Bloomingdale Parents Want Better Alert System

If only a simple itchy head was all that came out of the spread of head lice, parents would not be so concerned when one student becomes a host for the parasite.

But aside from dealing with their child scratching, the parent also has to worry about disposing of and cleaning every piece of clothing or bedding the child has come in contact with, as well as preventing their child from spreading the lice to other students or their families.

Meg Gray, a Bloomingdale parent, said if she had known about head lice spreading in the Bloomingdale School District, she might have been able to prevent her daughter from spreading it to her, and other children.

"We're not being notified," she told the Board of Education during a meeting on Monday, Dec. 6.

Superintendent Dr. Fredda Rosenberg said that school districts have to be cautious with notifications about diseases and illnesses as districts have previously been sued for doing so, making the students who had the disease feel singled out.

Rosenberg said that head lice, in particular, is not terribly contagious, and that once a child is inflicted with head lice, it typically does not spread to a large amount of other students.

"If lice were so contagious, we would have epidemics in every school every year," she said.

Rosenberg said notices were going to go home with students' report cards about the cases of lice that have been seen in the district. But other parents questioned why they have not been notified about other illnesses in the schools.

One parent said her son had contracted pneumonia, and was concerned that notices did not go out when an illness such as this could have easily spread to other students and could potentially be very dangerous to some children.

"We're going into privacy law," responded Board Member Winifred O'Leary. "Head lice is a little bit different. It's a different conversation."

Rosenberg posed a question to the parents: If a student were to contract a sexually transmitted disease from the bathroom, should the school district then send notice to all the parents of a student with the disease?

While the parents were hoping for a concrete answer on whether the district would improve its communications practices, Board Member Richard Dellaripa said the board would have to examine policies before deciding either way.

"It's a risk not to tell you," he said. "But it's also a risk to go out there and sort of make up a policy."