CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – About three dozen students at Oakleaf Village Elementary were sent home this week with head lice. School administrators sent a note home with students Thursday, but one parent isn't satisfied with that.
Nicole Baugh said when she picked her two daughters up from school Wednesday, her oldest told her several kids at school had head lice.
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"She was scared," Baugh said. "She was scared that she had it. So we took her home and checked her out."
Unable to confirm what was going on, Baugh kept her children home Thursday and Friday. Because of that, Baugh didn't receive the letter for parents administrators sent home from school on Thursday.
"Typically we don't have a whole lot of students identified with head lice. It will be anywhere from 10 to 15," Principal Colette Wyant said. "This was an unusual case, where we had that many, so that's what prompted the note to go home. It's not normal to have, even at our school."
Wyant says nearly 35 kids had lice this week.
Head lice is more common this time of year, after spring break when children are more likely to have sleepovers and share things like helmets and hair brushes.
"I don't really understand what happened here -- that they waited until Thursday to let us know," Baugh said.
"When you have lice, really it makes no different how you got it," said Maria La Rocca of the Clay County Health Department. "The fact is you do have it and it needs to be treated so the child can go back to school."
Lice doesn't go away on its own. To treat it, an over-the-counter shampoo available at any drug store should do the trick. But if it doesn't after a couple of times, a doctor can prescribe a stronger shampoo. The other recommendation is that clothing, towels, jackets, all of the clothing that you've worn recently is washed in hot water.
Parents of each student who was sent home this week were given pamphlets outlining how to properly treat the lice. Before the students can return to the classroom, they have to be checked out by the school nurse.
Proceedures for head lice: