Hello and thank you for writing to JustAsk!

As a mom who has unfortunately had children sent home with lice on more than once occasion, I would say YES, send my kid home! (My two kids got head lice at a sleepover- UGH!)

It is bad enough to have my own children upset, but I would feel awful to have others in their class undergo the same laborious treatment.

I know that it is not convenient to my work schedule or those of other parents.  And yes, after treatment, I would hope they could go back without any problems due to missing school work.

Louise Sattler, NCSP
Owner of www.SigningFamilies.com

We shared this question on the Education.com fan page on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/Education.comFanPage

Here are some of the responses we received...

"Yes, Yes, Yes.....send them HOME!! I don't want my kids to get it!!" -Shannon

"Absolutly. No way do I want my child getting lice!" -Melinda

"Absolutely. If they aren't sent home, it will just spread and then once you've finally gotten rid of it, you might get it again depending on how big the population of the school is. If you quarantine the children that have it, it can be put to a halt." -Adrienne

"If a cold can spread among the children - so can lice-use all the strategies available. Keep cool you don't want to upset your child or make them feel bad." -Carolyn

As a parent, I prefer that the school send children with lice home. I believe this reduces the risk of transmission to other children, and that school work can be done at home with the parent or child caretaker. I feel bad for those parents who have to lose work (and pay) to take care of their child's lice infestation, and for the children who suffer the stress and embarrassment of being sent home for lice. However, I believe that these setbacks or downsides are worth not multiplying the problem to many other families by spreading the infestation.

I have a friend whose son came home from first grade with lice. She shaved his head, cleaned all their household linens, cleared stuffies, etc., and sent him back lice-free. Within a few weeks, he got it again. They went through the same treatment routine as the first time, and deduced that he was getting it from a classmate. However, the school refused to inspect the other children, and suggested that he was getting it from a friend outside of school. Their friends outside of school were very cooperative with head inspections and they found no social peers with it outside of school. Yet, he got lice a third time! He was very sick of the treatments, and especially of shaving his head. So this child went to the principal and begged her to inspect the other children. Finally, the principal relented, did class-by-class inspections, and found several other students with lice. This resolved the repeat infestations for my friend's son, and she was very proud of him for speaking up (and thankful that the principal finally took action in clearing the infestation from the school population).

I'm a parent and I feel that a child with head lice should not be allowed to attend school until they are lice free. My reason, although the children are at no health risk from the lice, it is an extremely contagious situation that can easily spread through the school and into our homes.  I've researched the subject and found that once in your home, it is difficult to get rid off causing families much worry, expense, possible loss time from jobs not to mention the embarrassment and inconvenience.

I don't agree because that child is not the only one in the learnind center or school. If a child has head lice should be sent home  so that way the other children don't get the head lice that is just my opinion.

After having a student who had lice 24/7/365, and that student spread it around to other students, I have to say a big NO!!!  If my special needs son had come home from school with it and I knew where it had come from, I would have turned into a very frustrated parent.

YES! OTHER PEOPLE COULD CATCH IT!