SOMA School District Policy on Lice

If you do find lice or nits on your child's head, at what point in the treatment process can you send him or her back to school?

In short, your child can come back to school only when all live lice have been removed. Although children can NOT be in school with live lice, they can return to school if only nits are present.

The South Orange-Maplewood School District policy is based on recommendations from the American Pediatric Society and the National Association of School Nurses, reports Judy LoBianco, Supervisor of Health, Physical Education and Nursing Services South Orange-Maplewood School District. The policy states that students cannot come back to school if live lice are present, but can come back if nits are still present.

"We usually are very aggressive about making sure the nurse and parent work together in that we try to avoid the spread of lice as soon as one or more cases show up in a classroom," said LoBianco. Nits cannot travel from head to head, however; only live lice can do that.

"The nurse, of course, will check the student before they are sent to their classroom, but if live lice is in the head, they get sent back home," said LoBianco. "It is a very, very uncomfortable, awful thing to go through as a parent and our district nurses do their best to give parents the very best information, resources, advice and support that they can."

Parents with further questions can reach LoBianco via email. For Suzanne Hassler's lice prevention and treatment tips, read here.