Did you know it's ok for kids with Lice to go to school?

CHeck this story out from MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38417280/ns/health-kids_and_parenting

 

Unfortunately learned this the hard way for summer school this summer! If there are actual bugs we can send them home, but not for eggs. I don't know how outbreaks are ever going to be extinguished.

 

Stop it-----you are making me itch. That word alone uuuggggghhh

 

I got head lice my first year of teaching because the (wheelchair bound) student that had it couldn't be sent home - even though 2 paras and both special education teachers at the school were frequently in close contact due to the restrictions of the chair. What made it really frustrating is that I took a sick day to go to those "herculean" efforts (washing all my bedding, running lice killing shampoo through the carpet shampooer and shampooing the furniture) to make sure my kids wouldn't get it and when I went back to school the next day to find out that the parent didn't come pick the student up and, after the 3rd call from the nurse about the live bugs in the child's hair, told the principal that he didn't have a problem with the lice and if we had a problem with it, WE should be the ones to take care of it.

 

I second that! Yuck!
hmy:

 

Oh my! Isn't that neglect on the parents' part? What a tough situation.

 

oh wow...I thought if they had eggs you could send them home too. Oops....there was a girl in my class last year who I demanded the health asst (we don't have an actual nurse) call her mom and have her picked up. I refused to have her back in my class until it was all cleared up. I have pillows in my library for crying out loud! sheesh

I agree...how are we going to get it cleared up if this is allowed?

 

For those of you who have parents in your classes that care, or who can't send students home and catch lice from them...the Brooklyn community (or at least, the part of Brooklyn I'm from) has discovered the cheapest and most effective way to get lice and nits out of kid's hair: Pantene conditioner, and an extremely fine toothed comb.

In the private schools where I've worked, there has ALWAYS been a schoolwide nit check around once every month. How else do you catch it early???

 

I believe that it can be highly recommended to the parents to keep the child home. That doesn't mean they are requiring it. As long as the parents realize that it is in the best interest of everyone they should do the right thing.

 

I've been lucky enough not to have any kids in my class with lice! Now I've probably just jinxed myself...but this past year I had the class with ringworm! They kept spreading it to one another....did you know that they can send kiddos home for having it since it's considered highly contagious?

 

Yep, we welcome eggs as well. Ugh.

 

I've only had kids with lice in my class once, and I happened to be out for the day :lol:

 

Being a substitute, I never knew what my district's policy is regarding this. I know I've never had lice in my entire life & I want to keep it that way!

 

Ack. Luckily, my district is pretty strict about any lice at all, eggs or whatever. When I was student teaching, we had a (special needs) student with fleas. Her mother was, forgive me, special needs herself, and neither one of them had any clue what to do. They slept together in the same bed with about 10 dogs, and couldn't figure out why they had fleas. The principal finally got them a motel room for a few days, and a bunch of teachers and people from the community bug bombed their house. The saddest part was the mother tried to help her daughter get rid of them, and shaved her head. That did NOTHING for this poor girl's image. Oh, so sad...

 

Yea.. I wish. I had to send a student to the nurse 5 days in a row so she could be sent home because she came to school with lice (and her mother knew about it.. and didn't fix it).

As far as I know we send students home for lice, nits, and ringworm.. I had all three issues in my classroom this year. YUCK

 

Lol....I thought I was the only 'ringworm class'! I had never heard of it being as contagious as it is! The nurse had to send letters home to all the kiddos in my class.

 

I have had one experience with head lice, and we didn't allow any one in with eggs. I even had parents coming in to ask if I would check their hair. I have extremely curly hair and I was freaking out that I would get lice, thinking I would never get them out of my hair.

 

I caught ringworm from my students once, and had it on my face for my engagement photos (needless to say, those were never shown to anyone).
This year there has been a problem with bedbugs in the apt complex where my students live (and I do frequent home visits)-sure hope I don't catch those!

 

My own child kept it for six months. I would get rid of it, and bam a few weeks later she starts itching again. I asked the nurse to check... becaues apparently there were several 5th grade girls who kept it. I went to the school for "Parent Pe Fun Day".... and lo and behold I discover the gym is covered in CARPET AND..... you guessed it the kids have to lay on it to do crunches etc....

It is nice her being home this summer..... the last go around of getting rid of it has lasted amazingly well. I just hate that our elemen thought it wasn't such a big deal ... when I know it is.

 

me either.... just thinking of it makes my head itch!!! Glad when dd had it (see above post), I did not get it.

 

Rosemary oil all the way. Put some behind your ears and mix some in a spray bottle with water and spritz your hair. If you do this and blow dry your hair everyday (even just blowing your already dry hair) you won't catch lice, even during the crazy, super lice times.

(I still have an unopened bottle of lice shampoo in my house.... just in case.)

 

The other prevention method that works is apple cider vinegar, but if you're going to use it, put it on a good few hours before leaving the house or having anyone come in...it stinks!

 

this thread gives me the heebie jeebies!!!!

I had the class two years ago that passed around pink eye until one day I sat them all down and explained how pink eye comes from going to the bathroom and not washing your hands. :lol: They washed their hands a lot after that.

 

We let our students back as long as it is treated. So they can go home, get shampooed and come back to school. I'm so glad that not one of these student's have been in my class. But knowing me, I'd probably tell the parents not to bring them back until they are gone

 

I heard you have little chance of getting it if you do not have "natural" hair. So as long as you put in gel/hairspray/any type of products, dye your hair, etc... you should be safe. I've been around children with lice for over 25 years and I have never had it.

 

True Proud, my hairdresser daughter says that I should use hair spray, the little buggers won't be able to stick to my hair. Also heard that Green Tea Shampoo works as a preventive.

 

I like this! I bet you smell great! Maybe I'll start doing this...

 

I think for awhile we haven't had a "no nits policy" that being said, when we had a child covered from head to to with nits last year, we sent her home and told them to wash them out!

I think the policies probably vary from state to state and probably district to district.

When I know we have cases, I usually put some tea tree oil in my shampoo and douse my head with it. Supposed to be something they don't like.

Also- I'm not sure you're allowed to do the head checks anymore like they used to. We can send home a note saying, a case has been reported please check your child and if you notice x,y, or z talk to your doc or pharmacist. That being said- my assistant and I do a little walkie around the room when we find a case and if we see something suspicious we call parents!

 

eh...not so sure. I always put product in my hair and I got stupid lice about 9 yrs ago = (

 

And my best friend and next door neighbor when I was a kid constantly got lice from her babysitters son...and even though we'd sleep head to head at times, I never had lice back then. I have had it twice as an adult though. The only preventative measure I've actually seen work in multiple hair types is apple cider vinegar, and constant checking.

 

We check every other Friday and the day back from long holidays.

I hate this idea of not sending them home. That is just stupid.

 

:unsure: yuck! I am all itchy now.

Two years ago we had a huge problem at our school. It was April I believe when the health department made a phone call to our school that they had several parents call and complain about the school. Apparently, the school had been notified that several of our students from our prek-2nd grade school had lice all over the place. The kids took a nap and they slept so close to each otehr they were spreading them. Well we have three schools and they all have brothers, sisters, cousins, etc in each of our schools so the majority of our kids had lice all that time. When they finally did a check on EVERY kids head we found that either some of these girls didnt wash their hair right or they had the eggs. That whole week was ridiculous, teaching was almost impossible. They would call out students and sent them home. I came home and washed all my sheets. I itched for a whole month, but my mom would constantly check my hair and so would my husband. Still today I have panic attacks thinking I have lice.

In the end they almost closed down the school because they should've taken precautions. We are a private school and our administration likes everything "hush hush" they seem to do their own thing...until they got caught. I think they found 5 actual cases (all related kids).. But it was embarrasing to them because if you were absent everyone in the school knew that you had lice.

...now im itching...Oh and to top it off a month after our problem public schools started with scabbies ? (spelling?) that wasnt any better.

 

The key is preventing hair-to-hair contact. Lice can not jump. So keeping hair up and away from the kids is a good idea.

Also, essential oils are not an effective preventive. "Essential oils: Numerous "home recipes" and commercial preparations are based on mixtures of essential oils, salts or other "natural" substances. Data is lacking to support the claims of their efficacy. Several formulations include substances that should not be used on the skin, and may not be registered for such use by government regulatory agencies (such as EPA or FDA)."

This headline does not make me happy. Most of the schools I've been in parents do not resort to herculean efforts.

 

How do you prevent lice from spreading in the case of dramatic play clothing? Do you just not have that in the classroom? I worked for a preschool and that was their method, but I was wondering if there was a way to let the kids dress up without the risk of spreading lice.

 

My school doesn't do large scale checks. If a student complains about itching, we send them to the nurse. If they have lice, they go home or if it is a habitual thing with that particular case the nurse treats them in school (title 1 school). After that the whole class takes notes home notifying the parents that there will be a head check. The next day the whole class is checked.

 

One of my students had lice last year and our P said we weren't allowed to keep them out because the district had decided lice was a "socio-economic issue." Apparently they feel that keeping a child home until the lice are eradicated requires too much money for treatment than many families can afford. I would argue that it's better to place the "burden" on the initial family then to spread it around so everyone has to treat it but, what do I know.

 

When I worked in the Bronx, it was a HUGE problem at our school. Once one kid in the class got it, more than half of the class got it. The thing is, the nurse didn't care and told us she isn't allowed to check. That's a bunch of BS. She just didn't want to do her job. Administration told me to just send a letter out to the parents addressing the problem, and to tell them to send their kids to the doctor to get checked out. So stupid...this was the laziest school. They weren't allowed to come in if they had lice, but more than half the kids' parents didn't even know it.

 

Our school a couple parent volunteer & do checks a couple times a year.
I remember one kid would get it & mom would shave his head & send him back.

 

I actually saw one jump out of a students hair once. We were actually doing our standardized testing and she was scratching and I looked-it was on her table-she said "look that ant just jumped out of my hair"-it wasn't an ant . There is also a myth that African-American hair can't get them but I've seen that happen as well.

I don't have any kind of headwear for the kids to play with and if we have an outbreak at the school I take the stuffed animals home to wash them periodically and also spray the carpets down every Friday with the Rid spray.

I do empathize with parents whose kids are infected over an over with no fault of their own. Our school nurse is hard-headed about identifying it as well. One teacher sent a child down, he was sent back-there were actual bugs but the nurse said she hadn't seen them. This teacher taped one to an index card and dated it for documentation. It just goes through families so the older kids even get it, then it cycles back down again. I also think some parents don't know how to deal with it at home. One parent couldn't understand why they couldn't get rid of it and she had never washed any of their bedding-the eggs were still there.

 

I found this out six years ago. They can call the parents and ask them to come pick them up but they can't force the parents to pick up the children. Most parents are so embarrassed that they rush to get the child.