Parents: Schools No Longer Sending Kids Home for Lice

When I was a kid, when someone got lice, they were sent home. Now, a new study is saying there's no need to send them home anymore.

The Tennessee Department of Health and the American Association of Pediatrics have gone on record to say that it's "no longer recommended to send students home for lice."

According to their research, taking a kid out of school when they have lice doesn't really change any other child's potential to have lice. Before, parents had to leave work early to pick up their kids, bring them home, and were told to meticulously check to see when the bugs were gone. Then, children are giving up to three days off and then a doctor's note is needed to return. Now, researchers are saying by the time you find the lice it's already too late, according to Fox17 Nashville.

Parents don't need to worry about their children with this new finding. Deanna Dickerson, a registered nurse says “If the lice have been discovered, more than likely that the children around that child have already been exposed, so it’s not going to accomplish a whole lot to have a fire drill, to call the parents to come home from work to go to school from work and pick the kids up and it’s probably not going to accomplish a lot."

Now, parents can begin the treat the lice from home, after school. Parents should continue to check for lice once per week. Lice can only be spread by head-to-head contact so just because your child is around children with lice doesn't mean they're going to get it themselves.