Pittsburgh School Head Lice Policy

According to Pennsylvania schools State Code, Section 27.71 states that “a child or staff person can be excluded from school who is suspected by a physician or the school nurse of having Pediculosis capitis (head lice)” (Chapter 27, 28 PA Code). The school nurse or physician decides on readmission to school based upon the school’s policy or specified criteria. The student or staff member can be readmitted immediately after treatment and should be reexamined by the school nurse or other specified health care practitioner seven days after the initial treatment (Chapter 2 Pa state gov policy)." Basically, this means that children with head lice and/or nits may be excluded from school at the discretion of the school nurse. This ambiguous policy leads to a great variation in head lice policy from district to district, depending on the point of view of the administration or heath care professionals within a district or even within a school.

Pittsburgh Policy

In the Pittsburgh, PA area there is variety in the head lice policy among schools. While many schools leave the policy decision to the school principal, the Pittsburgh Public Schools Early Childhood Education Center has a "no nits policy" calling for children with head lice to be removed from school. " A child can return to the classroom after receiving treatment and no nits are in the hair."

Brentwood Borough School Lice Policy

Conversely in the Brentwood Borough school district of Pittsburgh, "Child is to be sent home early only if live (crawling) head lice are detected. Otherwise, child my finish the school day...children may return to school the next day (after treatment)... it is not necessary that the child be entirely "nit-free" to return to school, but if live lice remain,the child will be sent home."

Aliquippa School Lice Policy

In nearby Aliquippa, the web site states that, "Once initial treatment has been done and checked by school nurse, the student can return to school." Children with lice and nits are not to remain in school. Each school district has its own unique lice policy. Families who find lice in their children should treat the child and check with their schools to learn what the readmission policy is. LiceDoctors lice professionals will treat your children so that they may return to school the next day without fear of re-infesting other children or being denied entry to school. LiceDoctors can be reached in Pittsburgh at 412-328-2201. Or learn more about our Pittsburgh Lice Treatment Removal service.