAL? There is a severe shortage of California School Nurses with only one school nurse per 4000 pupils, a ratio that fails to meet federal standards of one school nurse per 750 pupils. Cortines does not have any clue about the kind of work we do for children in LAUSD - G-tube feedings for children who cannot eat orally, tracheostomy care, colostomy care, insulin injections for diabetes children, diastat administration for severe seizures, Epi-pen injections for life threatening allergies, bladder catheterizations for children with spine deficiences, nebulizer treatments for children with severe asthma. These are just the severe cases and does not even include the daily major accidents we have to deal with in the school campus; teaching students, faculty and parents about preventative health issues; administration of daily medications required by children with minor medical issues; blood glucose testing and urine ketone testing for children with diabetes; providing minor first aid treatments to at least 30-70 kids DAILY (depending on your school population); coordinating special diet trays for children with special diet needs. These are the task we do for children in a regular school campus in order for children to improve their attendance and learning in school. The Special Education Center which serves the severely disabled children is a totally different ballgame. What about the mandates by the California Education Board that only Credentialed School Nurses can peform on a yearly basis? These mandates are as follows: scoliosis screening, vision screening, sports physicals assessments, health assessments for special education children, immunization screening etc. Does Cortines know that for every one of these task that we complete, we get paid by Medi-Cal and therefore create money for the general fund and benefits every one in the district? And yet, as per Cortines "we do not do a damn thing!" If you ask me, I believe he needs to publicly apologize to all the hard working school nurses in LAUSD. You decide, is he a Friend or a Foe?