Speaking of Head Lice...

At our school, we notify parents that someone in the class has lice and to check their children.

In my district, we DO NOT notify other student's parents d/t privacy issues.

We do not notify parents that someone in the class has lice. I feel it's a privacy violation. As a mother, when my child is old enough to go to school, I will keep a check on her head myself.

In my district, we DO NOT notify other student's parents d/t privacy issues.

You do not have to violate anyone's privacy to alert parents to an outbreak of lice within the school.

We do not notify parents that someone in the class has lice. I feel it's a privacy violation. As a mother, when my child is old enough to go to school, I will keep a check on her head myself.

Again, there is no need to identify WHO has lice, only that lice has been identified in the school population. Finding lice in one classroom means it's in the building. No need to be more specific than that. At that point, everyone should be on the lookout.

You might know to check your child and how to do it, but many parents don't. Sending home an informational flyer is a good way to notify folks that there has been an outbreak AND at the same time give valuable instruction in the fine art of how to do an exam and what to do if you find something.

My boss believes that informing parents will damage the reputation of our school district and cause parents to freak out.

It's a rare school district that has not had a lice problem at some point. Urban, suburban, rural, public, private, parochial, alternative. As long as there are people in it, a school has the potential for an outbreak. With six kids we experienced the outbreak situation several times, including once when two of our kids (along with about 40 others) actually had lice.

As a parent, I was much happier to see that the school had a plan and was willing to work with families than to have them treat the problem like it was shameful and make it a big secret. All of the kids in the school were all taught not to share combs, hats, etc. No one was singled out or made to feel ashamed. And anyone caught trying to ridicule or embarrass someone else was brought up short and disciplined.

By keeping things all hush-hush, I think we do more harm than good. It isn't just "poor people" or "dirty people" who get lice. Kids of all kinds wind up with the little critters. So do adults. Better to bring it out into the open and help folks find and treat it properly.

If the presentation is handled in a matter of fact way--here is the problem, and here is what we do about it--no one has to feel bad. It's when lice is made to sound like an indictment of parenting skills or a sign that someone is "unclean" that there is unnecessary anguish.

BTW, any school that says it has never had a student with lice is probably lying or ill-informed.

All schools get lice. One way to handle it if you don't want to send home a letter when a child has lice is to send home information at the beginning of the year. "Now that we are back in school you should be aware of any common problems that are frequent in young populations..." You can go on to explain about lice, ringworm, impetego, whatever you frequently see in your school. That way the parents get educated and no one class is singled out. Believe me if you are in a small school and someone gets lice, everyone will know anyways.

My supervisor (non-nurse) does not feel it is appropriate to notify classmates families when a student in a classroom has active head lice. I disagree. As a parent, I would want to know if my children could possibly be exposed to head lice, so I could be checking their heads at home and treating ASAP if I found it. My boss believes that informing parents will damage the reputation of our school district and cause parents to freak out. What do you think?

My district follows the Harvard protocol. This does NOT call for sending notices out. Parents should be instructed, by flyer, or by hands on teaching, to check their kids heads, and what to look for. Kids don't necessarily get their lice in school, so why should it only be the school's responsibility to keep the parents on their toes? Sometimes it is good to empower the parents to BE parents.

Our school does not send letters home either. We can do classroom check if there are 3 or more reported cases from the same class within a limited amount of time. I always e-mail the teacher to keep a look-out and send any suspicious itching to me right away.

Fear of reinfestation, and more. Here's a more balanced discussion on the subject from Boston public radio. We have to remember that pediculosis leads directly to the use of pesticides on kids. This makes it a public health issue worth our while. Those who want to say it is just a nuisance would be surprised at the FDA's adverse event data from even one exposure to a lice shampoo.

http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2011/02/head-lice-etiquette-two/

My district follows the Harvard protocol. This does NOT call for sending notices out. Parents should be instructed, by flyer, or by hands on teaching, to check their kids heads, and what to look for. Kids don't necessarily get their lice in school, so why should it only be the school's responsibility to keep the parents on their toes? Sometimes it is good to empower the parents to BE parents.

There is NO "Harvard protocol" on head lice. There never was a Harvard protocol on head lice. This is the greatest myth there is on the management of head lice. If your school is following what they believed to be a Harvard protocol you may have an opportunity to right the record and encourage safer measures.

"Because it's not about lice, it's about kids." http://www.headlice.org

Due to state law changes in TN, we no longer even do classroom head checks on a regular basis. Children can not be excluded from any class activity and can not be sent home for active head lice infestation. If a child is suspected to have head lice, the entire class must be checked at that time and if anyone does have it, I call their parents. It's their choice if they want to pick their child up, but I can't tell them one way or another. I do send home information on how to get rid of the lice effectively.

While I see the point on some of the reasoning above, I still think it violates a student's privacy even if you don't name names. If a parent wants to call another parent, there's nothing I can do about it. We encourage all parents to check their children routinely, and the teachers do weekly checks. If nits are found, we have parent pick the child up, provide them an informational booklet, and answer any questions they may have. This protocol is explained in our student handbook, and on the school web site along with several informational sheets I hand out. I guess our school community assumes that lice are, unfortunately, a part of growing up in close quarters. To "alert" families I feel is somewhat inflammatory. If we did an "alert" every time I found an incident of head lice, in an elementary school of 1000 we'd be doing alerts daily, with lots of upset parents.

mc3