94 replies to this topic

[dancinmomof3]

I just got off the phone with Mr. Peterson, principal at Natoma Station. He now says that he will notify the parents in the class when a case is identified. This is a big improvement in my opinion.

Students with lice will still stay in school until the end of the day with lice though because that is the district policy and he says he has to follow the policy.

He also said that he is working with Mary Ann Delleney of Health services to improve the education the school provides regarding head lice prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

I am pleased that he is willing to be more aggressive with notification and help improve parent education. With the district policy notification of other parents is at the discretion of the administration of each individual school.

I still would like the district policy to change and will continue to work on this. Please contact me if you are willing to help. Even if you are willing to share your name and contact info that I can keep on a list in case I create a petition or something like that. Or just so I can say I have a list of X number of parents who want this change.

Other people who you can contact if you are concerned about this are:
Roger Benton, President of the School Board. 916.798.9953 (cell) or roger.benton@gmail.com. He has indicated he is supportive of a change in policy and he has been helpful facilitating discussions between myself and Ms. Delleney as well as with Mr. Peterson.

Mary Ann Delleney, who is the district dept chair of Health services. Her phone number is 985-7700 x191. Her email is: mdellene@fcusd.org.

When I spoke with her last week she stood by the policy, but was willing to listen to feedback and concerns. She stated that they do review the policies over the summer. From my conversations with her, she does want to minimize the lice problem, but she also believes this can all be done after school and that kids don't need to miss school because of lice. Some of the arguments I heard from her were that we always have lice even with the old policies and that a lot of cases are transmitted at slumber parties and playdates and not as often at school. I know my daughter got it at school so I made sure to tell her that.

[Mommy2Sydni]

I just got off the phone with Mr. Peterson, principal at Natoma Station. He now says that he will notify the parents in the class when a case is identified. This is a big improvement in my opinion.

Yeah....the problem lies there....IF the parents notify the school (it was not found at school)....we had a case in our class where a child had it for several WEEKS and they did NOT notify the school.....it was then only word of mouth and then that just spirals out of control.
Many parents are embarassed of the situation b/c of the stigma that lice has, so they will keep it to themselves...

[dancinmomof3]

Thank you for your help Cyndi! I spoke with both Theresa Stanley and Roger Benton today and it looks like this policy will be up for review at the first board meeting in August.

I will post the date and time when I have that information.

Feel free to let the board of education know how you feel about this issue. Here is the link to the district webiste with the contact info for the board.

http://www.fcusd.org/BoardWeb/

[wrabbit]

It's just amazing to me that the schools do not send students home with notes to the parents, that they can't return without ridding the student of head lice!

When I went to school, that was the standard procedure, and there were very few cases of lice back then.

Yeah, I'd say that the schools would rather get that daily amount of money from the feds for each student, than have a healthier school setting.

If I had my kids in school, I'd pull them out until the infestation was over and if they didn't like it they could kiss my grits! I can not imagine taking a chance on either of my daughters health to appease the school administration. An infection under the eye lid from lice?

My GAUD!!!!!

I'm so glad my girls do not attend the public schools any more. Their tutor is costing us tons, but worth it to know they are not part of that world. They actually may be able to attend college earlier, with having higher grade averages now too.

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

Parents who stay at home during the day and/or are in a position to place their children with friends/daycare should keep their children home every time a child shows up with lice. The district can then decide whether they'd rather lose the daily allotment for one child or for many.

[stacycam]

Yup. I decided that if there is a problem at my daughter's school, I will pull her out. She can do independent study.

[Revolutionist]

I'm with you on this dancinmom. This policy is absurd. I understand we want to keep kids in school (and maximize daily headcount funds), but this particular policy has put an undue burden on families by way of avoidable and sometimes recurring infestations.

I am happy to help in your efforts! I know most of the parents I've spoken to feel the same way.

[bordercolliefan]

Dancinmom, you may want to bring this thread to the attention of the principal and school board. They might be dismayed to learn the amount of criticism and dissatisfaction the new lice policy is generating.

[bordercolliefan]

Some of the arguments I heard from her were that we always have lice even with the old policies and that a lot of cases are transmitted at slumber parties and playdates and not as often at school.

I just don't buy this. All I know is that in the 4 years I've had kids at NSE, this is the first year I've heard of such rampant lice infections. I've started to feel like my kids go to school in a third world country.

[wrabbit]

I just don't buy this. All I know is that in the 4 years I've had kids at NSE, this is the first year I've heard of such rampant lice infections. I've started to feel like my kids go to school in a third world country.

In a real sense, you do send your kids to a school in a third world country.

With my girls it was all the talk they heard about casual sex and the fact that a girl just wasn't grown up until she had sex, that pushed my wife and I to make the call to remove them from school and go the home schooling route. That and the contiguous diseases like the one which killed the Folsom high school kid several years ago.

No to mention Mono, herpes, TB and other contagious we probably don't even hear about. Think about it...if a family comes here from a different country, they are no longer given a health check up to keep any disease they may have from spreading....they are just let into the country. And those that cross our borders illegally, well, who knows what they might have. Mexico isn't exactly a country that believes in vaccines for controlling disease.

The kids these days are not practicing good hygiene like back in the 50's and 60's either. My daughters came home and told me and my wife stories which they thought were funny, but gave us night mares.

My feeling is, our schools have become sewers of unhealthy life voices and disease. I don't need my girls to be brain washed into having sex early as some kind of right of passage into adult hood, nor to have them exposed to disease that I wasn't exposed to in school. I don't need to have them exposed to drugs that kill or drinking alcohol from a funnel held to their mouths while the rest yell, "drink! drink! drink!" Believe it or not, this is happening right now with Folsom youth and they brag about their misdeeds when they get back to school.

It's NOT the kind of education I want for my girls, and this lice issue is just the tip of the ice berg. Although deplorable none the less.

[dancinmomof3]

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts.

I don't know if it's helpful to share this thread with the admin of the school although I have a feeling they will find out about it. It is a public board obviously. I think they are aware that people are unhappy with what has happened this year and they are thinking about how to do things differently next year.

I posted the thread as a way to reach out to parents who were not aware of the situation or who were aware, but felt helpless to do anything about it. Also, I think it provides a broader perspective. What if there are similar problems at another school? This forum has the potential to shed light on situations like that.

I am too tired to respond to all the posts I would like to right now, but I do appreciate the input and support.

Also, since I last posted I spoke with Ms. Delleney again and shared the additional information I had collected over the weekend from parents. She certainly agrees that there is room for improvement although I got the impression that she feels much of the problem lies in how the policy was implemented at our school and not the policy itself. She is aware that the school board plans to discuss the policy over the summer after the budget is passed.

[dancinmomof3]

I just realized that my original post was a not clear and I wish I had written it differently.

I am sorry for any confusion this caused.

With the current district policy, parents of a child who has lice are notified but not until the end of the school day.

Other parents at the school may or may not be notified that a child at school has had lice. This is at the discretion of the school. Notification of other parents even in the same classroom has not been consistent this year sometimes waiting until there were multiple cases in the same classroom before parents got a note from the school encouraging them to check for lice.

[tessieca]

Thank you for your help Cyndi! I spoke with both Theresa Stanley and Roger Benton today and it looks like this policy will be up for review at the first board meeting in August.

I will post the date and time when I have that information.

Feel free to let the board of education know how you feel about this issue. Here is the link to the district webiste with the contact info for the board.

http://www.fcusd.org/BoardWeb/

Actually, it might be on the calendar as early as June 19, however, it will be held at Mills Middle School on Coloma Road.

I'll let you know the proposed changes prior to that date.

Just so you know and can effectively share your concerns and experiences, district officials say that there was not a problem at any other school other than NSE, and that there were 4 families who had more than one child who were affected. From what I've heard and read that sounds like it is being minimized?

[dancinmomof3]

Actually, it might be on the calendar as early as June 19, however, it will be held at Mills Middle School on Coloma Road.

I'll let you know the proposed changes prior to that date.

Just so you know and can effectively share your concerns and experiences, district officials say that there was not a problem at any other school other than NSE, and that there were 4 families who had more than one child who were affected. From what I've heard and read that sounds like it is being minimized?

Thank you for the update. I will be in touch too.