There's new advice on lice

Fevers and vomiting are still on the list of reasons a child should stay home from school.

But head lice — insert shudder here — are not.

Healthy children shouldn't miss school because of head lice, according to a recommendation issued Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The academy advised schools to abandon “no-nit” policies that bar children from returning until they're clear of lice and eggs.

The Omaha Public Schools district, in fact, already has changed its practice for the coming school year, in part because of the academy's guidance and because the district doesn't want students missing school, said Sharon Wade, the OPS health services supervisor.

“There's no reason someone should be out of school even a day,” she said.

If someone suspects a child has head lice, a trained person will check the heads of all students in the classroom at the end of the day, Wade said. If a child is found to have lice, parents or guardians will be contacted and asked to treat the child. All students will be checked again at the end of the next day. Checking everyone makes sure no child is singled out.

The Council Bluffs Community Schools long have followed a similar practice, excluding an infected child only on very rare occasions, said Diane Ostrowski, a district spokeswoman.

The practice, she said, is sound. But that doesn't make it popular with moms and dads. When a case is found, the district typically gets calls from parents fearful that their child will get head lice.

“It's not always what parents want to hear,” she said. “But we do want them (kids) to be in school every minute.”

The pediatricians' group agrees. Head lice, while a nuisance, are neither a health hazard nor a sign of poor hygiene, the group wrote.

And sending children home won't necessarily stop the spread, said Dr. Barbara Frankowski, a Burlington, Vt., pediatrician and co-author of the report. By the time a child starts scratching his head and is found to have head lice, he's probably had them for three weeks.

“It makes no sense, and it just feeds the hysteria,” said Frankowski, past president of the academy's Council on School Health.

Indeed, most school-age children probably don't get head lice at school, she said. Because transmission typically requires head-to-head contact, sports and sleepovers probably provide more fertile ground.

The academy, she said, isn't trying to tell schools what to do. In fact, “we're just trying to do what's best for kids and what's best for families,” she said.

Still, state health departments and school districts differ in their policies.

The Nebraska Department of Health has no recommendation and leaves the matter up to schools, said Annette Bredthauer, the state's public health veterinarian. The Iowa Department of Public Health, on the other hand, for some time has encouraged schools to discontinue “no-nit” policies, said Ann Garvey, interim deputy epidemiologist.

Children can remain in school the rest of the day, she said. At the same time, she said, “We think it's reasonable that treatment be started that day.”

At the local level, practices also are mixed. The Westside Community Schools have a “no-nit” policy, a spokeswoman said. The Bellevue Public Schools also send infected children home for treatment.

“If we see them (lice) again, we send them home again,” said Cathy Williams, a district spokeswoman.

Both the Westside and Bellevue districts will review the recommendations from the pediatricians' group.

The Omaha school district's past practice also called for sending a child home as soon as head lice were found. The child was not allowed to return to the classroom until he or she was free of live lice, said Wade, the district's health services supervisor.

The new policy will be a “big shift,” in that students won't be sent home until the end of the day, she said. The school district will be educating staff and parents about the change.

In Council Bluffs, discovery of a case of head lice includes not only notifying the student's parents of the need to treat but also taking steps in the classroom to prevent possible spread, Ostrowski said.

Those steps include reminding kids not to share combs and hats. Officials also send notes home to parents, asking them to partner in preventing the spread of lice by checking their children's heads and treating the child if necessary.

If the bugs prove persistent, teachers might have students put hats and coats in plastic garbage bags when they arrive in the morning, Ostrowski said.

Contact the writer:

444-1223, julie.anderson@owh.com

« Metro/Region

Share