Plainview woman offers lice checks before school starts

In a proactive effort before the start of school, a Plainview parent is planning to set up her own lice screening in her driveway the day before classes begin.

Merrie Radisch has organized lice checks by a professional lice checking and removal company at her home on Sept. 7 from 2 to 5 p.m. School starts in her district the next day.

"This is the first one; it is really sort of a trial run," she said. "We are actually setting up a tent on my driveway at my house and inviting people to come."

The cost is $10 per head and Radisch said results will remain private. Parents will receive tips on prevention, screening, detection and treatment of lice. She also said she would like to create a support system.

"Parents have felt that due to the stigma associated with lice a lot of people don't report it to the nurses, and it goes unchecked and untreated and what ends up happening is that it goes through the schools," said Radisch, a parent of three. Two of her three children had lice in June, said Radisch, who said lice were in her son's classroom at the time. Her daughter also got lice again while in camp this summer.

"We have been working hard to control it and hopefully this helps," Radisch said, adding that she is not criticizing the district's actions but rather wants to take more preventive steps.

Gerard Dempsey, Plainview-Old Bethpage school district superintendent, speaking only generally, said the district's nursing staff conducts annual lice inspections in all elementary schools.

"If lice is detected during an inspection, the district immediately notifies the child's parents and the child is released from school for additional medical attention," he said in a statement. "While checking for lice is not mandated by the Department of Health, we believe it is a valuable precautionary measure to help protect our students. The administration and the board of education maintain that the district's procedures are sufficient in detecting lice within our elementary student body."

For more information about the screening, e-mail liceday2010@optonline.net.