can i take my child out of school due to re occurring Head Lice?? do schools not have a duty of care?

Question

My daughter is at school with a child who continously has nits!! i appreciate the fact that young children get nits...but if one indivdual is not treated then everybody catches them again!!
My daughter is now going back in sept for 3 weeks with this one child until 10 more join the class, therfore as she is a very intense and affectionate child always hugging my child it will be inevitable my daughter will catch them, and even if i treat them within days they'll be back again.
i have had vairous advice off people, not to disscuss with childs mother as she is quite firey and school will then side with them! i am thinking of sending a diary of events to the school i.e parties the child has attended crawling in nits, and passing them on to others, and suggest that school should address this problem as there are 27 other pupils to consider here! i feel very strongly about this matter and if need be until the other girls join her class 3 weeks can i teach her at home?any legal advice

Answer 1

Well, there's plenty advice here.
Leaving shampoo on for four minutes will not kill anything.
The school does have a 'duty of care' but it doesn't extend to this. They are not generally considered life threatening and are usually fought school wide with a leaflet drop and perhaps a nurse can visit and advise but they cannot inspect anyone, human rights legislation!
One treatment will not get rid of them either. You have to be vigilant and do it every couple of days for at least a fortnight to break the life-cycle. As a parent who's faced this several times over the years with asthmatic children who couldn't cope with the chemical options, I used the tried and tested - condition their hair after washing it and comb through with a metal nit comb. Every second night for a fortnight. The electric nit comb is fantastic with children who have straight, short, fine hair. It doesn't work so well on long, thick hair and not at all on curly hair (mine!!).
Empathy can help -"isn't it awful when you have to spend hours each week because somebody doesn't understand you have to keep doing it". Include the 'fiery' parent in the conversation, 'it must be just as awful for you too", or "it's such a pest", or "wee Mhiari really hates it when we have to do this".
Sometimes parents need to know someone else has them to even check their kids, but chucking blame around isn't the way do get things to change.

Answer 2

Try the superintendent's office. The boss of the district would not appreciate a high number of kids out of school when this problem is preventable. Have you contacted the school board? review the district policy. There's is a district policy in plan for a healthy and safe school. The child is violating other childrens right to learn. You can also check with the Dept. of Education County Office. They may also assist you in these matters.
Also you could make an annoumous report with CPS and notify them that a child may not be care for properly.

Good Luck

Answer 3

I think it is because the lice can live in the dirty home. If they don't vacuum and wash bedding properly the lice can stick around long after they have been gotten rid of off the child's head. My stepdaughter got lice and she is always impeccably clean but she caught it at her mother's friends house who never cleans, her kids bathe once a week if that and she has 3 or 4 dogs running around. I think that the "clean" kids get rid of it and their parents scour the house to remove any eggs that may be laying around in bedding, furniture, carpets or toys. Whereas the "dirty" kid's parents don't care enough to do all the work involved in ridding the house of nits and eggs so that kid just keeps getting the lice. It is sad really because it is not the fault of the child and the school should be looking into frequently recurring incidences of lice in the same child.

Answer 4

You need to discuss this with your school really, failing that you could see if your local authority can provide any help, they must have someone that monitors the school in their education department. Schools do have a duty of care, but fighting head lice is an ongoing battle. However, I once threatened to withdraw my child from class for the very same reasons as I felt the problem was not being tackled correctly. It was harder for the school as there was no obvious culprit. In the end they did a school wide weekly inspection. Any child found to have a continuing untreated infestation was told they must stay home until it was treated. Eventually the outbreak was sorted, but it tends to raise its head again every couple of years, usually affecting the younger classes. Really the only thing you can do is deal with your own childs problem of infestation, and continue to make noise at the school until they effectively tackle the problem. Your best bet is to purchase a robi-comb from a good pharmacist or boots (don't get boot's own, it isn't near as good). its a battery operated comb that kills the live lice on contact and combs them out. It won't get the eggs, but if you do it daily (even twice a day if its really bad) for ten days to two weeks, you will catch the hatchlings before they are old enough to reproduce. Believe me, this is the ONLY thing that works. It is totally safe for your child, but must be done on dry hair. It is easy and pain free to do and young children are fascinated by the dead bugs, so including it into routine is easy and fun. You can also use the comb to check for any new infestations on a weekly or more frequent basis, but I have to say, that since the first time I used it, my daughter has not had a single bug. She had previously been infested on and off for a year and none of the chemicals or conditioners were working any more. Its about the same price as a bottle of Derbac or similar, but of course you only pay the once. I have told many mothers about this method, and now they all swear by it. At first sign of an infestation it kills all the live lice and if you repeat it every 2-4 days for a couple of weeks, you'll catch any hatchlings they may have laid.

You could ask the school to mention this method once you have found it useful, or even approach some of the other mothers (including the fiery one) with a nice smile saying you have found this wonderful method and wanted to pass it on in case any of them are having similar problems. I can understand how angry you are at the irresponsibility of the mother in question, but she will only be on the defensive, and may actually be to embarassed to approach anyone in how to deal with this issue, she may welcome the advice. If she kicks off, you can point out ot anyone involved that you have approached several other mothers, just wanting to pass on something you have found really helpful and none of them reacted.

Its a whole lot easier than yanking your kid out of school and trying to teach her at home and suffering all the legal consequences. Best of luck.

Answer 5

I had a very similar problem to this last year. There was a girl in her class who was always scratching her head. All the other mums noticed it. Her parents do not speak English, so instead of tackling them I was outraged when my daughters teacher had the cheek to pull me aside and try to blame my daughter for the problem!
Unfortunately for her they had to find a new child to blame as I had gotten so fed up with her recurring headlice that I took her to her GP to get the strongest treatment available, which completely cured her, so i knew it wasn't her passing them around all the time plus I was constantly checking her hair.
If this does carry next year, I, like you are very tempted to remove my daughter from the school as they have also left other atrocious aspects of this certain child's behaviour unchecked due to the difficulty in communicating with her parents.
As far as legal advice goes, there is no legal requirement for a child to attend a school but they must have an education. You can find out about support networks and websites from your local education authority or online.

Answer 6

I work in a primary school & there isn't a thing we can do! We can send a letter home but we are unable to comb the lice out. If the child is constantly 'alive' then social services can be contacted as it is a form of deglect! Try putting tea tree or lavender oil on your childs hair as a deterrent,it works for me..

Answer 7

and the school knows about this child and is doing nothing about it? Have you tried talking talking to the school first? It does not matter if the mother is firey or not, head lice is a health hazzard, and it is the schools responibility to deal with this problem. It might also help if you talk to your local health department. If the school is as lax as you are suggesting, a call from the health department may get their butts in gear.

Answer 8

Tell your childs teacher the first time she comes home with nits but don't say who gave them to her. Tell them the second time, and the third, and just keep doing it. But let them figure out who it is and deal with the parents.

In the meantime you can use ordinary shampoo to deal with nits. They are insects, and like all insects breathe through their skin. They are covered with a waxy coating to keep them waterproof so they don't drown. Shampoo breaks down the wax and kills them if you leave it on for 4 minutes.
So just use a mild shampoo, lather it in, wait 4 mins then rinse. Comb through with a wide tooth somb while the hairs wet and your kjids in the bath, then finish with a nit comb to get the eggs. Do that every other day and you won't have a problem.

Answer 9

hi have children of my own and have had to deal will nits on various occasions ,schools can no longer check childrens hair as it is considered invasive to the child an dparents have the duty to check and treat thier own child how old is your child do the school give information on treatments when outbreaks occur ,have you tried preventative treatments

Answer 10

Well I think you should tell the headteacher of this school and ask her to do something about it. It shouldn't be up to you to tell this other parent that her child has nits. The headteacher should tell the parent and advise them on treatments to get rid. If she refuses and the teachers refuse to do anything about it then you could go to the next level and contact your council or maybe the school governors.