Are Texas Schools Too Lenient on Head Lice Policies?

Texas parents are speaking up: School districts are too lenient with lice.

What Are the Current Head Lice Policies in Texas Schools?

Texas law is clear: if lice are detected on a child, the parents must be notified by the school. Additionally, parents of each child in the same classroom are to be notified.

Read More: Texans Reveal What Should Really Be Taught In Public School

However, the parents of children without lice will not be notified which child has lice, which seems fair and respectful to that child's privacy. Having lice can be embarrassing, even though it is highly contagious, and anyone with hair can catch it.

The problem is that Texas law does not require the child with lice to be sent home or excluded from school until the lice are eliminated.

Why Texas's Lice Policy Is Misguided

I completely empathize with wanting to keep children in school as much as possible so they don't fall behind. However, the justification that lice "do not spread disease and are not considered a serious health problem" doesn't mean it isn't a serious problem for parents who have to deal with the consequences of their children being reinfected by a peer.

Read More: Rural Texas Students Suffer As Most New Teachers Are Unlicensed

Treating lice can be expensive, and it's always time-consuming, especially if people in your family have long, thick, or textured hair. Getting lice out of my wavy locks as a kid was a nightmare for my mom, but at least the kid with lice had to be lice-free before they returned to school, so it was a one-and-done problem.

The answer isn't letting lice run rampant in schools. And yet we can still be compassionate. Schools simply need to provide resources for families who need help eliminating lice.

It's no wonder that parents are starting to speak up on this issue. How many times should they be expected to buy the shampoo?