These organizations estimate that 6-12 million young children have lice each year. This means that statistically lice are always present in our classrooms.
Although lice can be the source of anxiety, frustration and embarrassment, lice do not carry infectious diseases, nor do they pose a health risk to students and staff. For these reasons, these organizations recommend that schools do not exclude children with lice from the classroom.
Fortunately, research finds that most children do not catch lice while at school. Lice are spread by direct and sustained head-to-head contact (i.e. children rubbing heads together for a sustained period of time), which is more common at slumber parties or camping trips.
Lice cannot jump or fly from head to head, and they die quickly when they are not attached to a human. This means they die quickly in hats and hairbrushes.
District 58 educates its students on how they can protect themselves from lice and discourages them from making direct head-to-head contact. The best offense is a good defense!
Since lice are statistically always present, District 58 typically will not send home a letter for an isolated case, just like we wouldn't send letters when one child is out ill with the flu. As District 58 does for all health conditions, if we notice a cluster of lice, we will send a note home to affected families -- it could be a note to a classroom or to an entire school, depending on how large the cluster is.
