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School Lice Policies--Greensboro, North Carolina
Each school district in North Carolina is responsible for establishing its own head lice policy. Some districts maintain "no nit" policies which prevent students from entering school if they have any lice eggs remaining in their hair. Other schools are more lenient and allow students with some live lice to stay in school. All schools send home information to parents to encourage treatment of the child.
Davidson County Schools--Strict "No Nit" Policy
In Davidson County, all lice and nits must be removed before the child can return to school, and the child cannot miss more than two days due to the infestation. This puts pressure on the parent to make sure that all nits are removed from the head. Unfortunately, nits camouflage in the hair and can be challenging for an untrained eye to find. The Davidson schools' lice policy is described as follows:
- " All students having head lice will use a lice-killing treatment and remove all live bugs and nits (eggs) from the hair before returning to school. The attendance policy allows no more than 2 days for this.
- Students will be excluded from all school activities until such treatment and removal of bugs and nits have been completed.
- School principals will be responsible for facilitating and enforcing this policy in their school.
A parent must accompany the child back to the school office to be checked upon return to school. The child may NOT be sent back on the bus." Related Link: http://tes.davidson.k12.nc.us
Guilford County School District
In Guilford County, children can return after treatment with a special shampoo or rinse, and once 75% of nits have been removed. Of course this is a bit arbitrary and it is left up to the discretion of the school nurse to quantify 75%. The bottom line is students with a few nits will be allowed to return to school. Related Link: http://www.gcsnc.com
Forsyth County--Most Lenient Head Lice Policy
The Forsyth County school board passed a revised school policy regarding head lice in 2013. The new policy states that a student may remain in school if he or she has nits or fewer than ten live lice. The district sends the child home at the end of the day with information about head lice. Key medical organizations have weighed in on the issue of school head lice policies. The National Pediculosis Association, based in Newton, Massachusetts, is against letting students with nits back into schools, as these nits will ultimately hatch into lice. The American Academy of Pediatrics, on the other hand, advocates the discontinuation of ‘no-nit’ policies, stating that by the time the case is diagnosed, it has likely been in a child's hair for weeks, giving the child ample opportunity to spread it to other children. The National Association of School Nurses agrees with the American Academy of Pediatrics that children with live head lice should be allowed to go to class so as not to miss too much school.
LiceDoctors urges you to check in with your school nurse to be sure that you are familiar with your school's most updated school head lice policy. If you have any questions about head lice, call us at 336-814-2036.
Related Link: http://www.fastmed.com
