Lori McCarty is not a teacher. She’s a nurse and the head healthcare professional for Greeley-Evans School District 6, a school system with approximately 23,000 students and 2,700 staff.

McCarty, though, has found herself in a “teaching” role this year with the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic. McCarty has led the district’s response to the virus, including writing a “curriculum” to help students and staff safely return to in-school learning this fall.

The district opens the school year Monday.

McCarty, the district’s coordinator of health services, is a registered nurse with a master’s degree in pediatric nurse leadership. She said the most challenging part of crafting the coronavirus plans was adapting to the changing guidelines issued by various public health agencies.

“It’s still evolving,” McCarty said. “We worked with the (Weld County) health department to make sure isolation rooms and quarantines were correct. We had screening tools for employees and staff. We came up with policies for health clerks so they know what to do — is it a cold, is it COVID?”

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued additional guidelines Aug. 12 on coronavirus cases and outbreaks in schools. 

At Weld RE-4 in Windsor and Severance, the district does not have a designated healthcare leader in an equivalent position of McCarty. The district has school nurses on staff, and it’s following guidelines laid out by the county health department, the CDPHE, the Colorado Department of Education and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We’re being advised by the Weld County health department,” Weld RE-4 spokeswoman Lisa Relou said. “School nurses are an incredible valued part of our system.”

Weld RE-4 also opens classes next week.

McCarty’s job was to cut through all of the guidelines — from the executive orders from Gov. Jared Polis and information from national and state governmental agencies such as the CDC, the county health department, and state health and education departments — to keep track of the ever-changing information and adapt it for District 6.

She wrote the book for the district on using cloth face masks and on physical distancing, worked with school-based leaders on the isolation and quarantine set up while remaining in touch and on point for District 6 Superintendent Deirdre Pilch and her cabinet.

McCarty has a staff of 46 people working with her, including four other registered nurses who lent their time over the summer to help come up with district protocol and policy. McCarty had fewer than five days off all summer. The registered nurses are responsible for two to five district buildings, and McCarty also has assistance from 36 health clerks.

A big part of McCarty’s day Friday was finalizing information for the health clerks. There is a health clerk in every building in the district.

McCarty is beginning her sixth year in District 6. She’s been a school nurse for 15 years. McCarty worked as a labor and delivery nurse and with the county health department before switching to the school system.

She called school nursing “the hardest job I’ve ever had” because of the variety and diversity of healthcare needs within a school district. McCarty’s master’s degree has an emphasis on children with special needs.

This is one group of students requiring assistance and care from school nurses. The other issues that might come into a school nurse’s office include students with allergies, seizures and organ transplants or waiting for such operations.

“School nursing is more an independent practice,” said McCarty, comparing the work to a hospital setting. “In schools, you’re getting the gamut of health conditions. We have to know a little bit about a lot,” or know how to find needed information, she added.

McCarty did not enter the pandemic blind. In fact, she and the district last year had a crystal-ball perspective at what could happen in a public health situation — though on a smaller level.

In March 2019, four District 6 schools and a district program closed in an effort to stop a norovirus outbreak. District 6 Chief of Communications Theresa Myers said the outbreak occurred around the time of the district’s spring break, preventing the need for more school closures.

Early this year, not long before the district rallied its resources to pay attention to coronavirus, McCarty was working on rolling out a plan to react to a health emergency based on the district’s experience with norovirus.

The work proved to be a trial run for this novel coronavirus with many of the concepts McCarty laid out in the post-norovirus plan remaining relevant in the fight against coronavirus. McCarty emphasized hand washing and she stressed an importance on staying away from schools if someone is ill, wearing masks and social distancing.

“It taught us about good cleaning procedures and identifying kids who need to go home,” McCarty said. “Following a case and seeing how it spread in limited contact tracing, and the importance of communication with the health department.”

McCarty said the difference between the viruses is norovirus, once the symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea and nausea are controlled, the virus is stopped. Coronavirus is an airborne illness, allowing it to spread rapidly through communities.

“It’s not going to go away,” she said. “We’re kind of learning as we go.”

McCarty added she “can’t stress enough” the importance of flu shots this year with coronavirus still in play. With healthcare systems challenged by coronavirus, additional patient loads from flu must be avoided.

“I think we’ve really relied on guidance and done the best we can to make schools as safe as we can,” she said. “It’s going to take a community effort to help keep schools open. Keep children home if they’re sick. Wear a mask, wash your hands and follow protocols and hopefully we’ll be able to keep our schools open longer.”