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Two new school nurses are MHS grads
McCOOK, Neb. — Two new nurses hired for McCook Public Schools this year won’t have any problem navigating the school hallways.
That’s because they both grew up in McCook and graduated from McCook High School.
Tyra (Placzek) Barger, RN, hired to be the head nurse for the district, graduated from MHS in 2001. Stephanie (Koch) Montes, hired for McCook Elementary, graduated in 2002.
Working in the same school district she graduated from is “a little weird, but it’s the perfect job, it can’t get much better than this,” Barger said recently. “I know where all the classrooms are and it’s nice to see familiar faces. And being from McCook, I know a lot of the parents.”
And now that she and her family have moved here, the pace may slow down a bit for them. She and her husband, Scott, who works in pharmaceutical sales with Astellas Pharma, and their three boys, Kyson, 10, Kreighton, 7 and Kroy, 5, moved here from Fort Collins, Colo. There, Barger worked at Harmony Surgery Center in the evenings while her husband stayed home with the kids. During the day when he worked, Barger was with the kids.
So schedule-wise, things might a little less hectic in McCook. But not right yet. With all three kids getting ready to start school, the youngest in preschool, Barger is now in the middle of school shopping for clothes and supplies and preparing for her new job. And, she and her husband are in the process of buying a house, so the things are still a little busy.
It helps that both sets of grandparents are nearby, Barger said, with her folks in McCook and Scott’s family in Culbertson.
Barger said she’s looking forward to the new school year, citing “an amazing staff and wonderful kiddos.” As the head nurse, she’ll have her office at the high school and oversee two other school nurses in the district, Deb Gleason at the junior/senior high and Montes.
And if it seems a little like deja vu, that’s all right with her.
“It’s perfect, I’m home,” Barger said.
For Montes, coming to work for McCook Schools took a different route.
Montes was already a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Omaha with a degree in non-profit administration. She and her husband, Oscar, who she met on a worship team in Omaha and now works at the McCook Work Ethic Camp in McCook, had moved back to McCook several years ago. She was a stay-at-home mom to their three kids, Zane, now 7, Alice, 5 and Selah, 1.
But when she started subbing part-time at McCook Elementary, Montes said she felt a tug at her heart.
“I didn’t realize the needs of some these kids, that school is their only stability,” she said. “I saw how for some kids, their teacher is the only stable and loving figure they have, that school is the only place they get a decent meal sometimes.”
So she decided to make the jump and went back to school for an LPN degree, with the help of her parents and grandparents who helped out with baby sitting. She graduated this year from Mid-Plains Community College and is planning to pursue an RN degree in the future.
For now, though, she’ll be getting her feet wet this first year as a school nurse, staying on top of health needs of students, like asthma medication or other special medications and giving the nurses’ office her own special touch.
But in the end, it’s not about her at all, Montes said.
“We tell our kids all the time, that they are an example of Jesus Christ to classmates and friends,” she said. “Because every place can be a mission field.”