Please notify the school if you find head lice on your student.

Here are some answers to common questions about lice.

1. What is the HISD policy on Head Lice?

See the bottom of this page for the PDF of the HISD policy.

Some highlights:

• Students found to have live lice in their hair will be sent home from school. They may return once their hair has been treated.
• Students with "nits" will not be excluded from school as per Texas Department of State Health Services regulations.
• The nurse is not permitted to conduct mass lice screenings.
• Parents will be notified if lice is found in their student's class.
• More information on lice can be found at the Texas Department of State Health Services Lice Management page.

2. How will I know if there is lice in my child's classroom?

A lice notice will be posted on the class dojo page

3. How do I check my child for lice?

This video from a lice treatment facility does a great job explaining how to do a thorough check for lice. 

4. Will lice checks be done at school?

As you can see in the video above, a thorough head check requires having hair completely combed out, using mousse to prevent it being painful. It takes 15-20 minutes to complete, much longer if the hair is tangled. Unfortunately, I don’t have the resources or the time to complete these thorough head checks and without doing it thoroughly, I can’t assure you that your child doesn’t have lice. What we can do at school is a rudimentary check on kids who are itching or who the teacher suspects might have lice. With these checks, I can often identify students with many lice, but may miss students who only have a couple. Thus, we really rely on parents to see these notifications and complete the head checks as recommended.

5. I found lice in my child's hair. What do I do?

Please notify me via dojo, phone (713-295-5255) or email (LHALL9@houstonisd.org)

Here is information about treating lice.

Types of hair treatment

• • Smothering treatment – Literally kills the eggs and nits by smothering them. Available over the counter.
    • Vamoouse - One 10 min treatment plus combing. Repeat of needed.
    • RID SuperMax – One 15min treatment plus combing, retreat after 7 days if needed
    • Licefreee Spray – Two 1 hr treatments plus combing
  • Pediculicides – Medicines that kill lice but not eggs.  
    • Ivermectin Lotion – One 10 min treat, don’t retreat, consult Dr if ineffective. Availabe over the counter
    • Spinosad - Need prescription, follow doctor's instructions
    • Benzyl alcohol lotion - Need prescription, follow doctor's instructions
    • Note: Anything containing Pyrethrin, Permethian or Malathion are not effective 
  •  Pull and Pick: Comb out lice, pick out eggs. This is time consuming and has to be done perfectly.
    • There are businesses who will do it for you. Ex: “The Lice Place”

To get lice out of the house

• • Laundry: Wash and dry bed linens, towels and clothes used in last 2 days in 130° water
  • Combs: Soak combs or brushes in 130° water for 5-10 minutes
  • Soft toys that can’t be washed: put in a sealed bag for 2 days 
  • Vacuum floors 

6. How can I prevent my child from getting head lice?

• Keep long hair up in a pony tail or bun
• Teach your child not to share hats, sweaters or hair items (barrettes, bows, hair ties, combs)
• Spray hair daily with lice repellent spray.
  • Can buy commercial products over the counter 
  • Some people have had success with peppermint oil rosemany oil