Meningococcal and HPV Parent Information Letter

Deciding when your child is considered contagious depends on the illness. Below are some guidelines to follow:

• Chicken Pox: Child must stay home until all lesions are crusted over.

• Colds: If symptoms are mild, he/she doesn’t need to be excluded from school. If you child generally feels miserable, has a persistent cough, or nasal drainage is yellow or green, keep home and take to a licensed medical provider if symptoms persist.

• Conjunctivitis (Pink Eye): If eye is draining yellow discharge, is totally red or crusted over, keep home and take to licensed medical provider. Slight redness of the white or tearing when eye remains white may be due to allergies or an irritation and student is ok to be at school.

•  Draining wounds: If wound secretions are draining through bandage, keep home. A wound that is hot, red and painful is showing signs of an infection and should be seen by a licensed medical provider.

• Draining ears: Keep home and take to a licensed medical provider if persists, may return when drainage has stopped.

•  Fever: Temperature over 100.4 should stay at home until temperature is normal for 24 hours without the aid of fever-reducing medications (ex. Tylenol, Advil).

• Head Lice: If a student has head lice, the parent will be notified and will need to sign a waiver that the child has been treated for the child to return. Paperwork on cleaning and getting rid of lice and their eggs (nits) will be sent home with the student.

• Influenza: Keep home until fever free for 24 hours without fever reducing medication and/or the direction of your health care provider.

• Rash: A student with a rash accompanied by a fever or that is spreading should be taken to a licensed medical provider. The student may return to school when the rash is gone or a note from the licensed health care provider clears the student to return.

• Ringworm: The child may attend school 24 hours after treatment has started along with a note clearing the student to return to school. Lesions should be covered with clothing or bandages while the student is at school.

• Stomach “Flu”: Child needs to stay home if vomiting or having diarrhea. The child may return to school 24 hours after symptoms have cleared.

• Strep Throat: If diagnosed by the licensed medical provider, child must be on antibiotics for 24 hours before returning to school.

Please call the school nurse if you have any further questions.

Head Lice Policy Changes: Evidence-Based Management in the School Setting

For many years, KSD had a policy of excluding students from school immediately upon finding head lice or nits. Past screening and exclusion practices in schools have contributed to the myths and stigma about head lice which are not supported by research. Current evidence suggests that these requirements and other school measures such as vacuuming, spraying and undue concern about spread through shared school items is not warranted. These policies have resulted in discrimination, unnecessary lost time from school, and embarrassment for students and families.

For over the last ten years, reputable research from the Harvard School of Public Medicine, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The Center for Disease Control, The National School Nurses Association and others have made recommendations that provide results based on scientific evidence.

• “No nit policies should be discontinued.” (American Association of Pediatrics and the National Association of School Nurses)
•  “Excluding children from school with head lice does not affect the total number of cases each year.” (American Academy of Pediatrics 2002) and
•  “Students diagnosed with live head lice do not need to be sent home early from school.” (CDC 2010)

What are Head Lice?

• Head lice are small insects that can live on the scalp and neck of a human host. They do not live on animals.
• They hatch from small eggs (nits) that are attached with a cement-like substance to the shaft of individual hairs.
• They must have the warmth of the human body and blood on the scalp to survive.
• They are NOT a health hazard, a sign of uncleanliness nor do they spread disease.
• Head lice have "claws" that keep them attached to the hair and they swing from hair to hair like trapeze artists. They do not fly or jump. They want to STAY on the hair near the scalp.
• They need very close head-to-head contact to spread from one person to another. Homes and camps are the most common mode of transmission.
• Indirect transmission is uncommon but may occur via shared combs, brushes, hats and hair accessories that have been in contact with lice. RARELY are they spread through shared helmets or headsets.
• Itching occurs when they inject a bit of saliva into the scalp, but itching can persist even after treatment and is not a reliable sign of lice.
• When lice are discovered, they have usually been there about a month.

Basic Treatment (Parents may wish to consult with their physician or pharmacist)

• Over the counter chemical treatments and combing out lice/nits OR
• Mechanical removal (combing out lice and nits) AND
• Cleaning bed linens and personal items that contacted the hair

Revised Head Lice Policy for Kennewick School District

• The customary notification for the presence of head lice is to be done on an individual/case by case basis to the parent/guardian of an infested student.
• Students found to have live lice; parent will be notified by phone and student may remain in school to the end of the day and a letter sent home regarding treatment.
• Parents are reminded to remove nits as possible and retreat 8-10 days or as suggested by manufacture's labels.
• Schools will remind families to routinely check their students throughout the year.
• At the nurses discretion, a “no nit” policy may be imposed on students who are repeatedly/chronically infested (OSPI 2004).

The KSD lice policies and documents are appropriate and conform with current best practices and evidence-based guidelines.

Additional Information about Head Lice:

• Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Parasites-Lice- Head Lice 
• Spokane Regional Health District- Head Lice