Lice, school does NOTHING?!?! VENT

[mickeyboat]

There was lice in my DD's classroom this year, and we got a note home - not mentioning any names, of course. The kid sat right nect to DD, but she never got it. They sent the note home on a Friday and the kid was back in school on Monday. I don't know whether they checked him before he returned, or not. They put his coat in a plastic bag, separated from al lthe other kids' coats, and that was about it. The kids said that the nurse never checked them.

When they were in pre-k, children could return to school as long as there were no live lice or eggs. They were checked before they returned to the classroom, and the other children were checked a couple times as well.

I remember in fifth grade, the worse thing I could think of happening to me was that I would get lice.

I am glad that lice has been re-classified as a nuissance, and not an evil disease. It happens, you deal with it. There should be no social stigma attached to it, and I think the school are doing a great job keeping it that way. I make sure my kids know that yes, it is a pain, but not, it is not a big deal.

Denae

 

[JunieJay]

I think its ridiculous they can't send a note home. Don't name names, but let the other parents know so they can deal with it.

PC run amok if otherwise.

 

[disykat]

About Fifths Disease - I had a child with it in my classroom while I was pregant. I recognized the "slapped face" look. Another child got it a few days later and stayed home. At the point it was discovered, it was too late - I was already exposed. I had the choice of staying home for a few weeks on sick leave, but my physician recommended continuing to teach. I read everything available at the time and came to the conclusion I had already been exposed and would probably continue to be - at the grocery store, etc.

The school nurse was the first person at my school to learn about my pregnancy. I was fortunate not to get it. I had a friend who had it as an adult (not pregnant, thankfully) and it wasn't pleasant.

 

[luv2crash]

Have any of you ever heard of this? My daughter got lice from the little girl she sits with on the bus and my best friend who is a nurse told me about this stuff. They have a ton of products that are all natural and they claim that it repells lice. I swear by this stuff now. My daughter hasn't gotten it again since the first time, the other little girl has lice all the time and I told her mother about it and she said it was too expensive. At this point I think her mom just doesn't care enough to do everything it takes to get rid of lice for good.

fairytaleshaircare.com

 

[shovan]

I provide daycare for my niece who is 4. We have received several letters this year, when a student has lice. So far, we've been lucky, none yet! They don't check them unless the child is scratching etc. But anytime it is discovered a letter goes out to the whole school. I don't understand how or why a law would prevent the school from informing parents when there is an outbreak.

 

[Becky2005]

At our school the kids are sent to the nurse at the first sign of continious scratching and then have their hair combed to find out for sure! After that ,if lice is found, the child is sent home and a letter from the nurse is sent home to all classmates parents ,then when the child is "free" and retuns to school all classmates are recombed again!

I KNOW they do here too. Last year my then 3rd grader had an itchy bout of all over itchiness. The nurse was at a loss & so was I. I know she told me she checked for lice, a rash, anything... and basically I took him home because he couldn't sit still he was so itchy. It was just a mysterious "I'm so itchy" but nothing obvious. FINALLY after thinking about it for a while, it dawned on me he had eaten a new food the day before and he had eaten this same food the previous weekend with the same reaction a day later but I didn't put 2+2 together since it was a delayed reaction and there was no obvious rash or anything and he's my one who tends to whine/complain a lot. So, our guess was there was something in it that gave him a reaction. He just no longer eats that and hasn't had a problem since.

I know IF a child is reported as having lice, then all the kids in that classroom are checked. The whole school isn't just everyone in that particular classroom and a notice is sent home.

We get a notice *EVERY* year in the grade school. I don't think I have had a year yet that I haven't gotten a notice. For that matter, I got a call from the park district once that they got a report of someone in a completely different class than what my children took but was in the same room, had an outbreak.

I am pretty sure it's volunteers/nurse who do the check and not the teachers themselves

 

[barkley]

i was curious so i checked our state laws and guidelines. apparantly the schools have a 'no nit' policy so any child found with lice or nits cannot attend school until neither is present. when a child is discovered to have these they are to be removed from the classroom and the parents called to pick them up. the school is supposed to give the parents an informing letter that provides information on treatment. in the case of lice an informing notice is to be sent out to the classmates parents to advise-with nits it's optional (depending on close to the scalp). they can choose to inspect all the kids in the classroom.

if a child has repeated outbreaks it gets referred to the school district's attendance board (we have mandatory attendance standards-beyond so many days for lice treatment the absences are no longer deemed excusable), and both health and social services can at the school's discretion become involved (health services if the school feels the student poses a public health nusance by continuing to expose others to the problem, social services if the schools feel that a concerted effort on the parent's part is'nt happening and may indicate neglect).

reccommended that school inspect kids whenever they return to class from summer breaks or 2 week or longer school breaks. can do it more often if the school had determined a 'trend' that they need to keep on top of.

 

[Mermaid02]

I spoke with dh and he feels that the risk to an infected woman is actually greater than what is stated by the CDC. he says it is 10% and should be avoided. (dh is an infectious disease specialist)

If I were pregnant I wouldn't risk it. People should be notified and have the choice.

 

[Dina]

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.

But if one of the teachers is pregnant or one of the parents of a kid who was exposed-- that is a big problem. My friend was exposed by one of her students while pregnant. They shouldn't let a child with Fifth's disease in school. Off my soapbox

Editing-- I replied without reading all of the posts after the post I quoted. I didn't realize you guys had already discussed this--- just ignore my post.

 

[noahynav]

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

I absolutely do not agree with this statement. I think that a lot of CLEAN people get it from dirty people who have it. The OP is an example of a CLEAN person who is doing her job as a mother by washing and combing her childs hair daily and noticed a FEW nits. She took action immediately. IT is the lazy parents who let their kids skip baths, cannot be bothered to ever comb or style their childs hair in the morning, and therefore do not notice the lice until the problem is out of hand that I consider to be DIRTY people. I realize that anyone can catch or spread lice, they do not discriminate. But it is the overall lazy attitude of parents and schools that really gets me.

To the OP, I feel your frustration. My son has never had lice, but I am absolutely terrified of it and constantly check his head for it. HIs school has a problem with it and it is because they are so lax in the way they handle it. They scoff at my suggestions too. They won't do checks, they encourage kids to share headphones, they pile winter coats and hats on top of each other, UGGGHHH!!!! It makes me want to scream. From what I have heard, treating lice is very time consuming and costly. I do not want to go through that ever. So it really, really gets under my skin when other people are not more pro active about getting rid of it. I am sorry you are experincing the same thing.

And to the person who said lice is not a disease.....would you treat your dog if it had fleas? Same difference. It is disgusting and most people think so. The thought of my children walking around with bugs in thier hair makes my skin crawl.

 

[mickeyboat]

Actually, it has been proven that lice are attracted more to clean hair than dirty hair. That is why lice has nothing to do with how clean you are. Now the spread of lice may be due to how lazy someone is. That I will agree with. If someone gets lice in your home, you can expect to spend hours and hours vacuuming, doing laundry, bagging up toys, and picking nits.

I check my kids from time to time for lice, but I am not fanatic about it. If an outbreak is reported, I check a couple of times a day - because I would really like to treat it before it gets out of control. I said lice is not a disease -it isn't. It has no effect whatsoever on a person's health. Yes, it is a pain. Yes, it must be dealth with. But it is not a deadly epidemic. I am not going to live my life worrying that lice is around every corner. I don't want the school to do it, either. There are many many other issued the school and I spend our time worrying about besides lice.

Denae

 

[Tantor]

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

Yup me too. They even send her home because they THOUGHT it was nits.

Our school does check the kids in the child's class that have lice or nits if one is detected. (and also the siblings)

 

[Rock'n Robin]

DD#1 had this when she was 4 and in preschool. I know her best friend at school had them as well (which I found out later). They had a "dress up" bin and wore hats, etc. The teachers bagged up all of the hats and put them away until the next school year since it was April. Her friend at the babysitter's house also had them. I thought I did but looking back I think I had a dry scalp. It was a miserable time in our house!
I do remember that lice do NOT jump--so there isn't a danger of one jumping from one head to another. They are spread if a child leans in to listen or something and heads touch, or hats are shared, or brushes/combs....we still do not share things and I'm funny about hats--DH likes to have the kids "try on" the expensive WDW hats (sombreros, pirate dreadlocks, etc.) and take a photo to save the $ on the hat, and I don't like that at all! I know we are all a clean bunch of DISers, but who knows who was wearing that hat 5 minutes ago.
Also, the thing about going to bed with wet hair is not true. If there are lice on a pillow from someone else, they are just as likely to climb into your hair wet as they are if it is dry.
Robin M.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Ah, lice. Aren't they just the coolest little things?

They're so cool, that my DD8 came home with them not once last year, but TWICE.

The first time around, we're pretty sure came from her wearing the same Santa hat for class photos, that the school had the other students wear as well. Pretty irresponsible and clueles of the school, if you ask me.

Since her mother so graciously sent her to us for her regularly scheduled weekends at our house, I got to nit-pick not once, but TWICE. The second time around was about one week before we left for our Spring Break trip.

Yeah... those were the days.

 

[princess pooh]

I spoke with dh and he feels that the risk to an infected woman is actually greater than what is stated by the CDC. he says it is 10% and should be avoided. (dh is an infectious disease specialist)

My doctor agress with your DH. I work in a kindergarten and I'm not immune to fifth disease. She wants me to stop working as soon as I find out I'm pregnant. Here elementary teachers who aren't immune get paid leave.

 

[Disney Doll]

I think its sad that a school nurse cant look at a child head to check for head lice. While its not a disease, it is still communicable. And if we can prevent it why not take the actions needed to do so?

Well, thank some sue-happy parents who probably sued the school board or whatever somewhere along the line, so now they have a "no touch" policy.

Sounds like it's some sort of regualtion in some areas and not in others.

I never got lice as a kid in school, believe it or not. I have been exposed to it several times as a nurse, get the shampoo, do my thing, and life goes on. I have never actually found nits or the bugs on me though.

The shampoo is probably completely and utterly terrible for your hair, but I recall it making my hair "squeaky clean".

 

[gnbuggy]

Well, thank some sue-happy parents who probably sued the school board or whatever somewhere along the line, so now they have a "no touch" policy.

Sounds like it's some sort of regualtion in some areas and not in others.

I never got lice as a kid in school, believe it or not. I have been exposed to it several times as a nurse, get the shampoo, do my thing, and life goes on. I have never actually found nits or the bugs on me though.

The shampoo is probably completely and utterly terrible for your hair, but I recall it making my hair "squeaky clean".

My mother is a grade school teacher and often talks about how the teachers are suppose to handle a student hugging them. They cant hug back.
I remember the smell of Quell. Ah, memories. Ew.