A Boston mother is fighting to keep her 7-year-old son with Type 1 diabetes at St. John’s School after learning the Catholic elementary school will soon have days with no medical personnel available to help manage his condition.
Only on Boston 25, a Boston mom
is fighting for her type 1 diabetic son.
She told Boston 25's Carly Dion staffing issues could force him
to leave his Catholic elementary school.
Sam Allen says her 7-year-old son has type 1 diabetes.
Okay, do 10.
You do this, you do that, and you do this.
And what's it doing?
It's giving myself insulin.
He was just 18 months old when he was diagnosed.
So we can basically manage his care from our phones, pretty much.
That kind of care requires a little extra assistance as a first grader.
So a grown-up needs to be like, okay, those numbers are right,
because at seven, sometimes we think 15 is 51,
and we don't want him giving himself 51 carbs.
Which is why when it came to finding the right school this year,
she says she asked all of the questions ahead of time.
When she found St. John's School
in the North End might be the right fit.
We met with the school seven to ten times over
the summer before we committed and enrolled him.
And we were told there's three nurses on staff,
there's full-time nursing, he will be fully managed.
They've dealt with type 1 diabetics before.
All of that to avoid one of her worst fears.
My family and I are really specific about,
are you sure, can you do the care?
We want to make sure that we don't have
to pull him out of school because you can't handle it.
No, absolutely, Sam, we can do the care.
But now two months into the school year,
Allen says she's being told the school
no longer has the nursing staff her son requires.
She basically said the main nurse resigned.
We are looking for another nurse.
And I was like, okay, well, that's good. You have the budget.
Let's get another nurse here. Yeah, it's not that easy.
She says the head of the school told
her they would try to find a replacement,
but she may need to figure out another plan for her son.
We reached out to the school by email
and received a response from the Archdiocese of Boston,
saying in part, the school did not kick out the student,
nor are they planning to.
They are working to resolve a staffing change at the school
and will stay in contact with the family,
but no one has been kicked out.
In this email, Alan received Friday the
The head of school tells her there would
be no medical personnel in the building
to assist with her son Monday through Thursday as of November 20th.
It goes on to say Catholic schools
are not required to have nurses on staff,
but they will be advertising
for a part-time school nurse moving forward.
He just wants to fit in, and I have to tell him,
sorry, that you can't go to school because...
She says she's heartbroken to have to tell her son he may
not be able to go back to a school he loves.
And it would have been a different conversation
if the school said to me, hey Sam, we can't take a type 1.
I would say, okay, that really stinks,
but I understand you aren't equipped to do it.
No matter what happens next,
she says she'll do whatever it takes to continue supporting her son.
He will come out stronger and we'll make sure of it.
I also reached out to St. John's directly by phone on Friday and I spoke
with an administrative assistant about
the situation to which she responded.
No comment in the North End of Boston.
Carly Dion for your local station,
Boston 25 News.
