Clarence Hayes, who represents RTM District 4, is very engaged in local issues. He recently retired from a career in information technology. He is an avid amateur naturalist, gardener and walker, and enjoys hanging out with his 5 grandkids.
He writes:
“The lice problem is “out of control.”
This was stated in letters and in person, by several parents at the Board of Education meeting last month.
This is not being exaggerated by a couple of annoyed parents. I have grandkids in elementary school, and am part of the parent gossip grapevine. It’s everywhere, in all the elementary schools.
Head lice: a familiar sight.
What should be done? At the BOE meeting parents were told “the district follows state regulation. Lice has been a persistent issue for many years in many schools.”
What are these “state regulations”? Information posted on the Westport Public Schools website states the school should do nothing, and rely entirely on parents to inspect their children at least weekly, then treat appropriately.
The “Head Lice Management in Schools” section states:
- There should be no screening of students at school
- No child should be excluded from school due to the presence of nits or live lice
- If lice are discovered by a nurse, no one is to be notified other than the parent.
It adds that school nurses should educate parents on how to identify and treat lice.
Why do nothing? The WPS website says:
- “A head lice infestation is not a communicable disease and no health risks have been associated with head lice … It is merely a nuisance, not a health issue.”
- “Exclusion from school can adversely affect students emotionally, socially and academically.”
- “Decrease stigmatism of these children”
11% of the total population of Westport (elementary age students), residing in perhaps 25% or more of the housing of Westport, goes to an environment every day, where they are mixed together.
Being active children they tussle and roughhouse, and share hats. brushes, helmets, masks, hair bands, play outfits, etc.
To sum up: Lice are rampant. Kids like to play. Parents don’t tell the schools or other parents when their kids have lice, so others cannot act in response. This cycle cannot be broken without common shared intervention. It will go on forever. The BOE says as much, stating it’s been a problem for years.
School is the only institution in a position to do anything substantial enough to resolve this problem. That is where transmission happens, and that is the only place where all transmission vectors are gathered.
My proposal: Bring back school lice inspection, but do not exclude students from school if lice are found.
The district can periodically hire inspectors who will work with school nurses, to inspect students. This might need to be done annually, at the start of the school year.
If it is too expensive, a GoFundMe campaign could collect sufficient funds from parents. Initially everyone must be screened multiple times, over at least 9-12 weeks.
Confidentiality and effectiveness can be combined. Every child will be inspected by a professional, one at a time. If nits or live lice are present, that information would be provided only to that student’s parents. The child would still attend school. Any concerned parent will treat their child immediately.
However, that student will have to be inspected again to determine if treatment was actually done, and was effective. To mask this, there could be a random lottery of “re-inspection,” and those with nits would be included.
Or we could not worry about the supposed stigma, and just re-test as needed those initially found to have lice. If they are still going to school they will not lose academic time, nor will parents need to take off work to watch them at home.
This is common sense. I think the CDC and others have gone overboard in their attempt to “avoid stigma.” Their documents focus primarily on what not to do, due to concern about exclusion, rather than outlining ways that public institutions can solve the problem.
I call on the Westport schools to play a more active role in solving a problem only they are positioned to solve, instead of pushing it off solely on parents (who cannot solve it independently), in an effort to avoid any appearance of “stigmatizing.”
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This “confidentiality” about who has lice is just more of the destructive DEI crap in the education world and, especially if the valuable information in this blog is intelligently broadcast, totally unnecessary.
When our kids were little we found this episode of “Arthur” which helped them understand lice: https://youtu.be/vLDK6x2wL2E?feature=shared
I had a child in the westport public elementary schools 6 years ago. i remember getting messages from the school nurse whenever lice was found on someone in the classroom. i would then check my sons hair. i once found one, sent him to school and felt guilty so i called the nurse and had her check him (she didn’t find anything that time). i don’t specifically remember having to keep the child home. maybe we had to at least be “addressing” it. i remember going through two or three iterations of combing/cleaning/greasing etc when i found lice. I realized it was just a huge nuisance, more than anything. I was not in the school system for 6 years, now i am back with a kindergartner at GFS. i have not heard a single word about lice from the nurse, or other parents. I keep forgetting about it being “rampant in the elementary schools” until i read the local news. Did something change? Do they no longer notify when a case is found?
Call me prehistoric, but when I was in elementary school, we had lice inspections. We would line up by classroom outside the auditorium in Long Lots to go into the nurses office.
One by one, behind a private screen, we would get our hair inspected. If you had it, you went home. If you didn’t, back to class. And honestly, lice was not an issue at all growing up here.
I was still under the impression that IF a child had lice you went home. Thank you for highlighting this.
Lice has always been an issue in town. My children’s preschool had to close at one point as there was so many children with it. Baseball/softball instituted a practice to have your child use their OWN helmet and not share (also keeping your baseball cap on under the helmet). We were notified by the school nurse that there was an infection within the classroom so to please check your children. Children do NOT only spread lice within a school setting, sports, sleep away camp, sleep overs, playdates and any other activity where children are well…being children.
I have two daughters at CES. Every year there are cases of lice in their classes. I personally don’t really care that much, it’s easy to treat. Anyone paying $2k to have their home deloused or whatever is just getting ripped off.
That being said, a lot of people still freak out over lice. There is definitely a stigma associated with it. I think it’s something the schools have to be careful with for sure.
Now, if we’re going to spend even more money on the schools to do lice inspections, is there at least any evidence out there that this would reduce the number of cases? Surely this has been tried in the past.
In fact, the position of the National Association of School Nurses is this:
Classroom screenings are often inaccurate, not cost-effective, and notification to others may be a breach of confidentiality (Pontius, 2014).
So yeah, it looks like a waste of time and money.
I understand that the state does not consider lice themselves to be a health issue, but lice treatments most certainly are. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002589.htm
This is a predictable comment from once again, Clarence Hayes, who wants everyone to buy an EV car but yet drives a 1993 BMW, which is a gas guzzling emissions producing carbon atmosphere eroding vehicle
If you’re so concerned, Clarence, why don’t you fund the lice patrol …:
Almost – it’s a 2002 not 1993, so only 22 years old.
Please read the article, paying attention to the final paragraphs, before claiming I am a hypocrite.
https://06880danwoog.com/2024/05/19/opinion-evs-hybrids-our-future-and-our-kids/
I was in a 1993 BMW once and got head lice.
My grandmother went to the Westport Community Gardens as a guest. Yep. Head lice. Too close to the school perhaps?
EV’S will save nothing and little children today can look forward to bicycles if they’re lucky.
According to a November 30, 2023 news article regarding repeated lice outbreaks at Robert V. Connors Elementary School in Lewiston, Maine, the Lewiston School District has a policy where children, who had been sent home previously after the school nurse found lice to be present, are checked by the school nurse again upon the child’s return to school.
Note where the article states: “Children are screened again for lice after they have been treated and return to school.”
I took this to mean that the school nurse checks for lice upon the child’s return to school. It does not appear that the Westport School District has such a policy in place. I believe it would be helpful.
http://www.yahoo.com/news/family-considers-pulling-kids-lewiston-233600438.html
Stop over thinking it. As Andrew said … line up and be checked. Its the adults that stigmatize … not the kids… we have more critical issues in town
Inspect , don’t inspect.
But report! Sometimes this privacy thing goes too far
If parents are aware of lice in a classroom they will at least inspect their own children. Be responsible!