LICE TIPS

In 2010, the Everett School District revised its lice policy; no longer are students excluded from school because of head lice. “EVERETT, Wash. — Everett schools are allowing children with head lice to remain in class while they are being treated. The district says the change in policy is based on thinking that missing class is worse than the risk of spreading the itchy parasites.” Source: The Daily Caller It is important to note that head lice will not go away by themselves. They require treatment which involves physically removing the nits from the hair and killing the lice.

Can you drown lice? How long can lice survive in water? Read our blog post to find out if you can get rid of lice by drowning them in water.

Please note that students in this school district will not be sent home on account of head lice. Manassas schools follow the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the National Association of School Nurses (NASN). Students found with live head lice may remain in school for the day and then be treated at home before returning to school the next day. It is expected at that point that live bugs will no longer be on the head but a few nits may remain. Nits are not contagious.

Dale City and Woodbridge are in Prince William County and adhere to the district lice policy which is no longer a “no nit” policy. Children with live lice may remain in school and go home at the end of the day to be treated. Children with nits may return to school.

ROUND ROCK SCHOOL DISTRICT Round Rock schools have dropped their "no nit" policies as advised by the American Association of Pediatrics. TRANSMISSION "The process of transferring lice from one individual to another generally occurs from direct head-to-head contact. Transmission of lice is more likely to occur in the home setting versus the school setting. Lice do not jump or fly. They do not live off of a human host for more than 24 hours. SCREENING Mass screenings are disruptive and not warranted. RRISD will not conduct mass screenings. THIS PROCEDURE MUST BE FOLLOWED.

Schools in the The Colony and Little Elm area do not adhere to a strict “no-nit” policy; students are allowed to return to the classroom once they have undergone treatment. Little Elm “Head lice, although not an illness or a disease, is very common among children and is spread very easily through head-to-head contact during play, sports, or nap time, and when children share things like brushes, combs, hats, and headphones.

The good news for senior citizens is that they are at low risk of picking up a case of head lice. The bad news is that if they are around people who have they are certainly not immune.

Carrollton Farmers Branch Schools in the Carrolton area still enforce a “no nit” policy, meaning children will not be allowed to return to school until all nits have been removed as well as live bugs. “Parents often fail to report head lice to the school. Pediculosis (head lice infestation) is a communicable disease that needs to be reported. McCoy Elementary has a “Nit Free” policy regarding head lice. This means that a student may not return to school until after treatment and all nits have been removed.

Do-It-Yourself lice treatments can drive people crazy. Below, LiceDoctors’ client Nicole M. describes her lice treatment journey: I am a writer and a mom and a client of LiceDoctors. After our recent experience with head lice, I offered to write about our experience with the hope that you will learn from it and not make the mistakes that I made. You see, I am a do-it-yourselfer. Yes, I make bread from scratch, paint our house, and even make my kids’ clothes. So when they came home from school with lice, I got to work removing the bugs. After all, how difficult could it be?

HERNDON AND RESTON SCHOOLS These school districts have dropped their “no nit” lice policies. “With the start of the school year just around the corner, the Fairfax County Public School system is ensuring that students are as safe as they can be with the rise of head lice. According to the FDA, each year between six and 12 million children in the U.S. get head lice, and this year, FCPS is implementing their head lice prevention policies. ‘Whenever school comes back into session is when we tend to see the most cases; when school starts in the fall, [and] when you come back after vacation.