MONTGOMERY, Ala. — For generations, children with signs of head lice were summarily sent home by the school nurse to their everlasting shame. Now schools have become less nitpicky.
With the backing of some major health organizations, a majority of schools across the country are allowing youngsters to stay in class if they have nits — that is, lice eggs — but no crawling lice in their hair.
It’s a change recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of School Nurses, and it has been welcomed by many educators and parents, who worried that students were missing too much school, moms and dads were missing work, and children were being made to feel ashamed.
“Our children miss enough school without having to add this to it. The no-nit policies are as much a nuisance as the pests that we’re dealing with,” said Astrid Cruz, a mother of three from Palm Coast, Fla.
Other parents, such as Debbie Cornell, want to see schools go back to taking a hard line against head lice. Cornell grew frustrated when her daughters each got head lice twice last school year. Their San Francisco private school lets kids with nits stay in class, a policy she blames for her daughters’ infestation.
The policy switch came after a 2002 pediatrics academy study said students with nits shouldn’t be kept out of class. The real problem, according to the medical experts, is the lice, not their eggs.
“Nits don’t spread. They don’t jump from one person to another,” said Amy Garcia, executive director of the National Association of School Nurses. “So to withhold a child from school due to nits really interrupts the educational process.”
Once nits hatch, they generally take seven to 10 days to become full-grown adults that can lay eggs and begin the cycle all over again.
About 60 percent of schools now allow children with nits to stay in class, Garcia said.
Getting rid of head lice often requires a strong anti-lice shampoo to kill the crawling bugs, and a fine-tooth comb to pick the nits out of the hair.
The dangers of lice are small, said Dr. Barbara Frankowski, a Vermont pediatrician who has studied the subject. Lice have not been found to carry disease, although excessive scratching can lead to infections.
