37 students sent home after lice outbreak

FRIDAY, FEB. 3: Dozens of students were sent home after an outbreak of head lice at Bermuda High School for Girls.

A total of 37 students from the secondary department were affected. Parents were notified last Friday after a visit from Government’s community nurse.

Head teacher Linda Parker told the Sun: “Most of the pupils affected were back in school again on Monday morning. This is not a huge number of cases and many schools across the island are affected by head lice.

“It was not a major outbreak. Thirty-seven pupils in the secondary school of 350 pupils were affected. It was an issue last Friday and we dealt with it.

“We worked with the Department of Health to ensure that all the pupils understood what was going on and what needed to happen before they came back to school.”

Health regulations state that pupils with head lice have to be given the all clear by the Children’s Clinic on Victoria Street before they can return to school.

One BHS parent said: “It’s a bit of an inconvenience more than anything else, as you have to make arrangements to look after your children while they are out of school and get them treated.

The treatments cost around $25 a person and you have to clean your bedding, your furniture covers and your child’s clothing. It’s all about preventing the lice from spreading so the school did what it had to do in the circumstances.”