Board members debated whether to align district policy with state guidance that treats head lice as a non‑restrictable condition and therefore not a basis for excluding students from school.

At the Aug. 7 session, a staff presenter said the OSBA (Oregon School Boards Association) recommended board policy reflects recent changes and that the Oregon Department of Education and the Oregon Health Authority no longer categorize head lice as a school‑restrictable disease. “The big piece about head lice that came out in that guidance is that while there's not Oregon law specific to head lice, there is Oregon law around school restrictable diseases and head lice is not considered one. Therefore, we can't exclude kids from school,” the presenter said.

Some board members expressed concern. “This is a little bit baffling to me. I mean, we've been sending kids home with head lice since the sixties... To me, that's putting us to a liability because we're spreading it like wildfire,” one board member said.

Staff recommended adopting the OSBA‑recommended policy and revising the district’s administrative rule (AR) to add practical mitigation measures. A presenter suggested the AR could require the district nurse to contact families when live lice are identified and that the district could provide a treatment kit to the household. “One of my recommendations is that we adopt the OSBA recommended policy, but then revise our AR to address those meeting, mitigated remedies that we can put in place to help our students and families,” the presenter said.

Board members raised questions about notification practices. Staff said letters to a school or cohort (not singling out individual students) remain an option but are not required. Board members also noted families may lack resources to buy treatment kits; staff said the district could consider distributing kits and an internal hardship or scholarship process for facility or material costs.

Staff advised that if the board wanted to craft a policy contrary to state guidance (for example, directing the exclusion of students with live lice), the revised policy should be reviewed by OSBA or district legal counsel before formal adoption. No vote was taken.

The board directed staff to research options and return language to clarify the district’s AR and communications practices, including whether to supply treatment kits and how to notify families without identifying individual students.