Jennifer Garner Met George Clooney with Head Lice

Lice Infestation Sparks Outcry From Angry Mom Against School

LICE TAMERS

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On a kitchen shelf in Jennifer Matthews' home there are a half dozen bottles designed to fight a personal invasion, but in most cases they simply do not work.

Just ask Jennifer.

The widowed mother of a 4th grader has expended all the spare income she can muster battling the lice she believes her little girl brought home from school.

"We've been to the doctor. The doctor has prescribed medicine for her hair and every time we send her back to school the nurse says she's clean and then the next day she's getting sent home with lice again," said Matthews.

Matthews is angry that educators at Sheldon ISD's Carroll Elementary allow children to return to school when it's not absolutely clear their hair and scalp are free of lice and their eggs.

You could call it non- compliance with the "no nit" policies adopted by other districts.

"They should be more proactive and say this is definitely coming from our school. This is not an isolated case. There are several children that have been sent home today alone," said Matthews.

While Sheldon ISD initially called Matthew's daughter an isolated case, the district has since identified two more Carroll students removed from class with lice.

Matthew's neighbor and Carroll parent Joseph Teel says the school nurse missed the lice he discovered in the hair of his two daughters.

"There is only so much you can do in your home. If the other parents are not doing it it's like a plague. It just keeps on spreading. There's only so much one family can do to stop it," said Teel.

The lice outbreak at Carroll is hardly isolated. Schools all over the greater Houston area are contending with infestations that pose no serious health threat, but linger as a stubborn source of misery for parents and students.

Lice removal experts have seen a 30 percent increase in case load over the past year and say over-the-counter remedies have little impact on the bugs and even less on their eggs.

Painstaking extraction appears to be the only remedy.

"You have to pick them out. You have to take the time to stand over your child for hours on end pulling them out of the hair and your child is crying and your back is hurting. There's no other way you can't rely on the medication you have to physically work to make it happen," said Matthews.

Sheldon ISD says it is considering examining the entire Carroll student body as a proactive measure.

Head lice in schools