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Including Orlando and Surrounding Areas Effective 2011, Schools in Orange and Volusia Counties dropped their “no nit” policies and announced that they will no longer check students for head lice.
Volusia County
Volusia County Schools spokeswoman Nancy Wait said in an email, "We don't have a policy to notify parents. Some schools did as a practice, others did not. We are more focused on educating parents to routinely check their own children's heads for lice. Head lice is a social issue, not a health threat." An article on the KMG Local 6 website states, “Volusia County stopped checking students for lice because it became too expensive, and so parents wonder if other districts might be in the same boat.” According to this web site, “When a student in Volusia, Marion and Brevard counties appears to have head lice, the student is sent home with instructions to the parents about how to treat it. But other parents are not notified.
Orange County
Orange County said it does the same, but does notify other parents if a large number of students appear to be infected. Seminole County said if one student is found with lice school officials notify the parents of every student in that child's classroom.
Osceola County
Osceola County does regular checks for head lice at least every other month and is the only district to do so in Central Florida. If they find one student is infected they notify all parents, and check all students.”
Elimination of “No Nit” Policies a National Trend
The elimination of “no nit” policies is a national trend found in many schools since the the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that millions of students have missed days of class unnecessarily and is recommended that the nation's school districts back off of their "no nit'' policies. "No healthy child should be excluded from or allowed to miss school because of head lice," the AAP said. "Although not painful or a serious health hazard, head lice are the cause of much embarrassment and misunderstanding, many unnecessary days lost from school and work, and millions of dollars spent on remedies." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Association of School Nurses now follow the recommendations of the AAP. To be sure of your child’s school head lice policy, LiceDoctors recommends that you check in with your school nurse.
