Head lice

Specialties School

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I was wondering if there are any laws prohibiting school districts from sending home a letter to parents when lice is found in the classroom. Obviously, confidentiality would be protected. Is there anything that states we need to have 3 or more students with lice before a letter can be sent? I am located in the state of WI, btw. I get both sides- parents want and should be alerted with cases of head lice, but also, confidentiality should always be a priority. Any help from school nurses about laws/policies regarding this would be greatly appreciated.

Specializes in School Nurse, past Med Surge.
On 10/7/2019 at 4:20 PM, NurseInTheHall said:

@Jedrnurse.... here you go! ?

LiceBumperSticker.png

I might put this in next month's newsletter! ?

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Totally putting this on a t-shirt! I might make my principal one too?

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On 9/30/2019 at 11:43 AM, AdobeRN said:

I am in Texas and someone had a bunch of time on their hands to actually get a law passed that for each case that a parent notifies me or if I find a case in a class we have to send a classroom letter home - so stupid and such a waste of time and energy on my end because I end up dealing with a handful of emails/calls and almost always a nasty/nosey neighborhood facebook post gets circulated.

I am in Texas as well. Are you telling me I should send a letter home with every parent that calls to tell me their child has lice??? or that their child's best friend has lice? nnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooo just nnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooo lol This is my biggest headache.

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6 minutes ago, pennyeary said:

I am in Texas as well. Are you telling me I should send a letter home with every parent that calls to tell me their child has lice??? or that their child's best friend has lice? nnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooo just nnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooo lol This is my biggest headache.

I only send the letter if a parent notifies me that their own kid has it/has been treated or if I find lice on a student. I don't go by rumors or by parents asking me to check other peoples kids in the class. Even though I think our district policy on lice is outdated, I have found if I stick to following it with every single reported case of lice it is better for me in the long run.

My personal opinion is that I am of the "don't ask, don't tell' mind set with lice - if you find out your kid has lice, treat it, be deligent on the treatment - getting ALL nits out and be done. It doesn't need to be a huge production/drama that some parents make it out to be.

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8 minutes ago, AdobeRN said:

I only send the letter if a parent notifies me that their own kid has it/has been treated or if I find lice on a student. I don't go by rumors or by parents asking me to check other peoples kids in the class. Even though I think our district policy on lice is outdated, I have found if I stick to following it with every single reported case of lice it is better for me in the long run.

My personal opinion is that I am of the "don't ask, don't tell' mind set with lice - if you find out your kid has lice, treat it, be deligent on the treatment - getting ALL nits out and be done. It doesn't need to be a huge production/drama that some parents make it out to be.

Our policy is also out dated we still have a no nit policy and I am 3 years in trying to get the board to change this policy but it is not going to happen. I even have staff checking students then sending to me when they find something. I have asked for hippa/ferpa reason that this not happen! I have only been sending letters if I found something, I will start sending when parents call about their own child.

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Specializes in School Nurse.

I am curious what school nurse say when parents ask “what is the school doing to help control head lice”?

If we follow the CDC, APA, DSHS, recommendation and allow students to be at school with head lice, don’t do classroom head checks, don’t send letters home to alert parents, don’t make classroom teachers aware, etc. I would love to know how you handle those angry parents when they ask what we are doing to help this problem. Furthermore, we all know that head lice is getting transmitted from kid to kid at school during those early school years. Little kids always have head to head contact and don’t understand to follow “head lice” precautions. I have read several articles claiming that head lice isn’t being transmitted at school- I disagree with this at the elementary age level. Why else are we seeing classrooms full of head lice?

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Specializes in IMC, school nursing.
On 10/8/2019 at 12:08 PM, RNKT said:

I am curious what school nurse say when parents ask “what is the school doing to help control head lice”?

If we follow the CDC, APA, DSHS, recommendation and allow students to be at school with head lice, don’t do classroom head checks, don’t send letters home to alert parents, don’t make classroom teachers aware, etc. I would love to know how you handle those angry parents when they ask what we are doing to help this problem. Furthermore, we all know that head lice is getting transmitted from kid to kid at school during those early school years. Little kids always have head to head contact and don’t understand to follow “head lice” precautions. I have read several articles claiming that head lice isn’t being transmitted at school- I disagree with this at the elementary age level. Why else are we seeing classrooms full of head lice?

It is not the place of the school to do what parents must. That should be the standard and universal response. Lice is a parent issue, and my son had lice from a friend of his who happened to be a classmate. It is not the school's position to bathe odiferous students and not its place to launder student's dirty clothes. Same category.

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Specializes in School Nurse, past Med Surge.
On 10/8/2019 at 12:08 PM, RNKT said:

I am curious what school nurse say when parents ask “what is the school doing to help control head lice”?

"The school is suggesting parents check their child's head on a regular basis."

We don't have classrooms full of head lice. We have a few isolated incidents. We have had children in different grades, who play together outside of school, end up with head lice. I tend to agree with the research that shows it's not happening at school. Do people really have classrooms full of head lice?

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29 minutes ago, SaltineQueen said:

"The school is suggesting parents check their child's head on a regular basis."

We don't have classrooms full of head lice. We have a few isolated incidents.

Yep - this is basically what I tell parents when I am asked what the school is doing about an "infestation". Our classroom letter that gets sent home also suggests to parent to check their child's head on a regular basis.

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I was reading this thread this morning and while reading it, got a phone call from a dad who dropped f-bombs all over me because we don't do classroom checks any more. Great timing!

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21 hours ago, SaltineQueen said:

"The school is suggesting parents check their child's head on a regular basis."

We don't have classrooms full of head lice. We have a few isolated incidents. We have had children in different grades, who play together outside of school, end up with head lice. I tend to agree with the research that shows it's not happening at school. Do people really have classrooms full of head lice?

Nope. I've got kids with years on chronic lice despite our nit free policy and never once seen it in a classmate despite some classes getting weekly screening checks.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

We have letters we send out in our district. The letter is a Notice of Head Lice. The letter notifies parents of 1 or more students in the class with head lice. It lets them know how to going about checking and treating students if found with head lice. Along with the letter are the Texas State Health Department and CDC guidelines for lice in schools. Last week I had 2 students in one class with head lice, due to this I sent the letters home to all of the students in class and did a classroom head check. I also informed my principal just in case parents call complaining. The students sent home for lice (district policy) are then brought back into clinic with a parent and I do a follow up head check to approve if they may return to class.

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