Lice Allowed In Schools

[Country Kids]

OK, I'm a little freaked and not sure how to handle this. A friend of mine let me know that Head Start is allowing children with nits to come to school. If they come with live bugs they are being allowed to stay the rest of the day but can't come back till all bugs are gone. So if the parent is able to get all the bugs out and they check ok then they are allowed back even if eggs hatch during the day.

So if you had a child that went to HS how would you handle this. I'm so terrified of lice out break now and in 17 years I have never had lice in my childcare. I'm afraid this child will constently be getting lice!

I talked to another friend that works there and they are terrified of getting it and it being a vicious cycle.

Why would they allow this!

[nanglgrl]

This would freak me out. My daughter goes to free (but not income based) 4 year old preschool in my state and it's mixed in with Headstart so they probably have the same rule. They need to keep kids out when they have nits/live bugs, those things are getting harder and harder to kill. I had a daycare kid get it years ago and in the end he was out of care for almost a month and had to go get a strong prescription from the doctor because nothing else was working. It's like everything these days though, they don't want kids to miss school because they will lose funding so as long as nothing is coming out of either end (yes, I just said that) they let them participate.

[Annalee]

OK, I'm a little freaked and not sure how to handle this. A friend of mine let me know that Head Start is allowing children with nits to come to school. If they come with live bugs they are being allowed to stay the rest of the day but can't come back till all bugs are gone. So if the parent is able to get all the bugs out and they check ok then they are allowed back even if eggs hatch during the day.

So if you had a child that went to HS how would you handle this. I'm so terrified of lice out break now and in 17 years I have never had lice in my childcare. I'm afraid this child will constently be getting lice!

I talked to another friend that works there and they are terrified of getting it and it being a vicious cycle.

Why would they allow this!

Not sure how nation-wide this is, but I got an email from my Program Evaluator today with this information as well.....stating to leave the child in the child care program even if lice is found during the day.....but for the parents of the child to show proof of treatment before they returned......sounds kinda odd to me.

[itlw8]

I read that if you put tea tree oil in your shampoo you will not get lice not sur if it works.

I saw at wallgreens next to the lice shampoo a shampoo that prevents lice.

There is a comb that plugs in by ryobi I think that zaps the nits and live lice. not sure where you buy it but it is supposed to work greak

[Crazy8]

I've heard tea tree oil too and when it was going around school our nurse said to braid DD's hair and spray with hairspray.

That is a HORRIBLE policy for the program to have. Our school they send home immediately, check the entire class, etc. They do let them back the next day if treated but even that scares me since most treatments only kill live bugs - you need to remove the nits by hand. I know finding all those nits in long thick hair can be hard. When DD had it I kept her home the next day just so I could continue to go thru her head, it killed me that I was sending her back to school with kids who probably still had nits in their hair but fortunately we didn't get it again.

[familyschoolcare]

This is the santa clara county's Health department guidelines and I know for a fact that atleast one school district the one my children attend follows

those Guidelines. The theorey is that lice is not a serious helath risk and therefore child should not miss aalot of school because of it. It all comes

down to money having headlice is no longer an excused absence as far as the school getting all there funds from the feds and the state therefore they

no longer send children home becaue of it. towards the end of the school year last year I had a case of head lice in my day care and one of my

parents called their child's teacher, this was a preschool on the public school campus, run by the school district, to find out what there policy about head

lice was. Because the parent did not believe that the school basicialy does nothing. The first thing the teacher told this parent was that as long as your

child is enrolled in group school (so anything except home school) that head lice will be an on going problem that they child will just have to deal with.

What exactly is it abou head lice that is "freaking" you out. I know some people might ream me for this but i do not understand what the problem is.

Yes it is no fun however, if handel correctly most liekly will not go past the initial infestor. My DD has gotten in for the last 3 years and we think we know what freind from (sorry not the point) the first year was a night mear but now I know what to do and for how long and it does not go past her and none of the DCK got it either.

[familyschoolcare]

This is the santa clara county's Health department guidelines and I know for a fact that atleast one school district the one my children attend follows

those Guidelines. The theorey is that lice is not a serious helath risk and therefore child should not miss aalot of school because of it. It all comes

down to money having headlice is no longer an excused absence as far as the school getting all there funds from the feds and the state therefore they

no longer send children home becaue of it. towards the end of the school year last year I had a case of head lice in my day care and one of my

parents called their child's teacher, this was a preschool on the public school campus, run by the school district, to find out what there policy about head

lice was. Because the parent did not believe that the school basicialy does nothing. The first thing the teacher told this parent was that as long as your

child is enrolled in group school (so anything except home school) that head lice will be an on going problem that they child will just have to deal with.

What exactly is it abou head lice that is "freaking" you out. I know some people might ream me for this but i do not understand what the problem is.

Yes it is no fun however, if handel correctly most liekly will not go past the initial infestor. My DD has gotten in for the last 3 years and we think we

know what freind from (sorry not the point) the first year was a night mear but now I know what to do and for how long and it does not go past her and

none of the DCK got it either. I think Tea Tree oil might work the thing is the bugs like clean hair so the cleaner your hair the more likely they are to stay

on your head. If you hair is oily they are more liekly to look for anther head before laying their eyes.

[Country Kids]

Well in the 17 years of doing this I have never had a case of head lice in my childcare. I don't want to start it now!

I think if they keep getting to come to school, you are going to have kids keep getting it and not get it cleared up that fast. I personally don't have the time to have to take off and clean everything that is required to clean when head lice enters the childcare. I also can't afford to close for something like this.

My parents wouldn't bring their kids if they know lice has been affecting the childcare.

Even the staff at HS can't believe they are allowing this.

[nanglgrl]

What would freak me out is that it is in no way normal for a person to be infected with headlice. Have you ever had headlice? The itching is terrible. How they can expect a child to sit in a classroom and not disrupt the class is beyond me. I don't know what you mean by "initial infection" are you saying it goes away on its own? The lice lay eggs and the eggs hatch, the new lice lay eggs...rinse and repeat until its treated. Lice cross all socioeconomic lines but that doesn't mean that they aren't gross.

[nanglgrl]

I'm sorry, I see you said "initial infector" and not "initial infection". The problem lies in the fact that some people will not treat it properly or at all until their child is sent home from school. If the child is allowed to come to school there is still a chance it would spread...winter coats hanging next to each other and it...kids just being kids...and it will keep spreading. I'm from a time when the school nurse checked kids hair on a regular basis (in front of everyone else) and sent you home if she found any.

[Country Kids]

Thinking about this also with head lice there is much more to do after the child gets it then if they had the flu, cold, things like that.

With those you are just going to do your normal cleaning with a little more disinfectent.

From what I understand with headlice you need to clean everything in site and have things sit in bags or put in the dryer. Then after all that you have to do the childs head over and over and over to make sure that everything is gone.

Here is my question: if heat kills them would blow drying your childs head help speed up the process?

[Meyou]

We haven't had lice come home in 6 years since we started adding tea tree oil to our shampoo (a few drops will do it). You can also buy tea tree oil shampoo but the oil works fine.

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

I have had one little girl that has had lice all summer and although it never use to freak me out, it now does! Seriously, every time I think we are free she starts scratching her head! It's like the 2nd day I don't check she has them again! Mom shaved the back of her head this last time!
But, thankfully none of my other little girls have got them! I think because every day I pull their hair up in the little rubber bands so it is all secure. And yes, you can buy the spray to help prevent your child from getting them or mix up some of the essential oils. I mixed some for my neighbor's dd and she never got them again. She mixes with water and sprays it on her hair when she brushes it.

[laundrymom]

Not sure how nation-wide this is, but I got an email from my Program Evaluator today with this information as well.....stating to leave the child in the child care program even if lice is found during the day.....but for the parents of the child to show proof of treatment before they returned......sounds kinda odd to me.

Oh " H" no. !!!!

No bugs. No eggs. In. My. Home.

Ewww.
I don't care what mr school administrator says. I don't care about the latest rules. THE POWERS THAT BE aren't the ones who will have live in THEIR homes, in their carpet, couches & families. For me & mine, I'll follow my rules. No attendance until all signs are GONE. Eggs, bugs, everything.

[kimsdaycare]

I haven't seen the actual policy in writing here, but do know that my sister has been beyond frustrated with the Head Start program my niece attends. She has has custody of this child and she has had head lice off and on the entire time she has been in the program, she just keeps getting reinfected. They continue to share all kinds of dress up clothes including hats regardless of the fact that they know there is a problem. It's like they are purposely making sure all of them have it so no one can complain that an offender is infected and nothing is being done. Sad.

She has tried every trick in the book to kill them off, tea tree, mayonnaise, bagging toys, using high heat, you name it. These things may indeed work, but if the schools are making no effort to break the cycle as well anymore were doomed.