Girl’s Head Lice Has Mom Puzzled, School District Unaware of Problem

DENNISVILLE – Beset by what is claimed to be a recurring problem at her daughter’s middle school, Lauren McGowan is scratching her head; not because of the lice that are at issue. 
During the school year McGowan’s 13-year-old daughter has been absent nearly three weeks. This was, McGowan contends, the result of six separate lice incidents in a three-month span originating from Dennis Township Middle School. The McGowans want to know why no notice was given to parents.
Superintendent Mark Miller, of the Dennis Township school system, reported no knowledge of a lice problem when questioned by the Herald. Miller stated that any incidents involving students that may have occurred were not resulting from attendance at the school.
The Culprit
Classified as a parasite, head lice are more commonly found on females. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that lice affect 6 to 12 million people annually.
Lice feast on human blood as they grow from nymphs to adults. By crawling or by being transferred through shared clothing or items, lice migrate to the head or the neck of a victim. Once there, they plant their eggs (nits) at the base of hair stems.
The common route of exposure is head-to-head (or close) contact. McGowan wrote in a letter submitted to media sources, “Kids these days have their cell phones in school with them and any free time they have they take pictures, they hug their friends when they see them, they slow dance at the dances, they clown around with each other, etc…all of this is close contact!”
The Ordeal
The problem may have begun as far back as October or November when a son of one of McGowan’s friends reported having lice. The mother (who wished to remain anonymous) claimed that the school nurse verified the infestation but did not send the child home. Up to three other children, according to this mother, also had lice during this incident.
After several run-ins with the parasite, McGowan called the school to inform them what her daughter was experiencing in the hopes of getting the word out to other parents as well as prodding the school to act.
McGowan claimed a school nurse told her that random inspections were no longer done unless close contact was known to have occurred.
The Herald attempted to reach the nurse but was unsuccessful due to her listed extension being invalid. A link on the school website entitled Head Lice Information also proved to be invalid.
McGowan stated she attempted to reach out to the superintendent the first week of June. Miller denied his office received any such phone call.
McGowan tried a litany of known treatments; everything from over-the-counter products, lice repelling shampoos, home remedies, dying her daughter’s hair, quarantining the very social and amiable girl, to disinfecting her house numerous times. Repetitive treatments left her daughter’s scalp scabby and sore.
It is this very condition that the CDC warns poses a health risk. Scratching dry and damaged skin with unclean fingers has been known to cause bacterial infections.
 The McGowans are perplexed as to why the school refuses to acknowledge and respond to what they see as a problem; a problem that could be solved simply, they say, by notifying parents and checking students.
To contact Christopher Knoll, email cknoll@cmcherald.com.