More than Band-Aids: The real work of White Plains City School District nurses

Ask most people what a school nurse does, they will likely say the medical providers just hand out ice packs, check temperatures and bandage wounds. But the nurses in the White Plains City School District are quick to point out that this diagnosis falls way short.

“People do have this perception that school nurses do nothing,” said Ellen Clark, a nurse at Highlands Middle School. “They think we just wait for somebody to fall and scrape their knee, right? But that’s not the job. That’s just a tiny part of the job.”

In reality, the role is less “Band-Aid station” and more frontline medical provider, public health official, counselor, educator and emergency responder all rolled into one, often operating alone in a building with hundreds of students and staff.

“You’re the only person in the building that is a medical person,” Maggie Racioppo, Director of Nursing Services for the district, said in her office at White Plains High School. “And we not only take care of students, we take care of staff. So you have to be clinically savvy. You have to be able to assess. You have to be able to make decisions. Because you’re it.”

That reality — part physical, part emotional, part deeply human — comes into sharper focus during Nurses Week, when the district’s nursing staff pauses, albeit briefly, to reflect on a job that is often misunderstood, frequently exhausting, and, at its core, profoundly impactful.

An age-old stereotype

The “school nurse” stereotype may have had some grounding decades ago, when student health needs were more limited and the scope of care narrower. But today’s school nurse is operating in an environment that has grown increasingly complex.

“It used to be that we would give out Band-Aids, give out some medicine,” said Ms. Racioppo. “Maybe a kid had ADHD. Maybe we had two or three allergy kids and one or two asthmatic kids. It’s no longer like that.”

Instead, nurses now manage a wide spectrum of conditions that would once have been handled exclusively in hospitals or specialized settings.

“We have tons of asthmatic kids, tons of kids with food allergies,” she said. “We have kids with chronic diseases — cancer, spina bifida. We have kids that are fed through tubes. We have diabetic kids that have highs and lows all day long, and we’re looking at a monitor as if we were doing the stock market.”

In some schools, that means tracking glucose levels in real time through devices like Dexcom monitors. In others, it means administering insulin, catheterizing students or implementing seizure protocols. And in all cases, it means being ready to pivot instantly from routine care to emergency response.

“You might have 10 kids in the office at one time,” Ms. Racioppo said. “And you’re triaging automatically. Who’s the sickest? Who needs me right now? Who can wait? That’s constant. Every day.”

The unseen layer: public health

What many families also don’t see is the extensive public health infrastructure that school nurses manage behind the scenes to follow state mandates that are critical to student safety and learning.

“We’re public health nurses,” Ms. Racioppo said. “We answer to the district, but we also answer to the Department of Health. We’re the gatekeepers.”

That includes ensuring compliance with immunization requirements, coordinating physical exams, conducting vision and hearing screenings, and identifying issues that might otherwise go unnoticed.

“You have no idea how many kids we have seen that need glasses, that cannot see, that cannot hear,” she said. “And the whole premise is, if a child cannot see, they cannot learn. If they cannot hear, they cannot learn.”

It also involves navigating real-world barriers — financial, cultural, logistical — that families face.

“Sometimes a child comes from another country and they don’t have insurance, they don’t have the means,” Ms. Racioppo said. “So we find resources. We connect them to the Department of Health. We get them what they need. We level the playing field.”

That phrase — leveling the playing field — is one she returns to often.

“I had a child who wanted to play soccer but couldn’t get a physical,” she said. “We got the doctor involved. We made it happen. Now he can play just like anybody else. That’s what we do.”

The power of intuition

If the job requires clinical precision, it also depends heavily on something less measurable: intuition.

At Post Road School, nurse Yanderi Duran describes it as “knowing your kids,” a familiarity that allows her to detect subtle changes that others might miss.

“I had a student who comes in all the time, always with little injuries, never crying,” she said in her tidy office. “One day he came in and he was crying. And I said, ‘Oh no, something is wrong.’”

There were no visible signs of injury — no swelling or bruising on his hand — but Nurse Duran trusted her instinct.

“I sent him for evaluation,” she said. “He had a fracture exactly where I thought.”

That instinct can extend to more serious situations. Nurse Duran recalled a staff member who appeared unusually lethargic.

“They couldn’t open their eyes all the way,” she said. “Their blood pressure was 180 over 110. I thought, 'This could be a stroke.'”

She called 911 immediately.

“The person wanted to go to work,” she said. “I said, ‘No. There’s no working today.’”

It turns out the person was suffering the effects of the onset of COVID-19. Moments like that underscore the stakes of a job where hesitation isn’t an option.

For Nurse Duran, the impact of her work also came into sharp focus through the words of a student.

Each year, fifth-graders are asked to write about the person who has influenced them most. Last year, many chose her. The winning essay, read aloud during the Moving Up Ceremony, described her office as a place of comfort and painted a portrait of a nurse whose impact extends far beyond treating bumps and bruises.

“She has positively affected me because when I’m with her I feel safe,” the student wrote. “She has positively influenced my time at Post Road because she helps me take care of myself … and she has the most optimistic and inspiring personality.”

That recognition was both humbling and clarifying for Nurse Duran.

“At times, you ask what can I do better?” she said. “But this reminded me that even small interactions can positively affect a child’s life in ways we may not realize.”

The emotional triage

Not every visit to the nurse’s office is about a physical condition. In fact, a significant portion of the job involves emotional and psychological care — a dimension that has grown in recent years, particularly following the pandemic.

“A lot of what we see is psychosomatic,” Nurse Clark said at Highlands. “Stomach aches, headaches. It’s stress, it’s anxiety.”

She described a student who came in crying after failing a test.

“He said, ‘Nobody believes me in this school,’” Nurse Clark recalled. “That’s not a medical issue. That’s something deeper.”

In those cases, the nurse becomes a first point of contact, a listener, a stabilizer, a bridge to additional support.

“You give them space,” she said. “You calm them down. And then you bring in the social worker or the psychologist if needed. It’s teamwork.”

Nurse Duran approaches it similarly, often using breathing exercises and simple explanations to help students regulate their emotions.

"I tell them, ‘When you breathe, your belly relaxes, and your tummy ache is going to go away,’” she said. “And they believe it. And it works.”

She added that many students simply need to feel heard.

“Sometimes it’s just three minutes of listening,” she said. “And their eyes light up. That’s everything.”

'Hardest job I’ve ever had'

For nurses like Desiree Sanabria, who spent more than two decades in operating rooms before transitioning to school nursing, the shift has been eye-opening.

“I’ve had people say, ‘Oh, that’s a nice cushy job,’” said Nurse Sanabria, who works at Ridgeway School. “And I tell them, ‘No, it’s not.’”

In fact, she calls it the most demanding role of her career.

“After 20 years in the OR, this is the hardest job I’ve ever had,” she said. “It’s demanding on your body, your time. It’s nonstop. My door is never closed.”

She described seeing 50 students in a single day, often while managing complex medical needs.

“I have a diabetic student I monitor constantly,” she said. “Another student I catheterize twice a day. And on top of that, you’re seeing everyone else who walks in.”

And yet, despite the intensity, Nurse Sanabria finds the work deeply rewarding.

“The continuity is everything,” she said. “You see these kids from kindergarten to fifth grade. You watch them grow. You become part of their lives.”

Life saved at Stop & Shop

For Colleen Panetta, one of three nurses at White Plains High School, the job’s demands — and rewards — extend beyond the school walls.

Last year, while shopping in a Somers supermarket, she witnessed a man collapse.

“He was talking to me at first,” she said. “Then I lost his pulse.”

Nurse Panetta immediately began CPR, called for an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and delivered shocks until emergency responders arrived.

“He came back,” she said simply.

The hero nurse, who later visited the man at the hospital, will be honored May 19 with the Westchester Regional EMS Council Civilian of the Year Award.
But she’s quick to redirect the attention.

“I don’t want the spotlight on me,” she insisted. “I want it on the AED. That’s what saved his life.”

Still, the moment reflects the level of expertise and skills honed over years in high-pressure medical environments that school nurses bring to their multifaceted roles.

“When something happens, it’s second nature,” Nurse Panetta said. “You don’t think. You act.”

The call parents remember

For all the clinical complexity, one of the most delicate parts of the job is communicating with families, especially when something goes wrong.

Nurse Panetta has developed a signature approach.

“The first thing I say is, ‘Hi, this is Nurse Panetta. Everything is OK,’” she said. “Because nobody wants to see the school nurse calling.”

That reassurance sets the tone for what follows — a detailed explanation, a clear plan and, often, a partnership with the family.

“We’re on their side,” Nurse Clark said. “Without the parents, we can’t do the job.”
 
Despite the breadth and intensity of their responsibilities, school nurses often operate without the visibility or recognition given to other roles in education.

“Nurses Week is the same time as Teacher Appreciation Week,” Nurse Sanabria noted. “And sometimes it gets forgotten.”

But within the district, their impact is unmistakable.

“They’re essential,” Ms. Racioppo said. “We cannot have a building without a nurse. There’s too much going on.”

From managing chronic conditions to responding to emergencies, from tracking public health data to supporting mental well-being, school nurses are, in many ways, the circulatory system of a school community.

They work tirelessly to keep everything moving, everything functioning.

Or, as one nurse put it with a smile, offering perhaps the most fitting prescription for understanding their work:

“We don’t just put on Band-Aids,” Nurse Sanabria said, repeating the oft-used mantra. “We hold everything together.”

The Nurses in the WPCSD

Director of Nursing Services: 
•    Maggie Racioppo
Church Street School: 
•    Christine Greenwald
George Washington School:
•    Sallira Suero
Mamaroneck Avenue School: 
•    William Sappo
Post Road School: 
•    Yanderi Duran
Ridgeway School: 
•    Desiree Sanabria
Middle School - Eastview Campus: 
•    Noreen Gosdin
Middle School - Highlands Campus: 
•    Ellen Clark
•    Sandra Dolan
White Plains High School:    
•    Natalie Gjokaj
•    Rosemarie Corradina
•    Colleen Panetta
Rochambeau:    
•    Ellen Clark