No more! That’s my back-to-school mantra. I’ll tell you why in a minute. Everyone else in the country is back to school except the Portland Public School District, here in Portland, Ore. (That may be an exaggeration. I believe that the Beaverton School District, located adjacent to Portland, hasn’t started up yet, either.)
The homeschoolers are back already, in the South, North, Northeast, Midwest, Southwest, they’ve been back for a couple of weeks already. Us? We start late, then get out mid-June, where everyone else is out mid-May. I am tired mommy, ready for school to start, and ready for my job interview tomorrow (by the time you read this, maybe they’ll be making me an offer? It could happen. I’ll keep you posted, ha ha). It’s my daughter’s eighth birthday this week, our ninth anniversary, the start of school on Wednesday, the first day of school for my son (kindergartner) next Monday… a little stress? Yeah, a little. We’ll deal.
My main worry is… lice. We got lice last spring. Well, one of us did. (Out of a family of four? Eh, that’s not so bad.) I wrote about (oh, did I write about it. Yeesh, my poor readers.) here, here, here, and here. Oh, yeah, and especially here. (That last one is especially mind-boggling because guess what? We caught it again, two weeks later! After being back in school one whole day!) (I ended up keeping the kids home a month — we homeschooled — with a one-day return to school thrown in for fun and itches.)
It threw us into a tailspin. Not because of the bugs — I mean, they’re no fun, it’s an unneeded expense and hassle. Every time you think about them you start itching. But that wasn’t why I was so irked. I was irked because by the time my kid got it, four other kids in her class had been identified with it. (It may have been six, I think.) (Kind of hard to get a precise number on that one, for obvious reasons. The main reason being: Everyone tries to pretend it isn’t happening. La la la!!! Fingers in ears, etc.) No one bothered to call me, no one bothered to mention it to me.
I walked to school to pick up the kids with one of the moms whose kid had it. This would be our neighbor down the street. Mother of one of my daughter’s best buddies. Did she mention it? No. A mention would have been nice. A phone call or e-mail would have worked. Even a big head-scratch and a clearing of the throat. A hint. Anything.
Here’s what you say, in case you ever need to know: “We’re lousy over here. Check heads at your house.” Click. Alternately: “Lice is going around again; check heads.” Click. You don’t have to get into details. Just don’t try to sweep it under the rug. Where it will multiply, because that’s what lice do.
The second thing that really irked me was the school secretary, who informed me: “We will check the kids at your daughter’s table and that is it.”
Me: “You will check the entire class.”
The third thing that really irked me was the principal: “We will not check the entire class.”
Me: “You will check the entire school, because you’ve got a huge problem on your hands, lady.”
So, so, so. So my husband and I wrote a letter to the district, and the health services people they contract out to, and guess what? They checked everyone’s heads. And a bunch of kids had lice! There’s a surprise, eh?
It’s not the bugs — it was the way they refused to deal with them.
I have a horrible attitude about this school year. I’m wondering…
* Will the P.E. teacher have the kids throw all their backpacks and coats into one big lousy heap again?
* Will the safety patrol kids share hats again?
* Will the teachers make the kids put their coats and hats into their backpacks? They never have before — this would be a groundbreaking policy.
* If there’s another big outbreak, like last year, and the year before, and the year before that… will the principal check everyone’s heads? Will she re-check, when they return, and in the weeks following? Parents in the neighborhood tell me that the school has been lousy forever, and the staff has never handled it well. “Why do you think you have it all the time there? I can’t believe this was just the first time you’ve gotten it.”
* Will I lose my mind?
* All schools get lice, it is the truth. Our school seems to be particularly lousy.
* Why am I sending my kids there? Yes, I’m asking that one, too. I had a horrible year last year, in large part because of their school. My kids didn’t have a horrible year — they had a great year. They love their teachers, their friends, their school. This is what is important, I need to keep reminding myself. Any brilliant ideas how to do so?
While we make no promises that subscribing to GNMParents will keep your kids lice-free, we do promise a communal environment where you can safely bitch about the little buggers. To subscribe to the email version of GNMP, just click the orange button that says RSS, or type your email address in the box to the right. If you need assistance, or a soothing reminder of our strict anti-spam policy, feel free to email Stu Mark, who is happy to oblige.
[tags]kids, children, school, lice, outbreak, techniques, strategies, homeschool benefits[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by northpolemama, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
8 responses so far ↓
nan // Sep 8, 2007 at 6:55 am
Good luck on your interview! When lice was going around our neighbourhood last term, I cut my boys’ hair short and… They did not wash their hair all week. Apparently lice really like nice clean hair! So my boys went to school with stinky hair! Our school sends a note home with all children whenever lice are detected on any child. The whole school gets a note! Some moms then go in and do a quick head-check. But I am sure the stinky-hair thing works! Lice also hate most essential oils, especially ti tree. Try rinsing your kids’ hair with the stuff. (when it HAS to be washed, on a Friday!!) I think, if our school was buggy, I would freak out!
Wacky Mommy // Sep 8, 2007 at 7:33 am
Nan, thank you! Interview went well. (Fingers crossed.) One kid is now in school, settling in nicely; other kid starts next week.
I’ll comb them through with tea tree oil, and they will both love the no-shampooing policy — I’ll make sure to have them write you a thank you note. Heh heh. I wish the parents would have volunteered to check heads at our school — that seems to be pretty standard policy, no?
They all went fleeing in the other direction.
Slouching Mom // Sep 8, 2007 at 8:18 am
Oh, lice! My sons haven’t had it yet, but I had it twice as a girl, and my hair was down to my butt!
It seems silly that in 2007 there should still be the perceived stigma associated with having lice, but I think there is, and that’s perhaps why you got the poor response not only from parents, but also from the administration at your kids’ school.
As the first commenter wrote, lice prefer clean hair. They do not discriminate based on socioeconomic status.
I wish you a lice-free year.
megs // Sep 8, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Try this: saturate the hair with listerine mouthwash and cover with a shower cap. Leave for 2 hours then shampoo in the normal way. It’s supposed to work. Maybe use as a prevention, along with putting teatree oil or eucalyptus drops in your shampoo.
I teach kindergarten, so I am always reading the latest news on lice.
megs // Sep 8, 2007 at 3:32 pm
And by the way, our secretary will check kids heads, and the nurse will do whole class loads if more than a couple have lice. We teachers don’t want to get them either. We FREAK OUT TOO!
Wacky Mommy // Sep 8, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Ladies, thank you! It’s funny that the “old wives’ tales” (that would be… us?) are often the best. I’ve heard Listerine, too. Anything that gets them out and dead is fine with me.
Rob // Sep 10, 2007 at 9:38 am
This certainly makes my skin crawl and is a huge annoyance.
However, here’s some more information (a few choice quotes) which contain many cautions about school policies, parent reactions and treatments about lice from the Harvard School of Public Health.
“Head lice rarely (if ever) cause direct harm, and they are not known to transmit infectious agents from person-to-person.”
“The greatest harm associated with head lice results from the well-intentioned but misguided use of caustic or toxic substances to eliminate the lice.”
“The no-nits policies variously drafted and adopted by school administrations aim to reduce the transmission of lice by excluding infested children from school. Whereas these policies are meritorious in principle, they are virtually always counterproductive when applied.”
“The discovery of lice or their eggs on the hair should not cause the child to be sent home or isolated. Furthermore, treatment is not indicated if the infestation is not active.”
“Although head lice are transmissible, their potential for epidemic spread is minimal. Indeed, the basic reproduction number (a measure that defines the number of secondary infections arising from an index case) would be far lower for head lice than for infections due to cold or flu viruses – yet children are rarely excluded from school because of these often more-debilitating infections. ”
“It is our professional opinion that the no-nits policies are imprudent, as they are based on intolerance, hysteria and misinformation rather than on objective science.”
All quotes are from Dr. Richard Pollack of the Harvard School of Public Health.
Here’s the link to the whole article: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/headlice.html#children
Wacky Mommy // Sep 10, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Hmm. I think I’d like to sprinkle some lice on Dr. Pollack’s head, too. Just for fun.
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