MONTGOMERY, Ala. — For generations, children with signs of head lice were summarily sent home by the school nurse to their everlasting shame. No more.

With the backing of some major health organizations, a majority of schools across the country are allowing kids to stay in class if they have nits — that is, lice eggs — but no crawling lice in their hair.

It’s a change recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of School Nurses, and it has been welcomed by many educators and parents, who worried that students were missing too much school, moms and dads were missing work and children were being made to feel ashamed.

Parents weigh in

“Our children miss enough school without having to add this to it. The no-nit policies are as much a nuisance as the pests that we’re dealing with,” said Astrid Cruz, a mother of three from Palm Coast, Fla.

When Cruz’s daughter got lice in second grade and was removed from class under the school’s no-nit policy, Cruz had to beg administrators to let the girl ride the school bus home. They relented, but made the girl and her siblings ride alone — and the driver sprayed the seats down with Lysol afterward.

Other parents, like Debbie Cornell, want to see schools go back to taking a hard line against head lice.

Cornell grew frustrated when her daughters each got head lice twice last school year. Their San Francisco private school lets kids with nits stay in class, a policy she blames for her daughters’ infestation.

“I wanted to go to the school wearing a T-shirt that said ‘Got Lice?’ and have rice in my hair,” she said. “I was like, ‘Come on, people, get with it!’”

Why the change?

The U.S. has anywhere from 6 million to 12 million cases of head lice each year, said Dr. Barbara Frankowski, a Vermont pediatrician who has studied the subject. It is not clear whether there have been more infestations as a result of the new, more relaxed policies.

The switch came after a 2002 pediatrics academy study said students with nits shouldn’t be kept out of class. The real problem, according to the medical experts, is the lice, not their eggs.

“Nits don’t spread. They don’t jump from one person to another,” said Amy Garcia, the executive director of the National Association of School Nurses. “So to withhold a child from school due to nits really interrupts the educational process.”

You should know

Bend-La Pine Schools has a “no-nit” policy. Infected children are prohibited from coming to school until the nits are entirely removed from the head.

Symptoms of lice include:

• Itching on the head.

• Scratch marks resembling a rash.

Help prevent lice by:

• Not sharing combs, brushes, hats, headgear or jackets.

• Not sharing beds or personal items at home while a child is infected.

• Notifying camps, schools, church groups and your child’s friends’ parents if your child gets lice.

• Checking your child’s head daily for lice and nits if there has been an outbreak.