For the first time this fall, elementary students with Type 1 Diabetes who have continuous glucose monitoring devices will be monitored by school nurses using apps downloaded to devices in the health office.
The School Board unanimously approved the new policy on Tuesday.
The policy deals with diabetes management and other health related topics. The change outlines the use and monitoring of CGM apps.
According to division spokesperson Dan Adams, iPads with special protective cases have been purchased for all 37 elementary school health offices and will be in place by the first day of school, all relevant staff has been trained on the apps and feedback from families has been positive.
“We are ready to go day one,” he said.
Lauren Valentine is the parent of a rising second grader and has been working to get the division to monitor students using the apps for two years.
“I am thrilled to be on the other side of the table to collaborate with LCPS to follow through with the CGM Follow apps at our schools,” she said via text.
Valentine said her son is fully reliant on an adult for his diabetes care.
A continuous glucose monitor attached to the back of a young boys arm. The device monitors glucose continually rather than monitoring it periodically by drawing blood. Many people with diabetes use the device and an app that alerts them or their family that their levels are too high or too low.
She said she met with Office of Student Services Director Kirk Dolson and Student Health Services Supervisor Jeannie Kloman in July as the regulation was being drafted and was able to see it along with two other parents before it was made public.
Valentine also said she recently met with the administration at her son’s elementary school and said they have created a care plan and are ready to go once the iPads arrive. She said the staff seemed equally excited to incorporate the tool.
“It’s a pioneering effort in our county,” she said.
During Tuesday night’s School Board meeting, Chair Melinda Mansfield (Dulles) amended the policy to ensure both the student’s doctor and parents give permission for an employee who is not a registered nurse or nurse practitioner to administer insulin or glucagon to a student.
Mansfield said she made the change to keep the wording in the policy consistent with the state code.
The new policy was presented to the Student Services Committee in February and was discussed multiple times, culminating in parents asking for more supports, like the ability for nurses to monitor an app for their children for their safety.
Valentine was among the parents who argued that allowing a school nurse to monitor a student’s CGM app would provide greater safety, fewer visits to the nurse, and more time in the classroom and more peace of mind for parents and the nurse.
During a committee meeting in May, Mansfield said she wasn’t comfortable voting for the policy without more in place to protect the students and asked the staff to do more research. Initially, administrators had recommended against having nurses monitor students blood sugars through CGM apps, citing worries about privacy and time constraints within the health office.
That extra research paid off and parents won support from School Board members and division staff in June when Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Tedra Richardson presented research that showed several districts in Virginia as well as several across the country allowed CGM monitoring. Richardson said the division would incorporate the policies for CGM app monitoring used in other school districts into a new regulation that deals with emergency first aid, CPR, AED, and diabetes management.
“I’d like to thank the parents who advocated for this overall change of monitoring students CGM’s and provided the research from other districts who were monitoring CGM’s. This helped staff with their research come up with a process for LCPS,” Mansfield said Tuesday. “And I’m super, super proud of the work that was done.”
A continuous glucose monitor is a device that is attached to a person’s body and monitors glucose continually rather than periodically by drawing blood. Parents say the CGM apps show trends and can help avoid serious emergencies. Parents were advocating for nurses to be allowed access to the app data so they could prevent serious medical emergencies and cut down on the time to get assistance to the student. Often parents receiving an alert from an app must call the school and be transferred to the nurse to alert them of their student’s glucose numbers.
