Lice, school does NOTHING?!?! VENT

[dustysky]

I am so mad right now!!
I want to be very clear that my daughter gets a bath every morning, I wash and condition, then braid or comb straight, whatever her/our mood is but the point is she is CLEAN.
Tuesday morning after her bath I parted her hair and saw a few nits. 1st thought Ewwwwww, 2nd oh crap this is going to be pain in the *bleep*, 3rd poor little thing and 4th I have to notify the school.
So I call the school nurse and tell her my daughter has nits and they have to start looking at her class mates. I was told point blank "we do NOT do that", WHAT?! I was then told that they only sent a student down to the nurse to be checked if they were scratching etc. I went on to say that my daughter was not scratching so why would they wait for that when they already know its in the class somewhere?
You know I have felt for a very long time that the staff of the schools my children attend disregard the parents a great deal and it does upset me that we as parents are not communicated with nearly as much as we should be (if your child's teacher keeps you up to date great but ours do not). But OMG this takes the cake.
I just don't have the money to keep treating for lice because they can not be RESPONSIBLE enough to take a pro active approach!!

 

[JennyMominRI]

I am so mad right now!!
I want to be very clear that my daughter gets a bath every morning, I wash and condition, then braid or comb straight, whatever her/our mood is but the point is she is CLEAN.
Tuesday morning after her bath I parted her hair and saw a few nits. 1st thought Ewwwwww, 2nd oh crap this is going to be pain in the *bleep*, 3rd poor little thing and 4th I have to notify the school.
So I call the school nurse and tell her my daughter has nits and they have to start looking at her class mates. I was told point blank "we do NOT do that", WHAT?! I was then told that they only sent a student down to the nurse to be checked if they were scratching etc. I went on to say that my daughter was not scratching so why would they wait for that when they already know its in the class somewhere?
You know I have felt for a very long time that the staff of the schools my children attend disregard the parents a great deal and it does upset me that we as parents are not communicated with nearly as much as we should be (if your child's teacher keeps you up to date great but ours do not). But OMG this takes the cake.
I just don't have the money to keep treating for lice because they can not be RESPONSIBLE enough to take a pro active approach!!

Are you sure they are nits and not dandruff of a flaky scalp

 

[Blondy876]

It's the same way at my school. By law, we cannot check a child for lice if there are no symptoms present. It's the law. It's not school policy. I do not agree with it. I caught head lice a month or so ago from a child in my class. That's how I found out about the law. I wanted all the children in my class checked and was told that it was against the law to do it. Ridiculous.

 

[dustysky]

ohhh no hey were nits we spent a good 2 or more hours shampooing and then takeing them out one by one

 

[JennyMominRI]

ohhh no hey were nits we spent a good 2 or more hours shampooing and then takeing them out one by one

Ok,just making sure becaus eone time I though DS had lice,turned out to be dandruff

 

[dustysky]

It's the same way at my school. By law, we cannot check a child for lice if there are no symptoms present. It's the law. It's not school policy. I do not agree with it. I caught head lice a month or so ago from a child in my class. That's how I found out about the law. I wanted all the children in my class checked and was told that it was against the law to do it. Ridiculous.

When and why in the world would they make such a law?? I can remember when I was a kid, each month group by group we would get called down to have a "head check".

 

[Blondy876]

When and why in the world would they make such a law?? I can remember when I was a kid, each month group by group we would get called down to have a "head check".

From my understanding it has something to do with confidentiality.

 

[Talking Hands]

I am so mad right now!!
I want to be very clear that my daughter gets a bath every morning, I wash and condition, then braid or comb straight, whatever her/our mood is but the point is she is CLEAN.
Tuesday morning after her bath I parted her hair and saw a few nits. 1st thought Ewwwwww, 2nd oh crap this is going to be pain in the *bleep*, 3rd poor little thing and 4th I have to notify the school.
So I call the school nurse and tell her my daughter has nits and they have to start looking at her class mates. I was told point blank "we do NOT do that", WHAT?! I was then told that they only sent a student down to the nurse to be checked if they were scratching etc. I went on to say that my daughter was not scratching so why would they wait for that when they already know its in the class somewhere?
You know I have felt for a very long time that the staff of the schools my children attend disregard the parents a great deal and it does upset me that we as parents are not communicated with nearly as much as we should be (if your child's teacher keeps you up to date great but ours do not). But OMG this takes the cake.
I just don't have the money to keep treating for lice because they can not be RESPONSIBLE enough to take a pro active approach!!

It is the kids with the clean hair that get lice. You will notice that kids that use gel and such rarely get lice. It is up to the teachers in our schools to check for head lice. Some teachers I know check weekly. I would check with the superentendent's office to see if this is policy and ask specifically what is the policy. I would also call the health department and make the same inquiry.

 

[poohandwendy]

I understand your frustration, but I would be willing to bet these typesof laws came about from parents flipping out and saying "You have no right to touch my kid, even to check for lice, without permission"

Our school still does a head check if lice is found on any students in a class room, but it wouldn't surprise me to see a law like that come through.

 

[MidgeD79]

The American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement that lice is a nuisance and not a disease. Having lice is not a threat to anyones health. Many schools are turning to "lice free" but not "nit free" as long as the nits are more than one inch from the scalp. YUCK!

 

[Luv'sTink]

I am sure you know, but, lice has nothing to do with cleanliness.

 

[Hedy]

From my understanding it has something to do with confidentiality.

That I can see, I can still tell you who had lice in 1st grade. But why couldn't they do it behind a screen, or even send out a "A child has been found with lice, check your children" letter. I wonder what they do for Fifth's disease?

 

[Talking Hands]

From my understanding it has something to do with confidentiality.

Who did you get the information from? If it was just from office staff or the principal I would check it out further. Hate to say it but that are not always truthful especially if it is to their advantage not to be.

 

[dustysky]

I am sure you know, but, lice has nothing to do with cleanliness.

I do know that but the idea will forever be that lice=dirty

 

[CF'er]

DD's kindergarden class got infected BAD a couple years ago. Of course she got them. I couldn't find one on her but the nurse would pick and pick and pick. I looked and looked and still nothing. We treated her and I'd check and we'd go back to school and the nurse would find them. She finally took pity on me and let DD go back to school. She had to stay out till we got rid of them.

 

[dustysky]

That I can see, I can still tell you who had lice in 1st grade. But why couldn't they do it behind a screen, or even send out a "A child has been found with lice, check your children" letter. I wonder what they do for Fifth's disease?

I was told that a letter would go out but nothing was sent home tuesday or today.

 

[Blondy876]

Who did you get the information from? If it was just from office staff or the principal I would check it out further. Hate to say it but that are not always truthful especially if it is to their advantage not to be.

I was told this by our districts head nurse.

That I can see, I can still tell you who had lice in 1st grade. But why couldn't they do it behind a screen, or even send out a "A child has been found with lice, check your children" letter. I wonder what they do for Fifth's disease?

We do send out a letter to all parents when it is found.

 

[DaisyD]

I've never heard of such a law and do not believe there is such a thing. When someone in my kids classes was found to have lice the whole class was sent down to the nurse's office one by one to check for lice. I wouldn't let my kids attend a school that didn't take that precaution.

 

[dustysky]

She had to stay out till we got rid of them.

She should have, I was SHOCKED when my daughter told me that no one even looked at her today to see if they were gone.
I just simply do not get it

 

[Karel]

That I can see, I can still tell you who had lice in 1st grade. But why couldn't they do it behind a screen, or even send out a "A child has been found with lice, check your children" letter. I wonder what they do for Fifth's disease?

We have similar policy at our elementary school.

I know for a fact they do nothing for Fifth's disease either. Once a kid's got it, s/he's exposed other kids to it. It spreads like wildfire but the worst that happens is a low grade fever.