After a spike in head lice cases, the Lice Treatment Center provided mandatory school-wide lice screenings.
Amidst rapidly spreading head lice among students, professionals from the Lice Treatment Center of Connecticut (LTC) came to campus to perform lice screenings and treat those with the bugs. Mr. James Stanley, Dean of Students, said that this outbreak is “comparable in terms of presence on campus” to the lice outbreak experienced in January of 2015.
Lice may have arrived on campus earlier this school year in a less public eye, speculates Ms. Rebecca Abbate, French teacher and Head of Nichols House, where many residents got lice. She noted that there were a few cases of lice right before the Thanksgiving break, and parents were notified via email. Because lice cannot survive without a host for more than 24 hours, the dorms would essentially be “cleansing themselves” by having no one in them over break. “It’s quite possible that someone didn’t know that they had it and brought it back after break,” she said.
The School took care of the lice-related concerns swiftly, affirmed Mr. Stanley.
Days after the first couple cases were discovered, Choate hosted an inter-school SAC dance. The SAC was completely cleaned, and Choate notified the other schools of the lice situation so that the schools could make an informed decision about whether or not to attend the dance. One school had just gotten over a lice outbreak of its own, and opted not to come. However, all the other schools invited chose to attend. Choate students with lice had already been treated beforehand. “We talked with the Health Center, and they felt there was no reason to worry about lice spreading,” said Mr. Stanley.
The swim team also had a home meet against Deerfield that same day. Deerfield was notified of the lice situation, and had no problem proceeding with the meet. Campus services cleaned the locker rooms, and all fabrics in the locker rooms were collected and cleaned at the Athletic Center, killing any lice. “There seem to be people who have a misconception about the risk,” expressed Mr. Stanley. “We were very careful to consult with the Health Center and assess any risks. There was no reason to call off the meet.”
Such situations garnered a myriad of reactions from the student body. Tippa Chan ’19 shared some peer reactions she experienced: “People are definitely overreacting. I would say, ‘I have lice,’ and people would literally jump five feet away from me and scream, ‘stay away from me!’” Calla Chan ’17 said, “I think some people are being extremely cautious.”
Mr. Stanley cautioned that blaming certain groups of people can be a serious issue: “While curiosity may lead some to theorize about how lice came to campus, there is no way to know and such speculation is not helpful. The cases are widespread enough between dorms and social groups that there is no way to identify the origin. Just because an individual or a team was the first to notice the lice, that does not mean they were the source. We risk unfair and inaccurate conclusions that turn an individual or a group into a scapegoat, which is not good for anyone in the community.”
Regarding student reactions, Ms. Abbate said, “I think people try to find some way where it couldn’t possibly happen to them. When something bad happens, they tell themselves, ‘It can’t happen to me.’ That’s why I think there’s this stereotype around lice where they are more attracted to people with bad hygiene, though that’s not at all the case.”
Ms. Abbate continued, “It’s important for people to be nice in the middle of this. People say things they don’t necessarily mean to cause harm, but they can be very insensitive to others.” She added, “One person went to the dance and was told, ‘You shouldn’t be here.’ It can become a witch hunt, and if it does, it can potentially be very harmful.”
Though a portion of student reactions may be concerning, most members of the community think Choate handled it to the best of its ability. “The School does a good job of trying to control the hysteria around it,” said Ms. Abbate. She continued, “For the most part, students are pretty intelligent about it, are not stigmatizing students who’ve had it, and are generally trying to be smart about it.” Tippa Chan agreed: “Overall, the School handled the lice situation well.”
This recent lice outbreak is not the first Choate has seen; in her thirteen years at Choate, Ms. Abbate has witnessed three separate cases. Every time, the School and faculty do their best to deal with the situation in a thorough and careful manner. The Lice Treatment Center is called in if the issue becomes school-wide. Mr. Stanley explained, “Last time around, we changed the daily schedule.” He added that this time, the School gave students a little bit more flexibility about when they get checked.
Ms. Abbate added, “The School is careful first and foremost for the privacy of whoever it is. They do everything they can to protect the privacy of that person while making sure that person is being treated and is following all the precautions to keep from spreading it.”
The idea of a thorough, school-wide check is appealing to many. “What I would love to see happen is for us to just stop everything and test everyone on one day. Just do it. I think it would be good to just kind of calm the hysteria, to just eradicate it and move on with our lives,” expressed Ms. Abbate. Tippa Chan agreed, saying, “I’ve learned that lice are never going to go away unless we do a whole school check-up.”
Lice are considered a common problem among boarding schools. “I know that we are not the only school that experiences this,” stated Mr. Stanley. “I know that, as we’re bringing in people from the LTC, one of their challenges is that they were already scheduled to do head checks at other schools in Connecticut. So it’s not unique to us.”
Tippa Chan believes that “Lice are lice. It is what it is, and people have to stop making such a big deal out of it.” She continued, “Having lice is actually harmless. I was told that in some countries, lice aren’t even a problem – some people just live with lice. It may be a little gross, but people can and do deal with that.” Mr. Stanley expressed a similar sentiment: “It’s a nuisance, but it is manageable.”
