Bend La-Pine Schools is considering removing lice from its communicable disease policy. On the surface, it seems a reasonable idea. But dig a little deeper and there’s a tension between protecting the interests of one group of students versus another.

The change would allow students with lice eggs in their hair to stay in class.

Jay Mathisen, the district’s human resources chief, said the revision would align the policy with current district practice and is based on studies showing that head lice “is not a health hazard and risk of transmission in the normal school environment is low.”

That may be a surprise to the many parents whose children have brought lice home from school, forcing them to go through the complex and difficult task of curing the child, as well as cleaning the home.

That said, its hard to argue with the notion that head lice doesn’t rise to the standard of other diseases in the district’s communicable disease policy, such as tuberculosis, chicken pox and measles. The current policy includes head lice along with those more serious diseases and requires an infected child to be excluded from school.

Bend-La Pine’s administration is asking the school board to approve removing head lice (pediculosis) from the communicable disease policy. Last week, the board discussed the issue but didn’t make a decision.

Mathisen said the district’s schools now tell children with live lice to stay home, but those who have lice eggs, called nits, in their hair after treatment can return to class. Nits can be either live eggs that could hatch, or they can be the dead shells of lice that have hatched or been killed by treatment. The problem is that it’s difficult to distinguish between the two.

In deciding to recommend the policy change, the district considered several sources, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Association of Pediatrics and the National Association of School Nurses, which believe a “no-nits” policy is unnecessary and burdensome. Nits can easily be misdiagnosed, the CDC said, and the burden of absenteeism “far outweighs the risks associated with head lice.”

The National Pediculosis Association disagrees, arguing that thorough manual removal, not chemical treatment, is needed to protect other students, avoid harm from chemicals and prevent development of treatment-resistant strains. The group argues that a no-nit policy is crucial to controlling the problem.

Mathison said he’s concerned about disadvantaged students who could be hurt by being kept out of school, and we agree that shouldn’t happen unnecessarily. But we’re also concerned about students and families who are exposed to head lice because of children who unwittingly bring the pests to school. Simply removing head lice from the communicable disease policy could tip the balance too far unless the district establishes effective procedures to safeguard students.