Anonymous wrote:Large lice can jump to another person.

I have no idea if this is true, but so many elementary schools have tiny coat closets where all the coats and backpacks are crammed together, as well as stuff dumped in piles in the hall when they are in specials, etc, that the lice don’t need to do anything but crawl from one kid’s stuff to another.

Large lice can jump to another person.

Anonymous wrote:Also, the student does NOT have to leave school if “only”the eggs/white nits are spotted. Student goes home immediately if and only if live/active lice are discovered. In this situation w live lice, the parent is given a worksheet to begin to get treatment. No legal follow up though.

This can all be overridden at principal’s discretion.

That does NOT make sense! Where do the eggs come from? LIVE lice. You need a live lice to make eggs!

It's awful. My DD got it one year. The schools don't warn parents anymore I think because of the stigma. I, however, sent an email to all her classmate friends' parents warning them.

We seem to get letters almost every week for one of our two kids saying someone in the class has lice. Letters have regularly been coming home for 5 years. Only one child got it once. We kept both kids home the day after since we had the lice lady come to our house to treat infected DC and check everyone else. I didn’t trust myself. DC2 didn’t have it but I did.

BS!

One kid in DC's class has lice. They sent a letter home and had the kid stay home. I would be furious if our school reacted like what is described by PPs. Disgusting.

Anonymous wrote:Also, the student does NOT have to leave school if “only”the eggs/white nits are spotted. Student goes home immediately if and only if live/active lice are discovered. In this situation w live lice, the parent is given a worksheet to begin to get treatment. No legal follow up though.

This can all be overridden at principal’s discretion.

I've never understood the thing about letting students stay if "only" eggs/nits are present. Kids are in school for seven hours. Presumably, an egg could hatch at any time. I'm the OP and agree that a lot of parents do not seem to be treating it properly.

Also, the student does NOT have to leave school if “only”the eggs/white nits are spotted. Student goes home immediately if and only if live/active lice are discovered. In this situation w live lice, the parent is given a worksheet to begin to get treatment. No legal follow up though.

This can all be overridden at principal’s discretion.

They don’t act quickly on it or make kids stay home because it’s not considered an epidemic and also can make the kids feel called out or made to feel dirty...like it’s a stigma. Which is fine but in a majority of the cases parents aren’t treating it properly so it doesn’t go away. And now I’m itchy talking about it. Haha

Our school does not send a letter. My DD has had it twice in elementary and we notified the nurse. The nurse said she would let the teacher know and that they would check the kids at DD's table.

Anonymous wrote:It changed about ten years ago, and aligns with the CDC recommendations. Letters are generally sent out after three reported cases. There is a link on the FCPS website with lots of information on how to treat lice.

I happen to know there were more than three simultaneous cases (all reported) in one of my kid's classes. No letter. Is this decided on a school-by-school basis?

Our school sent letters home last year but I haven't seen any this year. I thought there was just no lice this year. Did they change that policy?

Just check your kid every day. I am still traumatized by the one time we got it.

It changed about ten years ago, and aligns with the CDC recommendations. Letters are generally sent out after three reported cases. There is a link on the FCPS website with lots of information on how to treat lice.

Does anyone know when this changed and why? There are multiple students in my kids' classes who have had it at the same time and the school has not sent letters home. The principal claims this is no longer the policy. It's been all over the school this year. The school used to send letters when one kid in the class had it with instructions about how to check and what to do if your child gets it. It seems like it's gotten much worse since this stopped.