Get Schooled

By Leia

July 3, 2006 02:43 PM | Link to this

Fortunately, I’ve never had to deal with this issue either at my school or at my childrens’ school, but, as a precaution, I have always provided my daughters with their own headphones to use. Ever since they’ve started school, I’ve explained to them that these headphones are for their use only, and not to be shared with anyone. They’ve also been taught not to share brushes, combs, ribbons, etc. I’m a bit of a germaphobe anyway, so I’ve been a bit anal about this subject. My girls have very long, beautiful, thick hair - and I’d hate to have to cut it off because of nits - yuck!

By SNY

July 3, 2006 02:58 PM | Link to this

Not being funny here, what is a nit?

By Manny

July 3, 2006 03:31 PM | Link to this

SNY - not being funny, but, you do have access to the internet - do a Google search for “nit”.

By decaturparent

July 3, 2006 03:45 PM | Link to this

SNY - a nit is a lice egg.

Thanks Patti for the topic.

Our school seems to not have a definite policy. Some kids are sent home immediately, some are allowed to stay. My understanding is that they do not have a policy that requires no nits before returning. They just require an OTC treatment.

The problem is the OTC treatment requires two applications 7-10 day apart because it doesn’t kill nits… and even then - there is a new and prevalent strain of lice that are resistant to common pesticides used on them. We seem to have those.

Here’s my routine - some may criticize parts of it - but it seemed to work for me.

Day 1 - OTC pesticide treatment on everyone - lice or no lice. Pick out large nits/lice and comb out small ones with a metal lice comb. This will take several hours on a girl with long hair. Sit on a light colored sheet preferably outside to do this. Dip comb in a bowl of very hot water to dislodge nits in comb or pick them out with a pin or tiny brush. No conditioner or anything on hair after the OTC treatment b/c it will hinder its full effectiveness.

Day 2 (or at least 24-48 hrs later) - Some type of oil like product (mayo, olive, corn, mineral, vaseline) heavily doused on hair, making sure to get scalp. Cover head tightly with saran wrap and perhaps a shower cap. Sleep with this lovely concoction all night and dream that you are a salad.

Day 3 - Wake up, wash out the oil with antibacterial dish soap and condition with tea tree oil conditioner. Sit on a sheet again and spray hair with a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water (vinegar loosens nits). Nit comb hair thouroughly. The nits you get this time will be very tiny - nearly microscopic. The oil suffocates the lice and some of the nits. The vinegar loosens the nits from the hair shaft.

Days 4-5 wash hair with a tar based dandruff shampoo. Spend about an half hour with the vinegar/nit routine especially in trouble spots.

Day 6 tea tree oil shampoo/conditioner - keep combing

Day 7 - Pesticide one more time for good measure.

After day seven. Keep up with the tea tree oil shampoo/conditioner and use the tar shampoo intermittently. Comb with the vinegar solution every few days until you are sure they are gone. (the vinegar doesn’t smell much when it dries).

GENERAL - Wash linens on days 1,3, 5 and 7. Wash clothes and sheet used to sit on after each combing. Boil combs and bowls each night. Vacuum every other day. Put stuffed animals and rugs that can’t be washed outside for a couple of weeks. Take an oderless garlic every day b/c the antibacterial properties of garlic interfere with lice digestion and they just don’t like it.

We are about rid of them - the OTC remedies were somewhat effective but did not kill all of them. I actually pulled live and happy lice off my kids heads after the OTC treatment.

There is also a routine with Cetaphil that is out there on the internet that I have heard in very effective… I haven’t used it though.

YUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKK!!!!!

Bright side - all this combing time is a fabulous chance to really have a long chat with your kids about their lives and bond. They also learn lots of great vocabulary like “meticulous,” “nit picky,” “louse” vs. “lice,” “nymph,” “detail oriented,” “obsessive,” etc. they also learn various facts about lice sex - mine were especially curious about that. ;)

By Leia

July 3, 2006 03:59 PM | Link to this

decaturparent - You did this to every child whether they had lice or not? Did you get parental permission first? I personally would have been livid if you’d put that stuff in my daughters’ hair!

By scratchingmyhead

July 3, 2006 04:03 PM | Link to this

decaturparent

Try bagging the stuffed animals for a month or two (along with rugs, comforters, etc that can’tg be washed)

A big garbage bag, tied aired tight for the remainder of the summer should do the trick.

I really feel for you.

BLECH!

By Patti Ghezzi

July 3, 2006 04:05 PM | Link to this

I think Decaturparent is the parent…

By Leia

July 3, 2006 04:12 PM | Link to this

Oh, I’m sorry that I misread the post. I thought she was describing the daily routine for a classroom of students! Phew!!

By Jeff

July 3, 2006 04:18 PM | Link to this

I’ll just have my kids - males at least, females if they want to - go home and imitate my hair style. (I shave skin bald every couple of weeks…)

By Vicki

July 3, 2006 04:19 PM | Link to this

Our school is NOT nit-friendly. Once a child has the tell tale signs of lice they are out of school until they are re-checked by the school nurse before they are allowed to return. We too are fortunate in that we’ve never had head lice, but several classmates have had lice. The teachers with the help of the students will clean, clean and clean the entire classroom. Backpacks are put into large individual trash bags and sent home this way along with a note explaining the situation.

Even though we have never had lice, I do check them very frequently - just in case.

By Lee

July 3, 2006 04:21 PM | Link to this

Say what? Some schools are relaxing their lice policies because they want the child in school because of NCLB??????

Morons are running the schools. Don’t know how else to explain it….

By Anyone Heard of This?

July 3, 2006 04:21 PM | Link to this

Once a garmet is washed and dried put it in the microwave for about 10 seconds for the rays to zap any remaining nits. These garmets, of course have to be the smaller ones such as the hair ribbons, cloth head rags and possibly pillow cases.

By Patti Ghezzi

July 3, 2006 04:27 PM | Link to this

Lee, my Googling skills pulled up a few references to reports from pediatrician’s organizations saying the nits are not contagious. I suspect this may be driving nit-friendlier policies more than NCLB, but I’ll report back when I know more…

By SNY

July 3, 2006 04:30 PM | Link to this

Manny,

I thought that nit was an accranmy for something. That is why I asked and didn’t google it. Sorry it was such an inconvience to ask.

By alsoscratchingmyhead

July 3, 2006 04:43 PM | Link to this

I can say from experience that my daughter’s school system did not relax the policy.

By decaturparent

July 3, 2006 04:48 PM | Link to this

Patty, the nits aren’t technically contagious unless one somehow dilodges (a hair with one on it falls out, etc.) and ends up on someone else’s head.

The problem with nits is that they hatch into lice in 7-10 days - and the lice are contagious.

I’m sure all of you have itchy heads by now!

Lee - no.. morons are enacting the laws… well, I guess some morons are running schools too. ;)

The NCLB thing relates to attendance being part of the AYP calculation. If a kid is out for several days while his/her parents battle lice - they miss school, and attendance problems can knock a school out of AYP even if their test scores are OK (from my understanding).

By Vicki

July 3, 2006 05:04 PM | Link to this

My head itches!

By Manny

July 3, 2006 05:07 PM | Link to this

SNY - acronym

By decaturparent

July 3, 2006 05:10 PM | Link to this

Vicki - I like to think of it as more of a tingly feeling. ;)

By decaturparent

July 3, 2006 05:23 PM | Link to this

You know - I reasearched a bit more and I think that the nits are the empty egg shells, and the eggs are just called eggs. I guess a no nit policy might be going overboard in that case, but there should definitely be a no egg policy.

By Vicki

July 3, 2006 05:29 PM | Link to this

decaturparent - I feel for ya!!!! Growing up with 2 brothers and 2 sisters, I can remember the drill quite well. (And pinworms, too…Gross!!!!!)

By Recently Retired

July 3, 2006 05:32 PM | Link to this

My school required either a dr. note or the box from a lice treatment. The school nurse would send the kid or kids home when a family member was found to have nits. It was amazing how many parents argued with her about coming to pick up their kids. My skin begins to crawl at just the word “nit” or “lice”. Also,has anyone ever heard of this? I had a health nurse tell me once that lice won’t stay on a black person’s head? She said that it had something to do with hair texture? I’d never heard such a thing, and still believe lice to be equal opportunity employers.

By Nikole

July 4, 2006 10:55 AM | Link to this

Recently Retired-I have heard that too. When I was in elementary school, the nurse would skip over the black students entirely,saying it wouldn’t live in our hair. None of us ever had lice so I always assumed that she was right.

By Lisa B.

July 4, 2006 10:57 AM | Link to this

Students at my school are immediately sent home if they have nits, and may not return without approval by the school nurse. In our school system, parents can write 5 notes to excuse their children’s absences. After that, students must have a doctor’s excuse, or the parents begin receiving letters from the school regarding poor attendance. I’ve had parents become furious that the school sends their kids home with nits, then sends letters chastizing the parents about their children’s absenteeism!

By posterchild

July 4, 2006 11:09 AM | Link to this

I have worked in 2 schools where the nurse did not even know what lice looked like, and have had to spend a few days over the years checking kids’ heads and rushing home, wanting to chop off my long hair. If we have nurses who aren’t even aware of what lice looks like (doesn’t matter if they are African American or work in a majority AA school), I imagine lice policies aren’t tightening up.

By Nja

July 4, 2006 01:08 PM | Link to this

Something I found online:

Head lice infect people of all races, all income levels, and all education levels. However, African Americans have a lower reported incidence of head lice than Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Caucasians. According to the National Pediculosis Association (NPA), “Pediatric Dermatology cites various studies that suggest the incidence among African American school children is less than one half of one percent, while the incidence among non-black schoolmates is usually more than ten percent.”

By Recently Retired

July 4, 2006 05:07 PM | Link to this

Nja, thanks for researching the info.

By North Georgia Middle School Teacher

July 4, 2006 05:49 PM | Link to this

I can relate to this one! It leaves me scratching my head figuratively and literally. Our school system has certainly relaxed its lice policy because of attendance requirements by NCLB. It now reads: HEAD LICE The middle school will follow the Murray County Board of Education Policy in notifying parents of children with head lice infestation (JC-A HEAD LICE POLICY). Students sent home cannot return to school without a certificate from a health care provider including physicians, the Health Department, or a Murray County School Nurse stating that the student has been treated and that there is no active infestation. It is not necessary that the student be nit-free. We had a system wide meeting on it and dubbed this concession “No Nit Left Behind.” A student with nits is allowed at school when three years ago, that student was sent home by the school nurse until the student could return and pass her reinspection. The problem? Many of our parents would keep the kids home indefinitely, saying they couldn’t afford treatment or that they didn’t think what the nurse saw was nits. I guess the bugs themselves are harder to dispute! A few would just shave their kids’ heads and send them back, but several of them complained that we were targeting them because of socioeconomic status. And just like an earlier post I saw, when they received attendance review meeting letters, they were livid because we weren’t allowing their child to attend school.

By Douglas County Teacher

July 7, 2006 11:30 AM | Link to this

Douglas County allows students to return with nits as long as there are no live lice. Of course, the nits can hatch at any time and the child can have live bugs in their hair but the people who make the policies aren’t on the front lines to have the lice get in their hair. Also, referrals to DFACS for neglect don’t get any attention, see, they’re not the ones who will get it either.

By Douglas County Teacher

July 7, 2006 11:37 AM | Link to this

Douglas County says they don’t allow students back into class with nits but this is not true. They do it all the time. They like to point out the child doesn’t have live bugs in their hair regardless of the fact that the nits can hatch during the school day. DFACS doesn’t care either-I know because the school counselor has tried to refer some of these kids for neglect since they have to go through the hell of having these bugs in their hair ALL THE TIME and they have parents who obviously care less! I’m talking about kids who have it ALL 10 months of school and I AM NOT making this up! It’s really pitiful.

By MMM

July 10, 2006 09:21 AM | Link to this

I was on vacation and the local paper there covered this topic quite nicely:

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs .dll/article?AID=/20060705/LOCAL/207050311/1078

By ruth

July 11, 2006 10:21 AM | Link to this

Lice like teachers too. At my school students or teachers with lice and/or nits are sent home. A few years ago our school had the highest reported cases of lice in the county. No more! My rallying cry is “Who can get lice? Anybody!” It’s a yucky thing to have, but it happens. I’d rather students share their colds, flu, ringworm, or impetigo than lice with me.
Education is the key to prevention. My class is always well educated on the subject. WellStar offers a wonderful (in school) program on lice. I always have my students keep their coats on their chairs, so coats don’t touch as they would when hung on the coat rack. I also make sure to extend my gratitude to responsible parents who alert me when they find their child has lice. I am very good at doing discreet head checks (in the hall) and alerting other parents to also monitor their children. Once someone in your household or classroom has lice it’s labor intensive and expensive to make sure every last louse and nit are gone from: sofa pillows, carpet, bedding, towels, stuffed animals, and clothing. School isn’t the only place to catch lice. Shared batting helmets and headphones, sleepovers, friendly hugs, and trying on clothing at stores may also be avenues of lice transmission.
Who can get lice? Anyone! The trick is not to keep getting them.