Lacey parents upset over school's head lice policy
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LACEY, Wash. -- A Lacey mom and dad are angry after their first grade daughter brought home head lice from school, and the parents claim the school is doing nothing to fix the problem.
Amy Cassidy said she first discovered lice crawling through her daughter's hair two months ago. But each time she shampooed and treated Molly and sent her back to school, the girl came home infested again and again.
Cassidy said she contacted officials at Chambers Prairie Elementary School about what steps they were taking to fix the problem, but she claims those questions went unanswered.
She said the school didn't send a flier home, didn't send kids from the classroom home and didn't contact parents about keeping their kids home.
Cassidy now suspects the school didn't want to single out or embarrass a student or family and instead chose to do nothing to stop the infestation.
School officials tell a different story. The school principal said he did send out fliers to the families of all fist and second grade students. And while the school district's policy allows the school to send children home and make them stay there until the lice are gone, in this case officials claim only two students had lice and the school would rather they stay in class.
"Let's do what we can do to treat the problem, not embarrass kids," said Courtney Schrieve with North Thurston Public School. "Get rid of the lice and keep kids in school at the same time."
It's a new kind of police from many school districts when it comes to lice, and it's a policy that's endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Instead of singling out a child and removing him from school, the goal is to treat the student and keep him in the classroom.
"It's not about hurting people's feelings," Cassidy said. "It's about getting the school clean, getting the kids clean for their own safety, and it is to me a health issue."
Several other school districts in the area have the same lice policy. Seattle Public Schools doesn't automatically send students home when they have lice because the most health experts and the Centers for Disease Control say it's not a health risk because lice do not spread disease.
Amy Cassidy said she first discovered lice crawling through her daughter's hair two months ago. But each time she shampooed and treated Molly and sent her back to school, the girl came home infested again and again.
Cassidy said she contacted officials at Chambers Prairie Elementary School about what steps they were taking to fix the problem, but she claims those questions went unanswered.
She said the school didn't send a flier home, didn't send kids from the classroom home and didn't contact parents about keeping their kids home.
Cassidy now suspects the school didn't want to single out or embarrass a student or family and instead chose to do nothing to stop the infestation.
School officials tell a different story. The school principal said he did send out fliers to the families of all fist and second grade students. And while the school district's policy allows the school to send children home and make them stay there until the lice are gone, in this case officials claim only two students had lice and the school would rather they stay in class.
"Let's do what we can do to treat the problem, not embarrass kids," said Courtney Schrieve with North Thurston Public School. "Get rid of the lice and keep kids in school at the same time."
It's a new kind of police from many school districts when it comes to lice, and it's a policy that's endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Instead of singling out a child and removing him from school, the goal is to treat the student and keep him in the classroom.
"It's not about hurting people's feelings," Cassidy said. "It's about getting the school clean, getting the kids clean for their own safety, and it is to me a health issue."
Several other school districts in the area have the same lice policy. Seattle Public Schools doesn't automatically send students home when they have lice because the most health experts and the Centers for Disease Control say it's not a health risk because lice do not spread disease.
Having gone through this, I think there is something being missed here.  With a bad infestation you can't just wash and comb and send back to school and NOT expect a secondary infestation.  This is because all you have to do is miss a few eggs and your kid has lice again and not from someone else.  Especially if they, as the article seems to say, come home almost immediately re-infested.  It often takes several repeats of the shampooing and combing to rid a child of lice.  The shampoos are good but not good enough that the automatically eradicate the lice the first time around.  If you read the directions completely it will warn you that you will probably need more then one application of the shampoo, more then one session of combing and the need to watch for re-infestation when missed eggs hatch again in a two-week period.  This sounds less like the school's fault then it does incomplete treatment.  Follow the direction and even if the child appears clear after the first treatment and you return them to school immediately, then repeat the treatment again for a couple of days and prepare to see lice again in 2 weeks if not completed well.
As a teacher, I know that simply telling kids not to share a brush or comb isn't enough. Many times these kids share lockers, which means jackets, scarves, and hats get thrown in together for the entire day. Some teachers keep stuffed animals and large carpets on the floor where kids sit and read, which can harbor lice. It sounds like the district needs to take a more aggressive approach other than "we don't want to embarrass anyone." Pitiful. At our school, if a child has lice, he/she is sent home, a note is sent home with the kids in the class (no name is given), and the infected child has to be cleared by the nurse before coming back to school. We have yet to have a case of lice this year.Â
You can teach your kids to not share combs etc..but kids are kids...they come in contact at school. Â If I had a kid and he or she came home with lice..OMG I would be furious. Â For privacy, I would ask the school to find the source and deal with that kids parent(s) guardian etc..get it cleaned up in the home so that kid doesn't bring parasites to school. Fliers should go out ! Â The pain in the arse is to wash everything, try different shampoos etc...UGH..just becz some poor kid's environment is filthy at home. I don't know, maybe kids with lice should stay home...I know a guy who's wife (with younger daughter in tow) stormed into the principal's office and demanded to know what right they had to comb their daughter's hair to check for nits and lice. (I believe this family was likely the source) Â I think this story went a bit deeper as I recall and some administrator at the school had actually cut off a small portion of the girl's hair as well. Â I am just glad I don't have school aged kids. Â Just my two cents.
 @magicmarker My kids came home with lice. I was not furious but it's a pain the arse. It is not unsafe but it's everywhere. Spent 100s of $ to get them cleaned up, you can do it yourself but it takes hours for multiple kids. The problem is, parents think they have gotten rid of it but they haven't and it just goes on to someone else. It is a never ending cycle. BTW - lice doesn't mean anything about a dirty environment, in fact they like clean hair better. In my opinion schools could do MUCH more and be of greater service through education to the parents and the kids.
Call the waaaambulance!!! Â Another parent goes to the media over something. Â You're blaming the school, really??? Â The problem is with your kids, not the school. Â You teach your kids to NOT share hats, combs, clothes, etc. Â The lice don't live on hard surfaces, they are on the other kids and their belongings. Â Your kids are the issue here. Â It's not up to the school, it's called parenting. Â Clean your own house, throw away stuff animals that cannot be washed and dried in hot water. Throw away pillows, etc. Â Clearly this is a problem in the homes, not at the school. Â Stop blaming everyone else. Â Seriously. Â Komo is the worst for this... the majority of their news is whiney parents.Â
This is an issue at most schools around here - it's not that kids share hats, combs, and clothes...It's that kids HAVE TO hang their winter jackets in a common area (they can not keep their items with them at their desk)...which means one kid will continue to reinfest the rest of the class unless that child is treated. One parent who can not or will not treat their child is the culprit in a Puyallup School - I know this from the school as they have told my family this. It's not just about cleaning a house - it's deep cleaning a house MULTIPLE times for hundreds of dollars each treatment. At the very least, schools should perform head checks during an infestation and require that one student be treated. Instead, allowing multiple infestations means treating children multiple times with a pesticide and, eventually, our pesticides will not be effective against lice. So, call the waambulance?!? I think you're a bit too dismissive on this one.
If the school district wants to pay for the treatment, fine. If not, isolate those with head lice, clean the rooms, and inform the parents right away.
You are both winners! Â No one loses in our society, and neither learns anything other than the capacity to be inane. Â
is it another "everyone gets a trophy for just showing up" attitude - not singling out anyone so they are not embarassed? i bet many times it is the parent/s fault for not doing the whole house cleaning job. it's a pain - it takes time and many working parents just don't have the time or energy or care or believe it is part of the ridding process.
Along with the aforementioned concern about use of chemicals to treat lice is the fact that overtime lice can become resistant to those chemicals. Years ago when my daughter had lice from sleeping at the neighbors, I bought a battery operated lice/egg removal comb. This comb had metal teeth that were close together and when you ran it through hair it would electrically charge on lice and eggs and kill them. The comb makes a buzzing sound until it comes into contact with a louse or egg. You would then use a supplied cleaning brush to remove the louse/egg from the comb and restart the charging effect. This was a clean, chemical free way to remove the lice and after a couple treatments the issue was resolved. I found this product in the pharmacy section where you find RID. I also used it later on to remove fleas from my dog who had flea allergies :)
Save your money and do not buy RID is is over priced and not effective the main ingredient is pyrethrins. This is derived from chrysanthemum flowers. It is found in the hardware store in food safe insecticide and used to kill mites on Marijuana plants. for half of what you pay for RID you can just buy a huge bottle of it and make your own. It is made from a flower in your garden (does not mean you should drink it) just it is not a harsh chemical. RID is .33% Pyrethrins so do the math.
Why put all those chemicals onto your childs body when there are natural ways of eliminating these pests! First you need to purchase a bag of ladybugs from your local garden center. Place them into shower cap and onto your childs head for 24 hours. Once the ladybugs have devoured the lice and thier eggs, you will need to purchase on-line an aphid nursing ant colony and immerse your childs head into said colony. Just long enough for the ants to eat the ladybugs and thier eggs. Once that step is completed, Woodland park zoo does provide private Anteater sessions to the public for a modest fee. Results may vary and if they do, you must sue!
 @Silverback201 that is the dumbest idea I've ever read. No wonder people can't get rid of lice.  The lice lives on pillows, jackets, stuffed animals. Do you propose that you just unleash a few hundred thousand of them in your house???Â
 @DT  @Silverback201 Whooooooooooosh.
@DT - I have also heard of a lice eating bird that has done extremely well at cleansing a home riddled with lice. I think it is called a North American Snipe. They have some trouble with domestication, but the ones that have been domesticated have shown real promise in lice removal. I agree that my idea above is a little harsh, so the Snipe might be a reasonable alternative in your case.
 @Silverback201 OK, this whole image is hilarious, but you get double points for the private anteater lessons because we just started watching Stephen King's  Kingdom Hospital series and this giant anteater keeps randomly appearing throughout the place. :D
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I'm sure we'll figure out its significance eventually, but this is going to make those scenes all the more funny regardless, so thanks. :D
A prudent approach is proactive and begins by making sure the parent population is well informed in advance of ever getting a phone call from school.   The goal is to have a cooperative community effort that enables families to know what to look for, screen regularly, manage infestations safely and send children to school lice and nit free. The packet of educational information is best delivered to everyone at the beginning of each school year. :)  www.headlice.org Â
 @Deborah Altschuler And included in the stack of paperwork that all of the newcomers receive when they join that district in the middle of a school year.Â
I remember in elementary school (20 years ago) we had lice checks every other week. We would line up at the nurses office one class at a time and they would go layer by layer with a new wooden stick & changing their gloves with every student. If you were clear, you would go through the door to the hallway. If lice were found, you would go through the door that lead to the office, parents were called, they gave mom and dad a packet of information and we were sent home. We have nurses in schools. This should be happening, if not already.
@armywife That sounds like a waste of time and resources. Every other week you'd stand in line to get your head checked for tiny bugs that don't even spread diseases? If that were to occur now, these same whiney parents would be crying because their kids are wasting valuable academic instruction time when schools are already failing. Since when is it the schools job to check for bugs? Parents should check their own kids for bugs. Lice are gross but harmless. If parents think there is an issue with one particular family then go talk to that one family. Aren't kids in neighborhood schools? Meet your neighbors.
Head lice indeed represent a health risk by the way we respond to them.  Unfortunately school policies too often urge parents to "treat" their children for lice without warning that the traditional treatments are not only pesticides but also products known to be less than 100% effective. Simply said -- chasing lice with chemicals is a losing proposition.
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The two children discussed in this piece are worthy of everyone's concern as these chronic cases are typically the ones where pesticide products are used repeatedly with true risk to the child's health and their environment.Â
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Policies vary greatly from school to school. Here's what we recommend at the National Pediculosis Association. It's a fully referenced roadmap for a community approach to a community problem. http://www.headlice.org/downloads/nonitpolicy.htm
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"Because it's not about lice, it's about kids."Â www.headlice.org
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Only 2 kids have the bugs and this kid keeps getting them again. It's pretty easy to see where the real problem is honey. You have them in your house. You need to do the entire house not just the kids head the send her back to school and blame the school.
Almost all lice comes from head to head contact and not pillows, blankets, hats, etc. but that does happen. Lice need a head to live on, if they are not on one within 24 hrs they die. You don't don't need to treat a whole house, just be aware of the environment.
 @Alex Clayton BINGO.  Lice does not live on hard surfaces.  The families are not being thorough at home. They are the source, obviously.Â
@Alex Clayton Maybe, but I had a neighbor who spent hundreds doing her house and found that she had to check the heads of kids who came over in order to stop the infestation from reoccuring.
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Oh buck the hell up. I had head lice countless time in grade school.
I am so glad this family brought to light the secretly changing lice policies taking place in most school districts. While lice are not a health hazard, they are expensive when you consider time loss from work, lice treatment, laundry soap, water, electricity, etc. I would be so frustrated if I spent all the time and money working to get rid of the problem only to get it back again because the child sharing a cubby with my child is infested and their family won't take care of the problem. It is going to take some ticked off parents to get policies changed back to the way it should be. No Live Lice, No Nit policy. I encourage all parents to find out what your districts policies are and contact OSPI to voice your concerns about these new policies.Â
 @mmb unless your child is sharing clothes, or snuggling with the other child, they won't catch it. Educate yourself.Â
Educate myself? I have been working with kids in schools for 13 years with head lice. It is very easy for one child to get lice from another child in the younger grades. They work very close together, they share cubbies, and they have no boundaries. They are constantly hugging on eachother. Maybe you should spend some time in an elementary school.....
 @mmb I agree! As a teacher, it is hard not being allowed to send kids home because they only have nits. Hello! It is not like they wait to hatch until after school. I do let the parents know that day and usually they do come and pick up their kids. I know we don't want kids to feel bad but most of the time, students have no clue/don't care if someone is sent home.  I don't think we are being fair to parents.Â
At the school I work at, when we discover lice (or better, the parents tell us), then I have all students in my class checked for lice. If anyone has lice, we let the families know (and sometimes send them home, depending on the parents). The principal sends notes home (with what to do for parents). The next time the child with lice comes to school, I do have him/her checked before coming back to class. Last year it happened monthly because one family did not get rid of all lice. So at the end she was taken to Lice Knowing You (parents choice). When there is lice in the room, I usually have all students put their coats and hats in their backpacks so it doesn't spread. Of course little kids love to hug, share coats, etc so it is hard sometimes. I do spray lavendar in my hair because it keeps lice away.Â
Tea tree oil shampoo was the only thing that kept those pesky critters away from my kids head. Same issue we had a few years ago with her school. I was giving her Nix every other week because she was coming home with it. Tried the mayonnaise thing but all it did was make her hair greasy and more infested. Came pretty close to shaving her hair off just to stop the little buggers but tea tree oil saved the day. Now we bring that stuff with us anytime we go on a trip, just to be on the safe side.Â
Just slather a cup or two of Best Foods mayo on your childs head and let it sit for 5-6 hours. This will suffocate those lil bastids...problem solved. If you get bored while you're waiting for them to persish, might I suggest you dip your artichoke leafs in the mayo and enjoy! Win win!
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Brought to you by Krafts Foods!
@dylandawgie I saw this on The Office.
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Have you actually seen this work?
What about the nits?
Lice are disgusting vermin and should be eradicated not ignored until they are an out of control infestation throughout the whole school and then the community. Get real.
"...in this case officials claim only two students had lice and the school would rather they stay in class."
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O...kay... that would seem to be the problem right there, now, wouldn't it?
 @JLS1950 this was the policy at my daughter's school, as well. It wasn't an issue because we treated her, and taught her proper behavior to keep from getting and spreading it.Â
 @DT  @JLS1950 Does the school maintain the same policy with regard to e.g. scabies and other parasitic infestations... or infectious diseases such as influenza whooping cough?
Here is the deal: in most lines of office work especially, if we have an infectious disease, we are encouraged to stay home and to seek medical intervention if appropriate. We simply do not need an entire office or work team sick and miserable. In a schoolroom the same conditions for easy transmission apply, and an entire class can become infected very rapidly. Parasitic infestations work in similar manner: most can be transmitted as easily as having clothing in contact; some can infect through larvae living in the environmental space such as in carpets or among dust in corners and crevices.
We need to remember also that some parasitic infestations are much more damaging to certain individuals than to others: children suffering allergies and/or asthma may react to such parasites with actually life threatening symptoms, for example, also also those with compromised immune systems.
The bottom line here is that schools should not let themselves become pools of infection and infestation merely for the convenience of teachers, administrators and the curriculum calendar. IMHO.
We had the same problem my daughter got 6 times we would treat the problem and the house she would go back to school and come home again with it she went to Pleasant Glade Elm in Lacey this was a few years ago now. They almost put her on the Becca Bill for missing so much school. She finally got rid of it over the summer break and Tea Tree oil. We finally figured out when the kids would go out to play they would get hot and take their coats off and put them in a pile all together per the playground teachers instructions.
@Billiejog4050 Tea Tree oil? How did you use it?
well just a little known fact Lice love clean hair. the greasier it is the more the lice hate it and move on. Now I am not I say again Not advocating poor hygiene. and sending a kid home with Lice is no big thing. It is not like the school nurse gets on the 1MC and goes Attention attention little Johny has head lice and cooties! That is all. Sheesh.
 @Exiled_Patriot I was just going to post that dirty hair can help in the effort to NOT get lice.  Wash your kids hair Friday after school and let it go the rest of the week.  I know it's gross but it does work.  We had the issue for a few years and thankfully this year -- mine is in 3rd grade -- we haven't had it.  My mom says we NEVER got it growing up.  She was completely grossed out when she heard my kiddo got it and not only got it but got it a few times!  I tried the natural methods (mayo, vinegar, etc) but finally turned to the one at the drugstore and that worked.  Should there be a next time I am going straight for the drugstore treatment -- and using the special combs I bought was well.
If a child has lice then they shouldn't be allowed back at school until they are COMPLETELY 100% lice-free. Allowing students to stay in school is just literally spreading the problem. Kids come home with lice and it gets passed to the parents (if it goes undetected) and it is just disgusting! Luckily I have never had to deal with my child getting lice but I had it when I was a kid and have seen a friend try to battle with her kids that had it.
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Yuck! Makes my head itch just thinking about it.
Get some chimpanzees. They'll clean the lice out the hair and eat em too.
I am ignoring the typos, because I got the gist of the story. Mom, I dealt with lice and I can tell you, if you do the treatment and take care of the issue in your home, then have your child follow the prevention steps at school, the issue will stop. Trust me, either the child is still getting close enough and risking getting the lice back or the home not being treated is the culprit. Children should not share combs, hats or other hair items and follow other prevention steps. For the time being, girls with longer hair should probably wear it up or in some other tight do. While they are annoying, lice do not carry the disease issues of say, fleas or mosquitoes. A child missing school for this issue is not necessary if all steps are being followed. I was able to put a stop to it quit easily and we never go reinfected because we knew what to do. Education and not panic or finger pointing is what is needed.
@andyourpointis Hell yes, a child missing school is NECESSARY until it is under control. It's not about finger pointing or embarrassing them, it is about getting the situation under control. Allowing kids to remain in school while they still have lice isn't going to prevent it from spreading. If a kid in class with my son had lice, I wouldn't want the kid there until they were lice-free.
Sure don't have that problem here in Renton. The schools here are always on a witchhunt for lice!
While informative, this article was almost unreadable due to the numerous typographical and grammatical errors. I would cringe as a credible source of newsjournalism to have this article on my website, KOMO.
It's Licey, not Lacey!
They have the same policy here regarding head lice. I have had issues with head lice in the past, but haven't for a few years now (knock on wood). Although I don't necessarily agree with the policy (I personally would opt to take my child home until it's resolved), I don't know if I don't agree with it either. Part of treating headlice is teaching your children prevention - prevention can go a long way even if there is a kid with headlice in the classroom.