Waukee School Board Sends Head Lice Issue to Policy Committee; Downtown School Gets a Thumbs Up

Editor's Note: This story originally ran on Sept. 11. We are featuring it again for our weekend readers.

Concerned parents in the Waukee School District could get satisfaction in the coming weeks as the possibility of a head lice notification policy now heads to the district's policy committee.

Only a few parents gathered at the regular meeting of the Waukee Board of Education Monday night to ask the board to consider creating a policy that would let parents know when a case of head lice was reported in their child's classroom. garnered more than 200 signatures.

Wendy Marsh and Krista Soda, both parents of Eason Elementary students who have had head lice, spoke to the school board and answered questions regarding detection and treatment.

"It’s the nature of the beast that lice is going to be in the schools," Marsh told the board. "But the bottom line is if a parent knows that it’s in their child’s classroom, they know there is a kid in the classroom, they’re going to be a lot more vigilant in checking for it."

After Marsh and Soda spoke, Waukee school board vice president Susan Bunz recommended the matter be sent to the district's policy committee for further discussion and consideration.

The Downtown School

Also at the meeting, the was unanimously approved by the board.

Board members discussed details of the renovation during the meeting but refrained from making decisions on how the space will be used when it opens next fall.

Dave Wilkerson, Waukee superintendent, said the elementary school will be able to serve 250 students comfortably, taking some of the strain off other nearby elementary schools that are at or beyond capacity.