School health policy stinks

This may belong in grievances but how many really want to hear about headlice? I certainly don't, nor do I want to have to deal with regular infestation. School has just started and my 5 year old already has it. We went through this last year, and here we bloody go again. It gripes my butt that the school doesn't have a stricter policy with headlice, just, "We have a large number of reported cases of headlice, please check and treat your child." Nevermind all the children must throw their cardigans into a room basket if they remove them, or that there are "dress up clothes" that probably are never washed. Forget a nurse checking children or sending them home to be treated, and making sure they're clear when they return. I get to pay for someone else's laziness, over and over.

What I'd like to know is it the same in all of the schools here, and if complaining will do anything to change the policy? Petitions, anything?

BTW, anyone else with recurrent trouble with this, what's worked best for me, and is non-toxic. Soak child's head in baby oil, wrap in cling wrap and leave for 1-2 hours, then wash several times to remove oil. The oil seems to clog the nits oxygen supply and prevents them from hatching, which is nice if you just happen to miss one of the buggers when you're combing them out. :-/

Oh good, am I the only person with this problem?  

No unfortunately ... I forgot to reply to this.

So far Ian has been 'buggy' free but I was appalled when I saw the schools policy on it. It's at Ian's school too and it's just a posting in the newletter to check your kids.

When I asked Tim about it, he was really surprised that I would ask about the school nurse or policies on head lice. Wow what a tiff that was  

He was real casual about it like it was just a part of life... eeewwwwww No Thank You !
I asked about kids being screened by school nurses if they are scratching, about thorough head checks before a child can return to school, about notes being sent out to classrooms with known cases (not the kids name of course just a general note) .
Tim looked at me like I was nuts and asked 'Where have you heard of such a thing ?', he asked ...
In America, I replied.
So, so far so good here, but I'm annoyed to know I have to keep searching my sons scalp while there is no policy in place for the children who do have head lice. Meow ....
You have my sympathies Leah
Red

Looking into this further, the DFES site states

"Routine head inspections are no longer carried out by school nurses (who are part of the NHS) because this was not considered to be an effective method of monitoring and combating infestation. Where live lice are seen, teachers should notify the parent of the child concerned."

The Public Health site states:

"Can you prevent head lice?

Head lice are a mild disease. Some schools used to have routine screening, followed by the exclusion of those affected. This was a waste of time. It was also ineffective in preventing spread.
The best way to stop infection is for people to learn how to check their heads for lice.
Good hair care only helps to control lice in as much as it will help to spot and treat lice early.

Should a child with head lice be kept off school?

No! The DfEE/DoH guidelines for infection control in schools and nurseries state that there is no need for a child who has head lice to stay away from school.
One reason for this is that if a child does have lice, he or she will have had them at school for several weeks before diagnosis.
Letters notifying other parents of cases have not been found to curtail spread but often provoke itching and anxiety as a psychological response.
There is no evidence that exclusion of affected children has any effect on the spread of head lice in a school or nursery. "

ROFL Better not send letters out, it will cause anxious itching. Sheesh, it looks like we're lucky to get those letters. I don't think there's any fighting this. :-/

My kids had lice problems for 2 years running in the States.  Finally just pretty much shaved almost all their hair off (they're boys!) for about a year and a half, and haven't had but one little problem (with only the younger one, earlier this year) since.

I kind of see the point of view here - I mean, even though they did routine checks and such and had policies about kids not coming back until they were "clean," it still didn't seem to curtail the problem much.  And, since I was working at the time, staying home with a child until I could get every single little egg - "dead" or not - out of his head was not quite an option.  It's kind of like not letting kids with chicken pox back until all the sores are completely healed up - by then, the damage is way done as they're contagious BEFORE the spots even show up.

However, I'm thinking both boys may be heading "under the razor" before they start school...