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For the many families and teachers of school-aged children, head lice continue tocreate some concerns and cause minor frustration. Curtis School intends to outline roles, responsibilities, and expectations of the school community to assist with treating and controlling head lice in a consistent and coordinated manner. While parents have the primary responsibility for the detection and treatment of head lice, our school
community will work in a cooperative and collaborative manner to assist all families to
manage head lice effectively.
The Goals of Eradicating Lice at Curtis:
Reduce the frustration and misinformation associated with head lice.
Decrease the concerns regarding head lice within the school community.
Protect families from misusing potentially harmful insecticide treatments.
Promote regular home-based screening.
It is the Expectation That Families Attending Curtis School Will:
• Check their child’s head for lice on a weekly basis, at home.
• Notify the school if their child is found to have live lice and advise the schoolnurse when appropriate treatment was commenced; (your child does not attend school with untreated head lice -in accordance with Health Infectious Diseases • Tie a child’s long hair back, if being treated for lice.
• Use safe, recommended practices to treat head lice.
• Notify the parents of your child’s friends so they have an early opportunity to detect and treat their children, if necessary.
• Maintain a sympathetic attitude and avoid stigmatizing/blaming families who are experiencing difficulty with control measures.
• Act responsibly and respectfully when dealing with any/all members of the schoolaround issues of head lice.
GUIDELINES FOR PARENTS TO CONTROL HEAD LICE
Head lice are parasitic insects that are transmitted by contact with an infested person or item such as a rug, couch or car seat and/or by the exchange of hats, clothing,helmets, headphones, or personal hair items.
1. INSPECTING A CHILD'S HEAD FOR LICE AND NITS
Inspect all family members' hair thoroughly, especially in areas close to the scalp at the neckline and behind the ears for lice and nits (head lice eggs). Nits are firmly attached to hair shafts and are usually yellow to white. The adult louseis about the size of a sesame seed and is grayish-white to tan. It may be helpfulto use a magnifying glass when inspecting your child’s head.
Correct identification of actual nits (head lice eggs) is critical. Anything that slides along the hair shaft is not a nit.
Crawling lice are difficult to see, but finding nits within a ” of the scalp confirms the presence of live lice and the need for treatment.
2. TREATMENT FOR HEAD LICE
Permethrin or pyrethrins is the active ingredient in most over-the-counter products. The active ingredient of choice is permethrin, which is currently in Nix®
cream rinse formulation. Follow the label directions carefully, first washing the
hair with a non-conditioning shampoo.

Treat individuals with lice/nits. It is important to apply one treatment per infested person. Do not divide treatments among infested people. Do not treata second time until at least 7-10 days following the first treatment. Repeat treatments may be dangerous and are unnecessary.

Daily removal of lice and their nits from a child's hair with a nit or flea comb with long metal teeth is the most effective lice control measure.
Complete nit combing of the entire head has to be performed every day(dampen hair for easier combing) until no more lice or nits are found. Any nits that cannot be combed out must be removed either by picking them out with the fingernails or snipping the hair above where the eggs are attached. A usefulmethod for nit combing is to part the hair into small sections. After each section is combed, secure each section to keep track of what has been combed.
If permethrin or pyrethrin products are not effective, consider contacting your health provider about the prescription, Ovide® which research has shown 3. LICE BIOLOGY AND WASHING RECOMMENDATIONS

Lice die quickly (within 2 days) without a human blood meal (off a person).

Nits take 8-10 days to hatch and then about 9 or more days to become adults and lay eggs.

Clothing and bedding may be washed in hot water (130°F) then dried on a hot cycle for at least 20 minutes.

Items that are not washable may be dry cleaned or put in a sealed plastic bag for two weeks to prevent lice hatched from nits from re-infesting.

Soak combs, brushes, hair bands, and barrettes in rubbing alcohol or Lysol® for 1 hour, or boil for five minutes.
Carpets and furniture should be vacuumed. Do not use household lice sprays.
Adapted from “Guidelines for Parents to Control Head Lice”, California Department of Health Service, Thank you for your attention to this matter. If you should have any further questions p l e a s e d o n o t h e s i t a t e t o c o n t a c t N u r s e A l l i s o n G o l d b e r g a t agoldberg@curtisschool.org OR 310-889-3722.
Head of Lower Elementary Head of Upper Elementary

Source: http://www.curtisschool.org/data/documents/LICEGUIDELINES.pdf