Katy ISD’s pediculosis, or head lice, policy is more stringent than what is required by the Texas Department of State Health Services, according to the district’s Director of Health Services Therese Highnote.

In December 2012, the Texas Administrative Code changed the classification of head lice. It no longer is listed as a reason for a student to be excluded from school.

“It is now considered not a communicable disease but a nuisance,” she said. “The health department is fine with the student sitting in school with live lice.”

Highnote said KISD students, however, are still sent home once they are determined to have head lice.  Students cannot return to class until treatment for pediculosis has begun.

The district’s Procedure for Control of Pediculosis includes guidelines for screening, parental notification, parental instructions and future control measures.

It stipulates if a school staff member suspects a student has head lice, the student is sent for a screening by a campus nurse. Parents are then notified to pick up their child and are given instructions on how to treat pediculosis. A student is re-examined upon returning to school to ensure no live lice are present. This is an important distinction, Highnote said.

“Nests are okay, but live lice, no,” she said. “That’s why sometimes parents have to take the student home because sometimes they have to comb the live lice out.”

KISD policy dictates students should not be absent for more than one day to undergo treatment for head lice.

“[Parents] can go to the corner store, get the treatment and bring the child back,” she said. “They can come back as soon as they have been treated and there’s no live lice.”

Highnote said while the district documents information on head lice in the files of individual students, no overall pediculosis statistics are kept.