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Printed From Acorn-Online.com Weston Forum
by Patricia Gay
Despite recent publicity by the media, including The Forum and Channel 12 news, parents say administrators are not getting the word out quickly enough when lice are discovered at the schools. Betsy Peyreigne, the mother of a student at the Weston Intermediate School, takes issue with the district’s policy not to notify parents when a student in their child’s classroom has nits — the unhatched eggs of head lice. The schools are notifying parents only when they have a “verified case” of live lice in the classroom, meaning the school nurse has seen lice on the child, or the lice has been confirmed by a professional source such as a medical doctor. The district used to have a “no nit” policy/procedure requiring students to stay out of school until all lice and nits were gone. In November, the district started allowing students with nits into the classroom. The district also stopped notifying parents when only nits were discovered on any of the child’s classmates. Nurses and other health officials have downplayed head lice, calling it nothing more than an “inconvenience,” which needlessly keeps kids out of school. As a result of the lessened notification, Ms. Peyreigne said children are developing bad cases of head lice because parents are unaware lice are going around in the classroom. She recently helped a friend whose child attends the intermediate school, deal with a severe case of head lice. The problem was so bad, the parent ended up calling a professional lice treatment service. “A worker for the service said she has never seen as many nits as the number on that kid’s head,” Ms. Peyreigne said. Although the child’s head was full of live lice as well as nits, to the naked eye they weren’t visible unless the head and scalp were examined up close. Ms. Peyreigne said her friend was caught completely off guard because the lice and nits weren’t noticeable, and she had no reason to suspect there was a problem at school because she hadn’t received any notification. The problem was further exacerbated when Ms. Peyreigne went to the intermediate school on behalf of her friend to remove a wig and costume the child had stored there for a class project. Ms. Peyreigne said she went to the school nurse and told her there were items in the classroom belonging to a child who had a bad case of head lice. “She told me there was nothing she could do right now. So I went to the classroom myself and got the wig and costume out of there,” Ms. Peyreigne said. In addition, her friend e-mailed other parents in the classroom to let them know about the lice. “There is no stigma about head lice as far as we are concerned, because it is not about cleanliness. We just want to keep the problem from spreading,” Ms. Peyreigne said.
Life of its own Mark Ribbens, the principal of the intermediate school, said the school takes head lice seriously, as it does ticks and other health concerns.He said he is aware of complaints about the lice notification policy. “One thing I have discovered is lice takes on a life of its own,” Mr. Ribbens said. He reiterated that the school notifies parents when there is a case of live lice reported in the classroom. He said there have been past situations when a child was discovered to have live lice, was treated over the weekend, and returned to school on Monday with nits, but no more live lice. In those cases, there was no notification because the live lice were gone. This is where Ms. Peyreigne and other parents say they have a problem. “Where do they think the nits come from? They come from live lice. The administrators really need to tell parents when there are nits because we can keep lice from spreading if they are more up front about it,” she said. Mr. Ribbens said he understands the concerns and reminds parents to inform the school nurse when a child has lice. “Make sure the nurse confirms it,” he said. Ms. Peyreigne said she would like the schools to go back to their “no nit” policy. “Notification is crucial. As a parent I am more diligent when a note comes home and tells me there is a problem,” she said.
Lice treatment If there is a light at the end of the tunnel for parents whose children get head lice, it is knowing there are numerous treatment options available.Elin Cohen, a Weston pediatrician, is also the medical director of the Lice Treatment Center, www.licetreatmentcenter.net, 203-993-0310, a company that sells a line of natural lice treatment products and also provides door-to-door lice treatment service. The center’s products are available at Lang’s Pharmacy in Weston Center. Diana Levison, Lang’s pharmacist, said there is a big demand for them. “The Lice Treatment Center’s products are very good and contain things like tea tree oil, olive oil, and rosemary. They don’t use chemicals,” Ms. Levison said. A mother herself, Dr. Cohen said she did considerable research developing a line of natural, effective and safe products for treating lice. She said traditional products such as Nix can also work, but some types of lice, especially those from Europe, are resistant to traditional products. One of the center’s treatments uses olive oil to “smother” the lice. “You cover the head in olive oil and then stick a plastic cap on for several hours. This seems to smother the lice,” Ms. Levison said. Still, that leaves the nits to contend with. Dr. Cohen said nits have to be combed out of the hair using a special nit comb. “I recommend using a metal comb rather than a plastic one because plastic combs can bend and break,” Dr. Cohen said. Ms. Peyreigne said her friend opted for the Lice Treatment Center’s door-to-door service once she saw how infested her child’s head was. “She was very pleased with the Lice Treatment Center,” Ms. Peyreigne said. While the center’s staff spent a great deal of time painstakingly combing the child’s hair for nits, Ms. Peyreigne helped her friend gather up and bag stuffed animals, bedding, and anything else in the home that might be infested. “The schools call lice just an inconvenience. It is so much more than that,” Ms. Peyreigne said. © Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers |
