Head Lice Policy

Immaculate Conception School's Lice Policy reflects standard practice as recommended by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association of School Nurses, theAmerican School Health Association, the Harvard School of Public Health, and many others. They all recommend that students with eggs and/or head lice REMAIN IN SCHOOL and not be immediately excluded. When lice is found on a child at school, that child’s parent will, of course, be informed. The school nurse will follow up to make sure the child is treated appropriately. If the student is not treated appropriately, then she or he will not be able to come to school.

Why Would These Medical Organizations Recommend This? Although lice are “ icky,” they do not cause disease and are not dangerous to the child or others. It didn’t make sense that children with the common cold, which is easily passed from student to student and can make them very sick, are kept in school. But children with lice, who are not sick, and which can only rarely be given to another child in school, and are in no way dangerous, were kept out of school.

No matter how careful staff is to protect the privacy of students, when a student leaves a class and does not come back, most students figure out the child has lice. This can be very embarrassing for the child and the family. In fact, the school usually does not know of most cases of lice because families are too embarrassed to tell us.

By the time lice is discovered, the child has usually had them for 3-4 weeks. They have been in school this whole time, and no one else in school has gotten lice from them. It doesn’t make sense to immediately take them out school as soon as the lice are found.

And most important, school is NOT a high risk area for getting lice! Over the last 10 years multiple studies have proven the school RARELY is the place of lice transmission. In the rare case at school it is only among very young children, as in preschool or kindergarten, when they play very close together. The vast majority of cases of lice are spread by friends and family members who often play or live together.

Lice cause an emotional reaction. Old fashioned “no-nit” policies were based on that reaction, not on scientific evidence of how lice were passed. In the last 10 years MULTIPLE studies have proven keeping kids with eggs, or even lice, out of school do NOT reduce the amount of lice. “No-nit polices” are bad for the health, well-being, emotional and educational status of students.

What WILL the school do if a case of possible lice is reported or found? 

• The school nurse will check any student reported to possibly have lice. If active lice or nits (eggs) are found:
  • The parent will be confidentially notified immediately.
  • The teacher will be informed immediately.  Classroom items will be cleaned per protocol 
  • The school nurse will provide information to the infected student’s parents about proper treatment. 
  • The school nurse will also provide information to that student’s class mates regarding signs and symptoms of infestation and risk factors and transmission.
    • It is not recommended to prophylactically treat a child for lice who does not have active, live lice or nits (eggs) identified by a health care professional.

• Household members and close playmates of the person with lice will also be notified by the student's parents and recommended to be checked by a health care professional

• Students with lice will be checked when they return to school and one week later to make sure all the lice are gone.

• If the child with lice is very young, the school nurse may choose to check classmates in preschool and kindergarten. 

• If a parent does not follow through with the proper treatment, then the child with lice will be excluded from school until proper treatment has been completed.

• CDC - Lice - Head Lice - Schools

• Head Lice: What Parents Need to Know - HealthyChildren.org

• Head Lice Management in Schools - National Association of School Nurses (nasn.org)

• School Head-Lice Policies Must Be Relaxed, Say Doctors - TIME