Lice - Where I Work

amother

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 9:45 am

So I'm sitting in the school office and a first grader comes into the office and says "Um, saturday night, I had lice"
The expert on these matters won't be in until 10am - so I ask the principal what the policy is, does this child need to be checked by someone here?
He went to the girl, whos hair was pulled back in a pony tail (it isnt usually) and asked if the mother checked her before bringing her to school, and the girl said something along the lines of "yes she put something in my hair to make it not get bad" - did the child not sit thru hours of nit/lice picking?? Is it still in her hair?

AMERICANS: Would you send your kid to school with lice, alive or dead??

(as for the policy on all of this, im still waiting for the 'expert' to arrive, I'm sure an email goes out to the parents, and I'm pretty sure we need to check the whole class.... though I refuse to do that)

YALT

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 10:21 am

I would never send my child to school knowingly with lice.
First of all, it's not fair!
Second, it'll go around, and then, right after I clean it out, it'll come right back around.

My nieces' school has a policy that when a child has lice, they are not allowed back into school until they have a signed note by one of the approved school lice checkers saying that they're clean.

Barbara

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 10:27 am

YALT wrote:

I'd like to see all schools have that policy. Our school does, but I'm not sure how closely its enforced. A no lice, no nit policy is the *only* way to get this under control.

miriamnechama

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 10:30 am

not even in israel, they are very strict about it and kids can gets ent home with lice.

I have boys so in teh cheder they are not so tough but alot of tyimes we getthis note from the rebbe's

נה לבדוק ראש של ילדיכם כי המכה השלישית ממצרים הגיעה לבקר בכיתתינו

go figure that out.

actually once in high school I came down with lice, I was too embarressed to mention anything but wnet to school as usually though my mother kept cleaning me out every night, I was like 14....then

oh and another thing which should really belong in teh mikva forum, it's not fair on teachers, kindergarten teachers etc as if they catch lice like I did once from kids.. it's a majour chatziza and I wound up in teh mikva once for 3 hours.

SingALong

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 10:35 am

b4 school started this year we all had to bring our kids to get checked in school by nit checkers.

I still check my kid occasionally at home but if I would find I definitely would keep her home for a day while cleaning her and linen, brushes, hair accessories, etc, and call the school to have a nit checker come in to check everyone.

yo'ma

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 11:23 am

When I was living in NY, absolutely not. Over here, it's very difficult no to. She caught it from a girl in her class and no matter how many times I get rid of it, it comes back. When she had vacation, it was such a mechaya. She had to do a project w/ this girl and she got it much worse. This girl is not the only one in the class w/ it, but she has it the worst.

OldYoung

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 11:47 am

Just btw, there are certain shampoos that are supposed to be some sort of 'lice repellant.' I know Trader Joe's sells, I can check the exact name if anyone's interested.

Also, a hair iron will kill lice on the hair. (It won't get to the roots, but makes it a little easier to clean.)

BennysMommy

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 11:56 am

yo'ma wrote:

I think the situation here might even be worse then in Israel. It's so bad that my son got nits when we first moved here at 4 months old!! Thank g-d he had such thin hair (and so little of it) that I was just able to pull them all out. After that I would check him every time I nursed him. I thought that as soon as I sent him to gan he would come home with lice, but BH he still hasn't got anything. I really don't think that there is one school here that can honestly say that there is a day with no children in school with lice.

bbmom

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 1:24 pm

The school I work in has the "bring a note that you were checked by one of the following experts approved by the school" policy. It does work but it's impossible to make such a policy work if a parent is sending a child to school without telling that s/he has lice. They mainly enforce the rule during the days after lice checking (once a month) and if the parent informs the school that her child had lice.

greenfire

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 1:52 pm

nits are as bad as lice ... they are the babies ready to spurt forth into 8x as much lice in a very short time ...

nits take 6-9 days to hatch - become adults in 7 days and lay about 8 nits per day ...

so if I can do the math correctly 1 louse = 8 babies x 7 days = 56 lice in one weeks time ... next week 56 x 8 = 448 and then some ...

if you keep checking and rid before any hatch they're gone in a day or two - keeping the head covered and away from the infestation ...

totally rude to send your kid anywhere even with 1 nit ...

NativeMom

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 2:00 pm

I wouldn't send my son to school with lice or nits and if I did without knowing he had them I would feel awful! I'd be so embarrassed if sent my child to school and caused an outbreak

because you know it happens

morkush

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 2:14 pm

Quote:

Did this make anyone else's hair itch? Scratching Head

happyone

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 4:16 pm

In my girls school they have almost completely taken care of the lice issue by not allowing any child into school the first day unless she was checked by an approved "knit checker" in the community and has a signed note that she's clear. After that, they check the girls hair once a month in school. Baruch Hashem none of my children have ever had knits or lice, but if they did, you can bet they wouldn't go out of the house until clear.

Fabulous

Mon, Nov 17 2008, 4:18 pm

happyone wrote:

I don't think we had the note requirement before school. But I remember that a knit checker came to school three or four times a year to check every girl (smallish school, 2 classes per grade).