Proposed lice policy could result in sending infested children home; Shenandoah praises similar approach

 Lice. 

Mere mention of the four-letter word can make your skin crawl and head itch. 

The thought of the little bugs scurrying across your scalp and leaving their eggs (also known as nits) is enough to send a shiver down your spine. 

And yet, despite the repulsiveness of the possibility of you or your children getting lice, local school officials deal with infestations on a regular basis every ... single ... year. 

Most parents, when notified their child has lice, are flooded with emotions of fear that the infestation will spread and shame, regardless of the reason for the problem. 

As a result, they are motivated to take whatever steps needed to kill the bugs and the eggs they leave. 

However, there a few parents who seemingly don’t care, or at the very least, how to address the problem or obtain the resources needed to remedy it. 

As a result, some schools, including Red Oak, are looking at adopting an aggressive policy towards drastically reducing the problem. 

What makes the policy controversial, though, is in order to control the infestation, school officials would be empowered to force children to stay home until the problem is addressed. 

Mounting Frustrations

Several Red Oak parents, along with Inman Principal Gayle Allensworth and Nurse Heather Hall, recently discussed the district’s lice policy with the school board, while urging changes to it. 

Allensworth said historically, the problem is worst at Inman and that there is no on or off “season” for lice, as they deal with it year-round.

She said when a child has lice, the parents are notified and free shampoo is offered to help treat the problem. Notes are also sent home with other children in the class, notifying their parents of the problem. 

Other precautions are taken at school, including isolating clothing and having the nurse treat the child and remove nits. 

However, if nothing is done at home, the lice return. 

“This is something that has to be treated: every child and the home,” said Sommer Sandholm, a parent and former hair stylist who has volunteered to help treat kids at Inman. “We can treat the kids at school … and I can pick at that kid’s head and get it gone but when they go home, they are going to get it back if the parents don’t take care of the home.”

For Allensworth though, the most frustrating part is when a parent simply refuses to work with her or Hall. 

“This is for a very small amount of people … but what happens is we truly have no recourse when someone hangs up and says I don’t have to do this,” she said. 

Sandholm likened an exclusion policy for lice to the district’s existing one for children with a fever. 

“I don’t see why it is any different from a fever,” she said. “A fever is contagious and if a kid has one, they have to go home and head lice are contagious.”

Corrine Jenkins, another parent who spoke to the board, said she was amazed at the number of notes her children brought home last year informing her a student had lice. 

Her amazement though was quickly surpassed by frustration when her children had to be treated as well. 

“I had a horrible time treating it,” she said. “I understand we can’t solve the problem, but I would like to think we can help something. You want the children to be in school … but the parents have to be held accountable. There is no reason these kids can’t be treated.”

School board member Dr. Warren Hayes was hesitant to embrace the exclusion policy, adding the state health department and Center for Disease Control don’t support it. 

“I understand where all this is coming from,” Dr. Hayes said. “But the CDC does not recommend no-nit policy from school or exclusion. In fact, the Iowa Dept. of Public health is not an advocate of exclusion either. I understand where everyone is coming from, but  ... I want to make sure if we go to the effort to do this, we do this intelligently and see what else we can do to you give you some teeth to enforce a policy. It’s not good for kids and we need to take care of it.”

Allensworth reiterated she doesn’t want children to have to stay home, but she does want to do everything possible to make sure they receive the needed treatment. 

“I don’t want the kids gone and neither do the teachers,” she said. “We just want a way to work with the families so they have to come to the table as well. I feel like we have tried the second tier of supporting families and educating families … but sometimes, without force, behavior modification doesn’t occur.”

Shenandoah Success

A year ago, Shenandoah elementary school principal Tiffany Spiegel and her staff were experiencing many of the same frustrations Allensworth recently described. 

But then her school board adopted a policy similar to the one proposed in Red Oak in which students stay home until progress is made. 

“It has had a tremendous impact,” she said about the new policy. “The biggest success is students who were previously chronic victims. We have been able to help those families and those kids become lice-free.”

And while she has the ability to keep students home, she said she rarely needs to as parents now understand the importance of treating the problem at home.

Spiegel said working with the parents is the most important tool to solving the problem. 

“That’s the biggest part of this policy is working with the families,” she said. “We just don’t tell them they can’t get their kids into the school.”

In addition to free shampoo and combs, school staff including the counselor and nurse conduct in-home visits and one-on-one training sessions to help educate parents. 

“This holds the school and the family accountable,” Spiegel said. “It’s not about us, or the parents. It’s about those little kids at school and their ability to learn.”

Since the policy is just a few months old, numbers aren’t available regarding how many cases of lice have been documented this year compared to last. However, Spiegel said she’s pretty confident what picture those numbers will paint. 

“It’s made a world of difference. It’s night and day.”

Spiegel and members of Shenandoah’s school board were also hesitant to adopt an exclusion policy, although the absences are excused. 

“Keeping kids out of the classroom is not what any educator wants to do,” she said. “But all we are asking is to see improvement and to work with us and make the situation better.”

Watching Red Oak

Enarson Elementary Principal Lora Top said while the Villisca school may be smaller, it too has experienced many of the same frustrations in dealing with lice. 

Their policy is similar to Red Oak’s and it too has caused problems. 

Top was hesitant to endorse or criticize the exclusion policy. 

“You could be sending home a child who really needs the educational experience,” she said. “But I also see the nuisance aspect of it and don’t want to see other kids exposed. I can see it both ways.”

Top said she, along with other parents in the district, will be watching how Red Oak handles the proposed policy. 

 “It’s a big nuisance and its frustrating,” she said. “I know some parents here would be very happy if we adopted a policy similar to Shenandoah’s.”

At its Nov. 10 meeting, the Red Oak School Board agreed to further discuss the possible policy change at a committee level with recommendations coming back to the board.