An essential part of every school is the school nurse. The school nurse is always there, ready with a smile to hand out ice or a Band-Aid, or let students lie down when they have a headache.
McNicholas’s nurse, Mary Anne Christmann, has been a school nurse since 1975. Christmann began volunteering at Guardian Angels when her 4 sons attended school there. “I just happened to be there volunteering when the next year the principal asked if I would like to be the nurse,” Christmann said. She worked at Guardian Angels for 31 years.
While still working at GA, she began working at McNicholas in 1988, “I was doing half time at both schools. I’ve now been here 32 years; for 18 years, I did both schools,” Christmann said.
“There are advantages and disadvantages to working in the school. The advantage is that if they [my children] were off of school, I was off of school. The disadvantage was the same thing. I never got a day home alone with little kids,” Christmann said.
When students come to the nurse’s office, Christmann goes through a list of questions. “I ask what class they are missing and if they have a test. Then I ask, does your teacher know you’re here? So they don’t have to send a search party.”
At the beginning of each year, or when there are new students, Christmann is responsible for making sure that the incoming students have all of their immunizations, as well as completing a physical. “We need records from their old school too for anyone new coming into the building,” Christmann said.
“My job is to try to keep you in school,” Christmann said.
The McNicholas Milestone 