Waukee School Officials Have No Plans to Begin Reporting Head Lice Cases

With several reported cases of head lice at this week, Waukee school officials say they will not notify parents when there is a case in a classroom.

School officials say that's the recommendation of the Iowa Department of Public Health when it comes to informing parents of an infestation.

According to a statement released this afternoon, the adheres to the Iowa Department of Public Health recommendations that include:

• Discontinuing “no nit” policies. “No-nits” policies that require a child to be free of nits before they can return to school are not recommended. Children should not be excluded from school. Head lice can be a nuisance, but have not been shown to spread disease.

• Children should remain in school for the rest of the day if head lice are detected. Notify parents by phone, provide educational materials on treatment, and review treatment protocols. It is reasonable to expect that treatment be started before the child returns to school the next day.

• Discontinue routine school-based screening. Current evidence does not support classroom or school-wide screening as a method to stop head lice transmission. Instead, schools should educate parents and staff about lice detection, treatment, and prevention. Parents should be encouraged to regularly screen their children for lice. It should be assumed that head lice are in the community and schools at all times.

The school district statement also says, the "Department of Health does not recommend parental notification when there is a case in a room. This goes back to assuming that head lice are in the community and schools at all times. Waukee Schools have provided classroom notifications when several cases of head lice are in one classroom."

Dr. Brianne Day, a physician with the , said she recommends that parents keep a child with head lice home until they've been treated. The treatment will eliminate any live active lice and kill off any newly-hatched eggs, preventing the spread of head lice to other children.

"It's safe to send a child back to school after that first treatment," she said. "I usually recommend parents do a follow-up treatment about a week later, as well. If it's not treated, it can spread pretty easily."

The Waukee Schools and state health officials remind parents to conduct frequent checks on their children, Day said that's not always foolproof. Many times, the symptoms can be easily missed and an infestation can go undetected. Getting a heads up when there's a case in the classroom could help parents in early detection, therefore preventing an outbreak.

"Honestly, if you're not looking through every strand, it can be easy to miss," Day said. "If you know that you should be looking for it, it's going to be easier to detect."

For more information about the Iowa Department of Public Health's position on head lice, visit their website.