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Expert Q&A

	By Deborah Z. Altschuler Lice Expert

Are schools required to do lice head checks by law?

The regulations about head checks are typically left to the judgment of individual school districts or local health departments. Unfortunately there has been a hugely misguided effort to abandon screenings in many communities.

The National Pediculosis Association (NPA) recommends its ôNo Nit Standardö as a means of informing parents in advance of outbreaks through programs of outreach and education. The goal is to enable parents to send their children to school lice and nit free. With this in place, everyone is held accountable by screenings scheduled for back to school, after long holiday vacations and whenever it appears that a local outbreak may be occurring.

Parents generally appreciate this policy and are quite capable of success with it. While there appears to be controversy about No Nit Policies in general, everyone needs to be reminded that all policies are not the same. The NPA's policy reads as the voice of reason, especially in these times when too many school systems continue to rely on treatments known to be less than 100 percent effective or products to which the head lice have developed resistance."

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