Lice don’t seem to take a vacation at area schools
By Jane Michaels jmichaels@pioneerlocal.com January 30, 2012 5:54PM
When a student is determined to have head lice, area school districts with similar policies develop an action plan to inform parents and reduce the possibility of panic.
Without drawing attention to a suspected case, the student is removed from class and checked by a nurse or health aide.
If lice or nits, the unhatched eggs on strands of hair close to the scalp, are found, the child is sent home with a list of instructions and usually a demonstration of how to check and what to look for, nurses said. Siblings also are checked.
A note is sent home to families of students in the same class. If students change classes, a note is sent home to the entire grade level, nurses said, and the heads of students receiving notifications are checked.
Treatment involves shampoos recommended by the Center for Disease Control and careful examination of the child’s head for nits, which must be removed strand by strand. The head should be checked daily for the next 10 days.
The student sent home is checked upon his or her return the next day, and if found to be nit-free, he or she may return to class. The student is rechecked in 10 days, about the time it takes for nits to hatch.
Notification of an entire school is at the discretion of school officials, depending on how many students are affected and in which grades.
“You also have to treat your house and put any hats and stuffed animals with things you can put in the dryer to kill the lice,” said La Grange-Countryside Elementary District 105 nurse Nancy Connolly. “For other items, put them in a plastic bag for 10 days. A louse’s life cycle is 7 to 10 days.”
In schools without lockers, students in an affected classroom wrap their coats and backpacks in plastic garbage bags as an added precaution, and girls are asked to wear long hair in pony tails, nurses said.
Updated: February 2, 2012 4:10PM
West suburban parents may be breathing a little easier but shouldn’t let down their guard following a slight uptick in the number of head lice cases after the winter holiday break.
“Things seem to be going OK now,” said Maria Slaby, a La Grange Elementary District 102 nurse at Cossitt Elementary School in La Grange. “We had a little bit of an infestation when we came back. Part of it is that over break, kids go to hotels and there are a lot of sleep overs, but it seems to have settled down now.”
Slaby estimates 10 cases at most were documented in January at Cossitt, but those had the potential for producing a ripple effect.
“If we have a student at Cossitt, we try to find out about the siblings in another school, like Barnsdale for kindergarten students or Park Junior High School and have them checked,” she said. “We also ask parents what groups their kids have been with, like scouts or a religious education class.”
Nancy Connolly, district nurse for La Grange-Countryside Elementary District 105, also noted more cases after the winter break.
“Usually, we see more after a break when everyone has been visiting or on sleep overs,” she said. “We did here, and we’re not alone.
“It’s just a natural everyday occurrence of living, and one of those things the Center for Disease Control does not consider a communicable disease,” Connolly said. “It’s more of a public nuisance.”
In Western Springs Elementary District 101, a case was reported at one of the four buildings following winter break, but the school is now lice-free, said Superintendent Brian Barnhart.
“It ends up being kind of a taxing issue,” Barnhart said. “It’s just one of those things that happens a little bit on a regular basis.”
Although school officials in Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Elementary District 181 didn’t note an increase in lice cases following the winter break, reports this year are consistent with previous years.
To date, eight cases have been reported throughout the district of eight elementary schools and two middle schools, said Rita DuChateau, the district’s director of communications.
Cases have been reported at The Lane and Oak schools in Hinsdale and at Walker School in Clarendon Hills, DuChateau said.
Other districts also report the number of cases this year to be about the same as in prior years and that head lice are a year-round problem.
“In the spring, we have the baseball and softball season when kids are sharing batting helmets and baseball hats,” said Kelli Kalata, a District 102 nurse based at Ogden Elementary School in La Grange.
“It’s a year-round problem whether parents want to admit it or not,” Kalata said.
Barnhart said spring seems to be more of a problem than winter in Western Springs schools.
“But knock on wood, I would actually say it’s a little less this year than on an average basis over the last three or four years, and I’m not sure there’s any reason for that,” he said.
School officials said families shouldn’t feel bad about a case of head lice.
“Being dirty has nothing to do with it. Lice love clean hair,” Kalata said. “It’s sad that there’s such a stigma.”
Although schools send home a pack of information for families, some parents opt for the services of two salons. Hair Butterflies in Oak Park and Shiny Strands in Glen Ellyn offer treatment for parents squeamish about checking for nits.
Connolly advises the best way to prevent future outbreaks or catch an infestation early is for parents to get in the habit of checking the head of each child weekly.
“I encourage parents to check their children’s heads regularly and try to keep abreast of it,” she said. “Be proactive. Sometimes when somebody is found to have lice, they’ve had them for three or four weeks.”
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