Head Lice Reported at Eason Elementary in Waukee

When Wendy Marsh was shopping for back-to-school supplies, head lice treatment wasn't anywhere on her list. 

But maybe it should have been. 

Less than two weeks into the 2012-13 school year and Marsh's twins -- fifth-graders at  in Waukee -- have brought home head lice.

On Monday, Gretchen Grevas, a site supervisor with the , sent out a health alert to parents of children in Eason's before-and-after-school program notifying them of an outbreak.

"We have several cases of head lice in the Before & After School Program that have been reported to me already this school year," wrote Grevas. "We currently have the head lice 'health alert' sign posted near the sign-in/out table so that you are aware of the active cases that were recently reported and what you should look for when identifying head lice in your child’s hair."

That notification wasn't soon enough for Marsh. She said her daughter came to her yesterday saying she suspected she might have head lice. And she would know -- she also had them several times last spring.

"Pure Hell" Says Parent

"We've already been through this," said Marsh. "We were kind of waiting for summer thinking that it would give the kids time to get rid of all this stuff and we’re back less than two weeks and already there’s an outbreak."

Krista Soda, a parent of another Eason Elementary fifth-grader, said last spring the incidents of head lice ran so rampant that she and her family endured seven weeks of fighting the parasites.

"It was pure hell," she said. "We went through five kits of treatment and 47 loads of hot water laundry just to get rid of it. It was ridiculous."

The kicker, say both Marsh and Soda, is that there is no policy in place to prevent the spread of head lice. Waukee school district students who are found to have head lice are not sent home and can return to school without undergoing treatment for the tiny pests.

Parents Want District to Keep Infected Kids Home

The YMCA's before-and-after school program policies differ from the school district's. In accordance with the State of Iowa Child Care guidelines, students found to have head lice are asked to leave the Y program immediately and cannot return "for 24 hours from when they have been treated, and only if there is no longer evidence of nits in their hair."

Nicole Lawrence, communications coordinator for the , said this informational item is placed in building newsletters several times throughout the school year telling parents how to check for lice:

Head lice can be a common occurrence among school age children. We suggest you check your child on a regular basis. Thorough, close visual examination under good lighting is required. Examine the hair and scalp, especially around the ears and at the nape of the neck. The lice are small, only about 1/16 of an inch long. They are grayish-white with dark edges. While they cannot fly and do not jump, they move quickly. That's why it is difficult to find them in a child's hair. More evident may be the lice eggs -- known as "nits", which are fastened to the hair shaft. Nits are teardrop in shape and also very small, only about 1/32 of an inch. They are "glued" to the hair and cannot be washed or brushed out like dandruff. Getting rid of head lice and nits need not be difficult. It is a matter of washing the hair with a lice killing product, and then attempting to remove the nits.

Preventing Head Lice

The Center for Disease Control says head lice are spread "most commonly by direct head-to-head (hair-to-hair) contact. They can also be spread by sharing clothing or belongings onto which lice and/or nits have fallen. Head lice survive less than one or two days if they fall off a person and cannot feed; nits cannot hatch and usually die within a week if they are not kept at the same temperature as that found close to the scalp."

The following are steps that can be taken to help prevent and control the spread of head lice:

• Avoid head-to-head (hair-to-hair) contact during play and other activities at home, school, and elsewhere (sports activities, playground, slumber parties, camp).
• Do not share clothing such as hats, scarves, coats, sports uniforms, hair ribbons, or barrettes.
• Do not share combs, brushes, or towels. Disinfect combs and brushes used by an infested person by soaking them in hot water (at least 130°F) for 5-10 minutes.
• Do not lie on beds, couches, pillows, carpets, or stuffed animals that have recently been in contact with an infested person.
• Machine wash and dry clothing, bed linens, and other items that an infested person wore or used during the two days before treatment using the hot water (130°F) laundry cycle and the high heat drying cycle. Clothing and items that are not washable can be dry-cleaned OR sealed in a plastic bag and stored for two weeks.
• Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay. However, spending much time and money on housecleaning activities is not necessary to avoid reinfestation by lice or nits that may have fallen off the head or crawled onto furniture or clothing.
• Do not use fumigant sprays or fogs; they are not necessary to control head lice and can be toxic if inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

What Now?

Both Marsh and Soda say their fed up with the district's lack of a policy which they believe would prevent other children from getting head lice. Soda said she's ready to bring the fight to the Waukee school board if the epidemic continues.

"If you have it, you need to be sent home and not come back until you're nit free," said Soda. "The district doesn’t have that policy. It just seems like it's going to keep coming back three and four times a year if something doesn't change. It's not fun to have to keep dealing with this."