family didn't tell us about lice....

[teach4fun]

now we have three cases in the room and I am totally freaking out!!!!!!!!! I put all the pillows and stuffed animals in dark colored bags and am keeping them in there until after christmas, the suggestion is 2-3 weeks but im going a little longer

it just kills me that the parent thought since she took care of it she did not have to tell us... hello,,, we are first grade, we are on the floor all the time, we are in groups together and we restle and play rough. .. now i have VERY upset parents and a wonderful nurse (who happens to be the mom of one of my students) who is trying to take all the upset calls for me. ..

this is my 11th year teaching and my first ever lice,,, WHAT DO I DO!!??

 

[Mrs. G]

Spray

Our custodians have a special spray that they use and spray down the carpets to kill the lice. I think they also sell it over the counter. As long as your parents are on the look out, you should be able to get this under control fairly quickly. Make sure the nurse checks your entire class to make sure no case goes unseen. Everything will be fine. I heard that wearing a lot of hair spray in your hair will deter them because they are not able to attach themselves easily to it.

 

[SC]

Eek!

I've never dealt with lice, which I'm guessing is because I teach older kids (6th and 7th last year, 4th this year). I had lice when I was younger, and I don't know if my mom told the teacher. It's kind of embarrassing, so I can understand why these parents didn't. They also probably don't realize how much lice can infest EVERYTHING.

I've never heard of putting everything in dark bags. When I had lice, my mom washed everything we had come in contact with at home, and she sprayed our furniture. I remember having to do the shampoo treatments like 3 or 4 times.

Hopefully none of these upset calls are about you. It's not like you brought lice into the class. If I were you, I would send a letter home explaining how to prevent and treat lice (search the internet if you haven't already). Maybe the nurse can send a general letter to everyone at your school. If it's in your class, it could be spread all over.

 

[anon]

curious

I am curious why your kids are wrestling and playing rough with each other. This is inappropriate behavior for school even out at recess in my opinion.

 

[c green]

lice happen

Send the parents a note. Have the nurse check. Tell kids they CAN'T share brushes or combs.

It will be okay. Lice just tend to spread with small kids.

 

[teach 3rd]

backpacks spread them!

If your kids hang their backpacks on hooks in close proximity to each other, have them stop doing that. They can go from the hair when they are on their backs and onto their backpacks and they jump! Yuck!
When I taught 1st several years ago, we kept getting re-infested until we did this - backpacks have to be washed in hot water to kill them!!
Pray for cold weather consistently. They need warmth to survive.
Good luck!

 

[teach4fun]

Anon : they are children

they hug on each other and play tackle and grab for a soccer ball or a football, that is way not the point of the email, i have AWESOME kids, i was not being critical of them

 

[Kiki]

Lice

We have such horrible cases of lice that we actually have a policy about it in our handbook (and a rule in our contract). Guess what, the parents NEVER tell us. That's why we do head checks EVERY week at our school. I would get rid of those stuffed toys forever!

 

[Teach 5]

privacy laws

We had a big inservice this year about the new health privacy laws. According to our school nurse, the parents do NOT have to notify us AND even if they do she will NOT notify us. They will no longer be doing head checks of infected classrooms either. Supposedly, the random head checks aren't that effective & it again violates privacy laws. They will only check the heads of students we send to the clinic that we suspect have lice.
As long as you put the stuffed items in any plastic bags they should be ok. Lice can't live off of a body for more than 24 hrs. But the eggs can hatch later & live for a short time. There is a spray that you can use on your carpet & on the items. I would recommend that. Hairspray will help to protect your hair.
Good luck! They are icky!

 

[2teacher2]

Welcome to my life!

I have had the lice classroom for four years in a row now. I NEVER wear my hair down, and I am careful with hugs. Our nurse checks the kids heads every Monday, and any kids with even just the eggs, not even the bugs yet, has to go home. The nurse has the list of products and directions for use in both English and Spanish for the parents' convenenience, and the kids are not allowed back to the class without another head check.
get rid of your pillows and stuffed animals; they are breeding grounds for lice. I taught first and second, and you can successfully teach these grades without pillows, carpets, and stuffed animals. The class will be healthier. Good luck.

 

[anon]

Hugs

Hugs I can understand. The wrestling I cannot. The point was if this is part of the spreading problem it is shouldn't be allowed anyway. Anytype of contact sport is not allowed at the school I teach at. No soccer or football. The kids can't even have a football. Any type of tackling or wrestling around is against school policy and in the school handbook. Anything that can be misconstrued as fighting cannot be done even if it is playing.

 

[tia]

what new laws?

i haven't heard anything about new health privacy laws.

at our school, when a child in the class has is found to have head lice (yea! not once case this year!.....yet), the nurse makes up a sheet about head lice that actually says that someone in the class (no name) has contracted it, what they are, and what to watch for, and how to get rid of them. i'll have to ask our nurse about this.

BTW...i teach 6th and big kids DO get head lice! (i know anyone can get head lice; i know some teachers who have, but usually it is my lower income kids who do---come to school with dirty clothes, so you know their bedsheets don't get cleaned often either....and those are always the kids that have friends sleep over...in their beds.) ick. thankfully, no lice for me so far this year! i usually have 1 or 2 with recurring lice.

 

[fun_friend]

lice...yuck!

My daughter got lice at daycare once. I used the shampoo and the fine-toothed comb but her hair is blonde and long it was really hard to see those nits! I had our family on house arrest as I tried to rid her, then mine, and my son's hair of lice. I researched on the internet and haunted drug stores looking for new products.

If you have lice, you gotta use the shampoo and try to comb out the nits--no real alternative. How do you insure that you don't have remaining nits?

The product I recommend is the RobiComb that can be purchased at WalMart and doesn't cost more than 15 dollars. It is a fine-toothed comb with a AA battery. You comb the hair from shaft to end. The comb hums. If the comb encounters a louse it whines!. The comb has a mild electric charge that kills the louse. You remove the louse and keep combing until you've combed your entire head of hair. I did this a few times a day every day after the lice treatment.

Another product I was intrigued by is Neon Nits which will turn the nits a bright color so they are easy to see and to comb out. Nitpicking is tough work!

I read a great article in Instructor magazine about a teacher doing battle with a lice infestation. She had the bookbags in plastic bags. The kids wore shower caps. They made it a class crusade and celebrate louse freedom with a big party. This wouldn't work for me but it was inspiring.

 

[Teach 5]

new laws

The new law is the HIPPA Health Privacy Act.

I'm sure it is open to interpretation. I don't know why they won't notify us of lice, because they sent home letters about a chicken pox outbreak yesterday.

 

[Tiamat]

Wow, you've taught 11 years and never met head lice! I am stunned and amazed - they are just endemic here - we always have them, and it's a constant and ongoing battle.

The best product for killing both lice and eggs is ti-tree oil. The lice we have Down Under seem to be immune to the shampoos. Plain white hair conditioner combed through dry hair also immobilises the lice so they can be combed out, but does nothing about the eggs. A lot of parents don't like using the chemical shampoos regularly, which I can understand.

For you - hairspray. The bugs can't get a grip on it and so don't settle in your hair.

If your hair is long, wear it up out of the way; encourage the girls (and ny long-haired boys) to plait or braid their hair to keep it out of the way. Hair spray won't do them any harm either. Every little helps.