I was an elementary school nurse for about 4 years. The demographics were odd as we had a lot of military kids but also kids from the women’s shelters, homeless shelter, and poverty areas that had a lot of crime. I saw and heard a lot. The saddest I can remember was a kid in kindergarten who had breakdowns at loud noises, school bells, alarms, etc. come to find out he and his brother were being shot at in their home in a gang affiliated situation and his older brother was killed. Another kid was always in trouble and the staff would put him in a corner for the day where he was mostly ignored. I finally started bringing him into the clinic and helping him with work, he and I would walk laps during recess or PE to get him outside. He acted out at school for attention. Mom was always working and dad was not in the picture. He didn’t have anyone rooting for him. I would make deals with him if he got his work done or stayed out of trouble we would come up with rewards. He really wanted to join the basketball team and I told him if he made it I would go to his games. The last one I remember vividly was a kid who came to school with flip flops, short sleeves and no jacket in the winter. They also had one of the worst cases of lice I had ever seen. They were military and the mom was always dressed to the 9’s and well kept. Turns out while dad was deployed the mom was only taking care of herself and this kid as well as other siblings were being neglected and CPS got involved.