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Should Kids With Head Lice Stay at School?
Every parent I know dreads the phone call from the school nurse — especially when she’s calling to inform you that you must pick up your kid because they have lice.
If you haven’t gotten it yet, it’s likely that you’ll get the dreaded phone call at some point. An estimated 6 million to 12 million infestations of head lice occur in the U.S. each year, mainly among children ages 3 to 12, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Lice may no longer be the social stigma it once was (because we all know by now that it has nothing to do with cleanliness), but it’s still a major pain in the…head. In addition to combing out your child’s hair with a special nit-picking comb, you’ve also got to sequester her favorite stuffed animals and toss her bedding into the laundry. But do you need to keep your kid home from school?
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says that lice have grown more persistent and getting rid of them is even tougher. Apparently, some of the most common treatments for killing head lice are no longer as effective because lice have built up a resistance to them. Some new treatments may take a week or more. Should kids have to miss school until all the lice eggs are gone?
“No,” says the AAP, which opposes “no-nit” policies, which require that a child who has lice is sent home from school and can’t return until any sign of lice eggs are gone. According to the AAP, there is no medical reason to take kids out of school because head lice is not as contagious as the schools make it seem. By the time they are discovered at school, most lice is past the contagious point.
I’m amazed to hear that schools with ”no-nit” policies have approximately the same number of head lice cases than schools that without “no-nit” policies.
Because head lice is more persistent than ever, it might take three treatments a week apart in order to completely eradicate the lice. As long as a child is receiving treatment for lice, they should be allowed back to school, according to the AAP.
That all sounds reasonable, but how do we enforce that the child is being treated?
It’s true that sending a kid home from school until they are nit-free not only stigmatizes them, but hurts their education. But I’ve seen firsthand how lice can spread through a classroom.
The National Pediculosis Association (NPA), a nonprofit parents group that promotes the use of non-chemical solutions to treatment lice, favors “no-nit” policies at schools. The NPA says sending kids with lice home makes it easier for schools to manage lice. Besides, how are schools supposed to determine which nits are okay to leave and which aren’t?
What do you think? Should kids with lice be able to stay in school?
Photo: flickr/clickcraftsman
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Dustin commented on Jul 27 10 at 10:45 amThe LouseBuster device uses only controlled heated air to get rid of head lice and this could make it extremely hard for lice to develop a resistance. http://www.lousebuster.com
BlackOrchid commented on Jul 27 10 at 11:05 amAbsolutely NOT
There are a lot of questions I would have with the data. I’d guess that schools with “no nit” policies had to start them because of fairly extreme problems, because most publics don’t want to do this. So that’s going to affect their numbers.
“No Nit” is the only policy which makes sense. I’m very sorry it’s inconvenient for parents but otherwise you are going to have constant infestation, which most of our local public elementaries (none of which have no-nit policies) have.
I freaking hate lice and will scorch the earth to get rid of them – but if I kill myself, keep my kids out, comb like crazy, and then they go back to school and pick them up again in a week because of a softhearted policy I WILL FREAK
Thank HEAVENS both my children’s schools have strict no-nit policies. It’s THAT important to me. (We went thru recurrent waves of lice infestations in preschool and it was HORRIFYING.)
JBoogie commented on Jul 27 10 at 11:49 amamen, blackorchid. a-freaking-men.
Shana commented on Jul 27 10 at 12:03 pmComments
I am not sure what to think about this but the whole idea grosses me out. I don’t understand how schools can have strict policies about other ailments such as my son needed to see a dr, and get a note before allowed back into school with his red allergy eyes because the nurse was afraid it was pink-eye even though he had all the other symptoms of allergies–you know the ones he gets every single year at the same time of the year, and then have such lenient ideas about blood sucking pests. Yuck.
Two years ago when my son was in T-ball, a girl on his team was sent home with lice, but guess what her parents brought her to the t-ball game–where the whole team shares 4 batting helmets. I was outraged. Even if she was given a treatment that day, it was gross irresponsibility of those parents to allow her to come to an athletic event like that.
goddess commented on Jul 27 10 at 12:49 pmAbsolutely agree with Black Orchid. When my DD was in K, she caught lice at school (it figures, only one of my kids thus far, and the one with long, thick curly hair). WE used Rid- which didn’t rid at all. Then I found the olive oil cure. FO COURSE 3 WEEKS of dousing the head every 3rd day with olive oil, wrapping her up and leaving it on for six hours, after whichh we combed with metal nit comb, then washed it out, dried it with blow dryer, then RE_COMBED it with nit comb, was horribly inconvenient. But it CAN be done. And why should I send my kid BACK into a place where some parents wash with Rid once or twice and send them back? To get re-infested?
Keep them out til louse/nit-free.
BlackOrchid commented on Jul 27 10 at 1:24 pmI know, Shana! They are way over-tough on pinkeye! It’s hilarious.
I have my own suspicions on the politics behind this policy, but I’ll keep them to myself. They are just from my own observances here in SE PA.
bob commented on Jul 27 10 at 1:48 pmHere’s a compromise: No-nit-or-no-hair.
PlumbLucky commented on Jul 27 10 at 2:34 pmKnow how many times my Mom had to leave work, come get me, drag me to the doctors office, to get a note that says “no, she isn’t contagious because ALLERGIES are NOT contagious” while I was in elementary school? Why again is this a good idea with lice?
Voice of Reason commented on Jul 28 10 at 12:21 amI’m hoping this is taken as a helpful hint and not some know-it-all poking her nose in, but I have a six year old and an almost four year old and we have never had lice.
I genuinely believe that this is because we add tea tree oil to our shampoo, our bath water and to a basin full of water when it’s time to wash faces. Tea tree not only treats head lice, but prevents children from getting them as well. It’s fantastic stuff, right up there with lavender oil in my parenting toolbox.
Susan commented on Jul 28 10 at 12:30 am. My niece missed time from school due to lice. The problem was although my sister got rid of all lice and nits with a lice comb, she would get reinfested at school and get sent home again. If kids are allowed in school with lice the problem persists. Read a great article today published by the NPA that if parents are vigilant in checking their childs hair with a comb, than it will not get to the stage where insecticides will be used. Also it is common for school nurses to mistake dandruff for nits and kids sent home needlessly.
goddess commented on Jul 28 10 at 9:29 amI’ve heard of tea tree oil used like this with great results- good to hear about it again!
Manjari commented on Jul 28 10 at 4:35 pmI’ve never heard the tea tree oil tip before – thanks!
Linda commented on Jul 28 10 at 9:32 pmAll three of my kids and myself caught lice back in March and it was freakin’ horrible. I would be livid if I heard that our school had let a child with an active infestation come back to school. No, it doesn’t cause disease, but it disgusting and time consuming and expensive to treat. Also, I don’t have any confidence that most parents will do the intensive work it takes to completely get rid of the lice. Pesticides do NOT work. All the other stuff we used, only worked about 96%: tea tree oil EVERYTHING, apple cider vinegar, combing and combing and combing and combing, tried the robicomb, coconut shampoo, olive oil. LiceMD. What finally worked for us, was completely saturating the hair with alcohol-based hand sanitizer, leaving under a shower cap for half an hours, then manually combing off the dead/stunned lice with a metal nit comb. Now we all use tea tree oil shampoo as a prevantative measure, AND I douse my kids’ head with hand sanitizer after they’ve been at the YMCA daycare, camp, etc… Any place that they’ve been around children I don’t know. I had to work every single day for about 4 weeks to get rid of our lice, and I don’t trust for a second that other parents will do that.
Linda commented on Jul 28 10 at 9:37 pmAlso, being “lice and nit” free really only takes one intense day. My kids were “lice and nit” free (checked by the school nurse), but then a week later, more lice hatched. The nits are so tiny that you’re missing a few (which is all it takes) even if you’ve spent hours picking them out. You have to be diligent and basically search each hair shaft every day.
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