RNKT

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?

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.