Lice Outbreak: Any regulations or suggestions

[Anonymous]

^^(forgot a comma)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kid is at Mundo Verde and there seems to be an ongoing lice outbreak in the school. Is this common city-wide? I'm not being alarmist- it never ends.

There is a continuous discussion from the parents when this arises on a parent listserve but that does not seem to stem the outbreak. Earlier, as one parent summarizes the schools response is that for them to get involved it was "deemed inappropriate, not cost effective, and some had concerns about stigmatizing"...

This can't be it. Really? Do schools no longer check each child in the classroom to identify the infested kids so they can get assistance?

Is there a city level health department that can be of some assistance?

Thanks all.

Do they share headphones at the school? If so, that's the most likely culprit.

[Anonymous]

Stay away from the neurotoxic pesticides. Go with LiveMD.

[Anonymous]

My school the principal checks every head of kids in infected class and send them home right away. Seems to work.

[Anonymous]

You may want to put a leave-in conditioner or a detangling spray in your child's hair. Nits don't like slick hair. Also pull back any long hair into a tight ponytail. Tell your child under no circumstances to share hats or earmuffs or coats with anyone else.

[Anonymous]

The principal checks? Not the nurse/health aid?..odd assignment of duties! The problem is that all it takes is one or two missed knits and another outbreaks starts.

[Anonymous]

Why in the world would a principal waste their time on love checks?

We have parent volunteers do the checks, kids sent home, notes sent to class then nastygram from principal if parents don't take it seriously.

We tend to not wash hair, pull it back and use feta fling spray. Has worked well for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stay away from the neurotoxic pesticides. Go with LiveMD.

I think you meant LiceMD. I agree, it is great. Be careful where you use it, if spilled it is dangerously slippery. It is an ingredient in many conditioners, your child's hair will be incredibly shiny and smooth as a bonus.

[Anonymous]

The school clearly cannot give out the names of the kids but 100% chance the other kids know exactly who has it-they know who went home early.
They say that cleanliness has nothing to do with getting lice, but it has everything to do with getting rid of lice.
Short haircuts for boys (I mean buzz cuts are best), wash everything (sheets, towels, stuffed animals, coats, hats, scarves, etc.) and comb the hair with a lice comb everyday for at least a week.
At our school, the nurse (and a few other staff members who are good at it) checks each child in the class as well as siblings and parents too if they want.

[Anonymous]

Yep. Happens way too much. My ninth grader basically had an annual lice break until two years ago. It's pretty manageable if you comb and shampoo often. The school checks aren't all that great but they usually notify parents early and things rarely get out of hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our JKLM we have teams of parents that check all kids after holiday breaks.

Last year there was a persistent outbreak in my child's K class and a team of 3 parents (I was one of them) worked with the school nurse to check every child in that class weekly for 5 weeks.

What a huge violation of children's privacy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school clearly cannot give out the names of the kids but 100% chance the other kids know exactly who has it-they know who went home early.
They say that cleanliness has nothing to do with getting lice, but it has everything to do with getting rid of lice.
Short haircuts for boys (I mean buzz cuts are best), wash everything (sheets, towels, stuffed animals, coats, hats, scarves, etc.) and comb the hair with a lice comb everyday for at least a week.
At our school, the nurse (and a few other staff members who are good at it) checks each child in the class as well as siblings and parents too if they want.

So much misinformation in this post.

Lice are almost exclusively transmitted head to head. They live off of a human host for a very short period of time. All those things we did as a child, like washing everything and throwing out stuffed animals are pointless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our JKLM we have teams of parents that check all kids after holiday breaks.

Last year there was a persistent outbreak in my child's K class and a team of 3 parents (I was one of them) worked with the school nurse to check every child in that class weekly for 5 weeks.

What a huge violation of children's privacy!

Huh? What violation? Any child in a class can tell you who didn't return after lice check. They can also tell you the child who blew chunks at circle time and who was sent to the principals office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our JKLM we have teams of parents that check all kids after holiday breaks.

Last year there was a persistent outbreak in my child's K class and a team of 3 parents (I was one of them) worked with the school nurse to check every child in that class weekly for 5 weeks.

What a huge violation of children's privacy!

That's right! Let's have all the kids get lice so nobody is left out and privacy doesn't become an issue. Or let's ostracize the children who have lice.

[Anonymous]

Well it's obvious which kids have lice when they are not allowed to come in until they are treated by an FDA approved method.