AISD Notebook

Much of Monday's school board meeting was consumed with discussion of a proposal from the Seton Health Care Network, which now runs Brackenridge and the Children's Hospital of Austin, to manage and operate health services for AISD. Briefly stated, the plan would keep all 30 or so registered nurses who currently have contracts with AISD, and add an indeterminate number of less-trained "school health aides" into the mix. Instead of establishing an expensive, school-based delivery system, the Seton plan would be geared toward helping children and their families find community-based health care and human services, said Charles Barnett, chief executive officer of Seton Health Care Network. Deputy superintendent Kay Psencik said the plan would more than double the number of hours of health services that campuses currently receive.

But concerns burbled among a few board members about Seton's alliance with the Daughters of Charity, and therefore, "coming from a Catholic perspective" (in the words of trustee Jerry Carlson), demonstrating, perhaps, a certain "bias" in uh, er, delivering some services for students? Translation: Does AISD's acceptance of this contract mean that nurses cannot counsel pregnant teens or do sexuality education? Barnett rambled a bit, explaining that certain "ethical and religious directives" apply to Seton employees when they're on Seton ground, but those directives become more flexible when Seton's the visiting team, so to speak. Superintendent James Fox leapt into the discussion at that point, emphasizing that school board policy would drive what Seton does on AISD campuses.

Glenda Parks, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Austin, said she, too, had been assured that Seton's entrance into the scene wouldn't change things. But she is not quite convinced that having the Daughters of Charity running AISD health care will mean no changes. "We just want to know, do secular guidelines apply?" Parks said. AISD nurses are the first point of contact for many pregnant teens, and nurses must be able to freely talk and make appropriate referrals, Parks said. The fear of being judged weighs heavily into teens' decisions to seek help from adults, and if word gets out that a school nurse can't be trusted, then the nurses will be far less effective than they could be, Parks added.

Despite concerns, in general, board members seemed pumped on the idea. They'll vote on the still-evolving proposal at their next regular meeting on August 26. While AISD children clearly need more, not less, on- site health services, the devil's always in the details, isn't it? The details have continued to shift around since Fox announced in May that he wanted to do this. And that is the problem.

Other Board News: Fox continued instituting the tremendous turnover among campus principals he has pushed since his arrival in January 1995. Thirty-three out of 96 schools either have or will soon have new principals, and, according to Fox, there is more to come. "We are in the process of upgrading the leadership in this school district, and I am not finished."

Of the 11 new principal appointments that the board approved on Monday, notables include the much-decorated Tina Juarez, who left Webb Jr. High to become Austin High's principal and was succeeded at Webb by Zavala Elementary's innovative Al Mindiz-Melton, and super-nice-guy Patrick Patterson, former principal at Reilly Elementary, who was promoted to Dobie Middle School.

Don't forget: School starts Tuesday, Aug. 13.